Resume structure in English. Beautiful presentation: how to write a resume in English. Resume or CV structure in English

If you want to get a job in a foreign company, you need, first of all, to learn how to write a resume correctly in compliance with international norms and standards. Generally, employers require job seekers to apply for English language. Find out how best to do it.

What to include in a resume in English?

Like an ordinary resume in Russian, a questionnaire in English consists of several main building blocks, namely:

  • 1. Hat (Heading). In this section, you need to introduce yourself, tell about your date of birth and place of residence, and also provide contact information.
  • 2. Purpose (Objective). Tell us what position you are applying for.
  • 3. Work experience (WorkExperience). Tell me in detail about each place labor activity listing functional responsibilities.
  • 4.Education. Tell us about your education. If available, list courses and other additional education.
  • 5. Awards (Honors). List if available.
  • 6. Publications (Publications). If your work has been published in newspapers and magazines, be sure to indicate this. Mention the type of publication, the name of the newspaper or magazine, the release date, and other pertinent information.
  • 7. Professional skills (SpecialSkills). List all the skills that you think would be useful for the position in question.
  • 8. Personal information (Personal Information). If you wish, tell us about your hobbies, family, personal qualities.
  • 9.Recommendations (References). If available, provide references from previous employers or from the place of study. You can also note at the end of the application that you can provide recommendations on demand (References are available upon request).

Please attach a photo to your resume. In applications in English, the photo of the applicant is usually attached in the upper corner on the first sheet.

If you wish, you can exclude certain items from the summary at your discretion. Also, the list of sections may vary depending on the specific vacancy. Specify this point individually.

The Internet is full of information on how to write a resume in English, as well as advice on what to do and not to do when writing it. But we will share with you not just another instruction, but tips from native English speakers who work at our school.

Resume or CV

Isn't that how CV is translated into English? Actually, no. CV or Curriculum Vitae(translated from Latin - this is a life path), and resume are very different in volume. For a resume, a polite maximum is a couple of pages, and for a CV, as much as your imagination and life experience allow.

Remember the assignments from your literature teacher for the summer - read, for example, "War and Peace" in full all four volumes. Do you understand now how big it is?

Now think of a compendium of summaries that has come to your rescue many times in these situations. Remember how little (compared to the original) there was to read? So, the CV is the entire “War and Peace”, only dedicated to you, and the summary is a resume that is also about you, but immediately to the point and without additional details, except for those that are important to a potential employer.

Always clarify whether you need to send a CV in English or a resume, do not tire the recruiter in vain, he still needs to read at least twenty or even more of these and not forget what and how + you need to make a decision!

CV structure in English with examples

Here we will focus on the key points, from the point of view of our native speakers, that will be universal for any resume.

CV preparation

  • Choose simple and clear fonts.
  • Highlight key points in bold or underline.
  • Use all elements for text formatting: paragraphs, indents, lists, alignment.

Don't play with colors. Most importantly, the information on your resume should be easy to read, and the layout should encourage reading rather than detract from it.

Contacts (Contact details)

As experience and statistics show, resumes in which there is a photograph are more often considered. It is better to place it in the upper right corner and it should be of good quality. To the left of the photo, enter your personal information.

Contacts section, where we indicate the name, surname, patronymic. If you have a passport, then the information is best taken from it. Contact (electronic and physical) addresses (the address is usually written in this order: house number and street name, apartment number, city, postal code, country.) You also need to include a phone number and all other ways to contact you. Don't forget your marital status: married/married (married), single/single (single), divorced (divorced). And the last thing is your date of birth Date of birth (it is better to write the month in a word, since different countries have different formats for writing dates).
Here is an example of the beginning of a resume in English:

Name: Bill Gates
Address: 1835, 73rd Ave, Medina, Washington, US
Phone: 709-3100
Marital status: Married
Nationality: American
Date of Birth: 28 October 1955
Email: [email protected]

Professional profile (Specialist card)

This is such a cool teaser or spoiler, where the most-most Interesting Facts about you related to the position you are applying for. And, since this information is only about yourself, “I”, and “am” and “have” are omitted everywhere in the resume so as not to be full of my ego everywhere (I am a specialist, I have 5 years of experience, etc.). d.).

In Western companies, it has long been customary to do this so that the HR manager opens your resume and immediately finds something for which it is worth contacting you or, in general, hiring you with arms and legs. Here is a simple example of a resume in English:

4+ years of professional experience in sales management.- More than four years of experience in sales management.
Excellent managing skills and ability to work to tight deadlines.- Excellent management skills and ability to work to tight deadlines.

Also in this section you can indicate the position for which you are applying and the purpose of your resume.

sales manager.- Sales Manager.
A general office position with a focus on wholesaling.- The position of an office employee with a specialization in wholesale trade.
To obtain employment in the field of client support that will allow me to use my ability to communicate with people and take advantage of my knowledge of English.- Get a position in the field of customer support, which will allow me to use my ability to communicate with people and knowledge of English.
I am looking for a position as a sales manager for a distribution company.- I'm looking for a position of sales manager in a distribution company.

Skills (Key skills)

Skills. It’s already difficult to be smart about something here, we just take those that are great for the position and list them:

Knowledge of Oracle, SAGE and all Microsoft Office Apps.- Knowledge of Oracle, SAGE and all Microsoft Office applications.
Excellent communication skills and ability to present complex information in an easy to understand format.- Excellent communication skills and the ability to convey complex information is available.

Experience (Work experience)

Work experience. We write about all our merits, orders and real achievements in reverse order - from the most recent to earlier periods of work. Be sure to enter information about the name of the company, position, period of work and achievements in the position for that period.

If you worked for a small and not very well-known company, try to provide links to more famous and big partners with whom you had a chance to deal. Let's take a closer look:

LANGFORD PARTNERSHIP, Sacramento- company name and city
financial analyst- financial analyst
September 2011 - present- the period of work from September 2011 to the present
Created financial reports and supported all areas of responsibility within a 5 person finance team.- Created financial reports and supported all areas of responsibility in a team of 5 financiers.
Process journal entries and perform accounting corrections to ensure accurate records.- Process journal entries and make adjustments to official records to ensure the accuracy of the entries.

If you do not have official work experience, you can indicate in this section work experience, internship, part-time job, freelance, participation in any projects, etc.

You may have already noticed that past merit and achievements are described using the past tense, and current responsibilities using the present. And, again, "I" is missing everywhere.

These verbs will help you describe your responsibilities.

  • analyzed - analyzed
  • managed - managed
  • arranged - arranged
  • organized - organized
  • assessed / evaluated - assessed
  • performed - carried out
  • assisted - helped
  • planned - planned
  • budgeted - made a budget
  • promoted - promoted
  • calculated - calculated, calculated
  • recommended - recommended
  • controlled / monitored - controlled
  • represented - represented
  • coordinated - coordinated
  • researched - researched
  • created - created
  • sold - sold
  • designed - designed
  • solved - solved
  • developed - developed, developed
  • supervised - supervised, supervised
  • distributed - distributed, distributed
  • tested - tested
  • examined - checked, studied
  • trained - trained
  • implemented - implemented, implemented

Education (Education)

Education. Everything is simple here - we list the name of the university, faculty, specialty and graduation date, as well as all those certificates and courses that you have passed:

GROVER COLLEGE, Alamosa- name of university and city
MBA with Accounting Concentration- Master's Degree in Accounting
June 2008- period of obtaining a degree

It is important to list the schools you attended in reverse chronological order, from university to school.

Names of educational institutions:

boarding school- boarding school, boarding school (closed educational institution)
college- college, school
institute- institute
private / independent school- private school
teacher training college- Pedagogical College
technical college- technical College
university- university
professional college- vocational school

Names of academic degrees:

undergraduate- student
bachelor's degree student- bachelor
master's degree student- master
postgraduate- PhD student
doctoral candidate- doctoral student

Other skills (Other skills)

Another skills. Despite the name, this section should also be given attention and everything that is not entirely related to the work of interest to us, but what is worth mentioning, and also, of course, it is highly desirable to write English proficiency language in resume.

By the way, there are standard options: elementary - basic, intermediate - medium, upper-intermediate - above average. We believe that we speak confidently and fluently - fluent.

If you passed international language proficiency exams, write down the result. For example: English (IELTS 7.5 - advanced).

Great experience in Adobe Crea
tive Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, photoshop), intermediate level of English.- Extensive experience in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop), knowledge of English at an intermediate level.

When writing this section, you can use the following phrases:

ability to conduct business in 2 languages- ability to conduct business in two languages
easily solve technical problems- Easily solve technical problems
excellent written and verbal communication skills- Excellent written and oral communication skills
in-depth knowledge of... / understanding of…- deep knowledge of... / understanding of...
keep alert to… / keep abreast of…- Follow the latest developments in...
keep up-to-date with changes in the industry- keeping up with developments in my professional field
speaking in public- Ability to speak in front of an audience
well-developed skills in…- Developed skills in...

Additional information

Here you can enter the following information. It will not be superfluous:

Valid international passport.- You have a valid passport.
International driver's license.- You have an International Driving Permit.
available for relocation.- You agree to move.

Cover letter

The cover letter is not really a resume section, but what the recruiter will see first, because he or she will first open the letter to which you attached your resume, and only then the resume itself.

The format of the letter should be business style. We start the letter with an appeal: Dear Mr. Edison, for example. It is better to find an HR profile in social networks and address him or her by name - this will 100% be a plus in karma!

Then we introduce ourselves and explain why we are interested in the vacancy. To explain why only we are suitable for this position, we paint our skills and achievements with all colors. For example, My security plugin for Windows browsers made their work faster. - The security plugin of my creation speeds up all browsers!

At the end of the letter, we thank you for your attention - thanks for your attention, and that in general we will be happy to answer any questions, or even drive up for an interview - feel free to contact me for more details. We politely end the letter with the duty phrase "Regards", i.e. "Respectfully" / "Respectfully," not "See you later, alligator."

Resume Template in English

Dear Mr. Edison, I am highly interested in your position at findajob.com.- Dear Mr. Edison, I am highly interested in your vacancy, which I found on findjob.com.
In my last job I managed a $350,000 budget, with a reduction of costs totaling 15% over two years.- At my last job, I managed a budget of $350,000, reducing costs by a total of 15% in two years.
Thank you for your time. Please contact me for any relevant information.- Thank you for your time. Please contact if you need any additional information.
Regards, Andrew Wilson.- With best wishes, Andrew Wilson.

Please note that in the cover letter we can already write I am, I have. And, if you have recently reached some heights or have just completed an English course, you can say this with the help of Present Perfect - I have just finished an Intermediate English course. - I just completed an intermediate English course.

CV writing mistakes

Let's talk about typical mistakes when writing a resume.

  • More than 2 pages.
  • Poor visual design and solid text without paragraphs.
  • The absence of a professional profile (a spoiler about yourself and how cool our experience and skills are) is how you make the recruiter read all two pages of your resume.
  • Insufficient contact details. So your resume immediately gets to the bottom of the list and there is even a risk that it will simply be missed.
  • Insufficient information about past employment. This looks suspicious and immediately reduces your chances of getting the desired position.
  • Specifying short periods of work in the “Experience” section. They can scare off a potential employer (except for participating in project work - in which case be sure to mention that this was a short-term project).
  • Irrelevant experience - do not write how you worked at a construction site in the summer if you want to become a senior financial analyst.
  • The use of I am and I have are all in the same "Experience" section. As our carriers explained, this is a bad form and a waste of symbols.
  • Certificates and skills that are not. Everything is easily checked, and if you indicated the level of knowledge of the English language in your resume, for example, as a native, but in fact - with a dictionary, and then I'm embarrassed, you will definitely find yourself in an awkward situation. It is better to take an interview preparation course, which includes writing a resume in English, or a business course. By the way, we just have such courses and cool teachers who can easily prepare you and help you write a resume. So feel free to sign up for a free introductory lesson at EnglishDom.
  • No cover letter. Use every opportunity to draw attention to your candidacy, including a cover letter.
  • EnglishDom #we inspire to learn

Anna Kovrova

At first glance, translating a resume into English is a simple matter: I picked up the matches from the dictionary - and you're done. Every HR manager has seen hundreds of these interlineators. Do you want text that looks like it was originally written in English? We have already discussed the plan and general recommendations for compiling a resume, and now we will tell you what exactly to write in each of the sections and what vocabulary to use.

After reading the article, you will be able to independently write a successful resume in English.

Bonus: review sites with over 450 samples!

Objective

This section is also called "Job Objective", "Career Objective", "Career Goal" or even "Job Goal". In other words, the place you want to take.

English resume writing expert Susan Ireland advises staying away from generic phrases like “seeking a position in a growth-oriented company” (“looking for a job in a growth-oriented company”), “looking for a challenging position” (“ looking for a promising job”), “utilizing my skills and experience to advance my career” (“use my skills and experience to advance my career”). “All these empty words say nothing to the reader. We only need facts,” Susan is sure.

The specialists of the Monster recruiting portal also insist on brevity and accuracy. By the way, they recommend indicating career goals not under the “Objective” heading, but in the “Qualifications Summary” section, for example:

"It's better to say 'This is who I am' rather than 'This is what I want to be when I grow up'," the experts explain. But at the same time, the completed “Objective” column is required in some cases. For example, if you:

  • change the field of activity:

  • enter the labor market for the first time:

  • want to apply for a specific job:

Career Summary

This is the answer to the question: “How can I help the employer achieve their goals?”.

an expert in... expert in...
accomplished executive with a proven ability to... qualified leader with undoubted ability...
respected leader respectable leader
able to build highly motivated teams able to create highly motivated teams
keep up-to-date with changes in the industry keeping up with developments in my field
with over 10 years of experience with over 10 years of experience
successful in project management successful in project management
10 years of administrative experience in educational settings 10 years of management experience in the field of education
good at establishing rapport with people from diverse backgrounds I am able to establish contacts with people from different spheres
highly organized and detail-oriented highly organized and attention to detail
engineer with over three years IT industry experience an experienced engineer with over three years of experience in the IT industry
five years of project management experience in... 5 years of project management experience in...
strong background in... Good knowledge and experience in...
ability to find innovative solutions ability to find innovative solutions

Employment History

“Prove that you are worth something”, “Describe achievements, not responsibilities” - these are the slogans of this section. In the following examples, you will see how different things can be said about the same thing:

The second option is more convincing, right?

Useless phrases like “responsible for” or “duties include” should be avoided in favor of active, energetic expressions.

Education (Education)

Indicate the name of your academic degree and do not forget to underline if you were successful in your studies or wrote term papers on relevant topics. This is especially important for former students.

If you haven't completed your course yet:

If a diploma of higher education you do not have, the mention of trainings, courses, seminars will help out. Title the rubric "Professional Development" or "Relevant Training". If you have any advantages at your disposal, for example, you have practiced conversational English with a native speaker, they should be noted here.

Skills (Useful skills)

Enough 10-15 points. For the most important skills, it would be good to indicate the level of proficiency: beginner (beginner), intermediate (intermediate level) or expert (expert).

in-depth knowledge of... deep knowledge of...
excellent written and verbal communication skills excellent written and oral communication skills
ability to talk and conduct business in 2 languages ability to speak and conduct business in two languages
speaking in public ability to speak in front of an audience
easily solve technical problems easily solve technical problems
editing newsletters, letters editing mailing lists
in-depth understanding of... deep understanding
well-developed skills in... well developed skills
with broad experience in... with extensive experience in...
fluently read and write in English fluently write and read in English
keep alert to new computer hardware stay up to date with the latest in computer hardware
keep abreast of new software applications follow the release of new computer applications

However, even the most attractive resume is easy to spoil - a couple of mistakes are enough. If you are studying with an English tutor via Skype or in regular courses, it makes sense to give him the text for verification: grammar and spelling will definitely not suffer from this!

We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with our webinar "The Perfect Resume in English". Our expert Anna Gradoboeva, with experience in HR departments of foreign companies, talks about the secrets of writing a resume from the point of view of a professional recruiter:

Sample resumes in English

  • FreeResumeSamples.org - about 150 examples. There are options even for pilot, fashion designer and composer!

When applying for an international company, you must provide summary in English(resume or cv). It is subject to the same requirements as for a resume in Russian or Ukrainian. Therefore, if you already have a resume in your native language, you only need to correctly translate it into English, while adjusting it to the qualification requirements of the desired position.

How to write a resume in English

As in a resume in Russian, they distinguish: chronological, functional and combined. To write a resume in English, you need to break down all the information into parts.

A resume usually consists of the following blocks:

  1. heading(First Name, Surname, Date of birth, Address, Phone (Cellular phone, Home phone), E-mail) - document header. This section of the resume includes: name, surname, date of birth, residential address, contact numbers (mobile, home), email address of the applicant.
  2. Objective- goal. This block indicates, as a rule, the position for which the applicant is applying or the area in which he plans to develop.
  3. Work experience(Dates, Position, Title of company, City, Major Duties, Special Projects, Accomplishments). This section describes the applicant's work experience (period of work, position, company name, city, main responsibilities, projects, achievements).
  4. Education(Dates, Title of educational institution, Major, Degree). This section contains information about the applicant's education (period of study, name of the educational institution, specialization, title / academic degree). You can also mention here additional education: trainings, courses.
  5. Honors(Title, Awarding Organization, Date(s)) - awards (name of award, organization that presented, date) - indicated as far as possible.
  6. Publications(Title and Type (Note, Article, etc.), Title of Publication (Journal, Book, etc.), Publisher, Date Published) - publications in a newspaper, magazine (publication topic, type - note, article, etc. , in which magazine or newspaper it was published, date of publication) - is indicated as far as possible.
  7. Special Skills(fluency in a foreign language, knowledge of a particular computer application) - professional skills (knowledge of PC, foreign languages).
  8. Personal Information- personal information. In this block, you can indicate your hobby, marital status, personal qualities, etc.
  9. References- recommendations. If it is possible to provide recommendations from a previous place of work or study, you can indicate at the end of the resume: “References are available upon request” (References will be provided upon request).

In the upper corner of the resume in English, you can put a photo of the applicant.

A well-written CV (resume) in English is the key to success when applying for a prestigious job, because this is the first document that the employer will pay attention to. An ill-conceived, hastily designed CV can simply mean a wasted opportunity and time.

What is CV?

CV [,si:'vi:] - curriculum vitae (plural - curricula vitarum) - lat. "way of life". This is a professional biography that includes short description education, professional experience and achievements. CV- required document when applying for a job, submitting documents for participation in any official competition, etc. The term CV is widely used in the UK and European countries. And in the USA it is used only in the field of education and medicine. For Americans, the term “resume” is closer, which means the same thing - a short autobiography (information about education and professional experience). Since compiling a CV (resume) is a rather responsible matter, it is necessary to properly prepare for writing it.

How to write a CV in English?

Before writing a CV in English, take a few important steps:

  • define your goal - what position you are looking for;
  • think over and write down all the main events of your life related to training and past jobs - college, university, academy, courses, trainings;
  • correctly translate all proper names and put down the dates;
  • from the point of view of the employer, analyze your additional skills and abilities - knowledge of computer programs, foreign languages, the ability to drive a car ...
  • Prepare letters of recommendation from past employers.

Despite the fact that there are several ways in Business English to present information in a CV, the following structure is considered traditional:

  1. Personal details (name, address, telephone, email) - personal data
  2. Job objective
  3. education - education
  4. Qualifications - diplomas, certificates
  5. Work experience - work experience
  6. skills
  7. Interests - interests
  8. References - recommendations

Recently, they often write a small personal Profile (a brief description of personal characteristics) immediately after Personal details.

Katerina Semaka: ”No matter how live and good your language is, when it comes to creating your own CV, you can always be lost: which combination sounds better, which is more businesslike and which better describes the activity.

I have been in recruiting for more than 5 years. Due to my job functions I screen about 5,000 different CVs a year. I can tell you for sure that all that you write in your CV and how you write it matters a lot.

The main recommendation that I would give – CV should be informative, short and businesslike. It reflects not only your experience, but also you as a personality and tells much about you. In the text itself I would advise to use more gerund forms and nouns rather than infinitive forms (hint: according to CV content analysis infinitive forms sound more doubtful and less confident). Below are some of the phrases that could be of use, when you come to creating your CV in English”.

Until now
CV vocabulary
job experience work experience
covering letter transmittal letter
references are available upon request recommendations available upon request
job goal purpose of job search
key functions key features
main achievements major achievements
core skills key skills
establishing effective relationships establishing effective relationships
developing and implementing policies and procedures development and implementation of policies and procedures
customer support customer support
searching new clients looking for new clients
participating in projects participation in projects
negotiating with clients negotiating with clients
reporting reporting
optimization of existing processes optimization of existing processes
market/competitors' analysis market/competitor analysis
making presentations producing a presentation
teaching training courses The holding of trainings
budgeting budgeting
staff recruiting and development recruitment
staff management and motivation team management and motivation
organizing events organization of events
to go on business trips go on business trips
full time employment full time job
part-time employment part-time work
at a salary of with wages
advertising ad
responsibilities, duties duties
graduated with high honors graduated with honors
to cancel an appointment cancel the meeting
department the Department
experienced experienced
till present
join the company apply for a job in a company
job hunting work searches
  1. The volume of CV is 1-2 pages of printed text. It is better, of course, to keep within 1 page, because the second page may either get lost or mistakenly get to other documents. If there is a lot of information and it does not fit on 1 page, be sure to fasten 1 and 2 pages, after writing your name, surname, phone number on 2.
  2. Of course, in addition to the fact that your CV must be well-written, it must be properly subtracted - spelling, punctuation,