Sometimes, the companies reserve some CV to consider later. After several months, the company may call applicants and sometimes they do not remember anything. For that reason it´s necessary to be aware of the data and the requirements of the places where we have sent our information. In this case, it could be useful to follow certain guidelines to keep track of the nominations made.

First step, get organized

In a spreadsheet this information can be placed:

1. Institution´s name, area, sector.
2. How you contacted the institution. For example: newspaper advertisement, spontaneous presentation, through an acquaintance.
3. Occupation for which you have postulated.
4. Date of submission of CV.
5. CV and letter of introduction copies.
6. Interview: name of the interviewer, style of the interview.
7. Other data: may you contact the institution again? When? General comments about the interview, strengths and weaknesses that need strengthening.

Sometimes, there are other instances that you may have to pass before you get the job. For example a second interview, a psycho-technical test or others. Many times these instances are harder to get through than the others because the competition is against other applicants with more adequate profiles for the position.

To take into account

Before the interview: take an updated CV with you, verify the company´s contact data and adjust your own pretensions.

During the interview: be quiet, maintain the presence and respect, do not doubt, be tolerant and take care of your language.

After the interview: review your actions, reformulate positions, keep in contact with the company, be patient.

From the point of view of the candidate, it´s vital to be organized and to keep control over the CV sent. It has no sense sending hundreds of CV everywhere. One CV for each offer with its respective letter of introduction will allow a better monitoring and a good role in re-submitting the institution.

The selection process, as well as the series of interviews, can be transformed into a seduction game. Besides the specific knowledges that you can offer to that job and the gained experience in other organizations, there is a relationship between the person that interviews, and the candidate, that should be equilibrated, precise and seductive at the same time.

The candidate must show his/her qualities to the interviewer, somebody that is looking for an indicate profile for the post. Previously, an updated CV was elaborated, its information was put into web searchers and data basis of companies, several contacts were moved, a work position was opened and now ¡you are there! What should you do?

The group interviews, at assessment centers, are in trend with the intention to get younger professionals. Those kind of interviews let us know the capacities of each candidate in a quick way. There is a coordinator that controls the case or the problem to solve and each candidate can give an opinion. It is important to know that the solution of the case is not important here, because the selection team will be concentrated in the development of each person in the group, the role adopted, the capacity of leadership, besides the strategy thought to solve the problem.

Some helpful secrets to be considered are these:

• Find a good use to the available time
• Participate and let others do the same
• Prepare a personal presentation to save time
• Be coherent in your answers, don’t follow the others just for the sake of it
• Include people that are not participating

In the case of individual interviews it is necessary to look for the compatible profile for the offered post. It is important to research about the company before going to the interview, you can do it by Internet or asking some friends that have worked there.

Your clothes must be adequate to the post, there always exists standard clothing for any situation. The first thing that will be evaluated is punctuality; if you arrive early you can be more relaxed. Normally, the questioning begins with your working history; the CV follows, in the weak and the strong points of it. This is something you should thing about before the interview, besides the relation between the abilities that you can give to the project, and the abilities that the company is looking for that post.

At the end of the interview it is normal to be asked: “Do you have any questions?”, and is a good idea to elaborate something basic to answer that question; something in relation with that company or about the selection process. It is advisable not to ask about the salary in the first interview, and leave it for the next interview.

If you want to take the interview as an opportunity to learn, a way to be open and find out about new organizations and make contacts, it is always possible to use this interaction space, because you will learn experiences or receive lessons about how to find the perfect post that is waiting for you, in some place of your CV.

Remember: THE INTERVIEW IS JUST ONE STEP MORE, NOTHING ELSE.

To make it attractive, the letter must be simple and must be divided in three small parts: header, main body and final greeting.

The header

Our personal information is the first thing that we must include in a letter of introduction. In that way the employer is going to be able to contact us easily. First and last name, address, telephones and e-mail must appear clearly. This information will be aligned at the left, in the superior part of the sheet. Below this we’ll place the information of the company that we are contacting: name of the person that we are addressing to, always as Sir or Madame, occupation, name of the company and complete address.

Next, we are going to include the initial greeting. We must address to the person that was mentioned in the announcement (Dear Sr. name). Contrarily, we can simply write To Whom It May Concern.

A clear and simple development in the main body

At the beginning we must point out the number of reference that was mentioned in the advertisement that we are answering to. We must include also the communication media where we read the publication (newspaper, digital publication, etc.) or, in case we are presenting ourselves spontaneously, we must explain how we arrived to the company, what position we are interested in and why.

In the letter’s development we must include any information that might be relevant. Here we are going to talk about our strengths; we can mention skills and knowledge required in the announcement, any important accomplishment, work experience, etc. We don’t have to write down all the information already detailed in our CV, but it’s very important to remark our strong points.

In case we are talking about a self candidature, the information detailed in the development is going to be more relevant. You must make stand out your accomplishments, your skills, what you can bring to the company and why you can perform properly in the job you want to get.

The final greeting

In this short line we have to repeat our interest about being contacted by the company and give thanks in anticipation about the answer that we are waiting to receive.

The farewell must be simple and proper. We can use any of the traditional greetings above:

• Awaiting for news, yours faithfully
• Looking forward to a favorable reply, sincerely
• I remain at your entire disposal,
• Sincerely,

Finally we must include our complete signature, first and last name.

Be careful with the details

Review orthography and coherence in your words, do not write more than one page and use a simple typography, without ornaments. This is the only possibility you have to show your attributes; errors or incoherence can leave you out very fast.

• A CV that has not reached an immediate impact on the reader is going to end up in the garbage. It is fundamental to capture the attention from the first lines of the CV.
• The size of the document must be no more than two or three pages.
• The marital status or the number of children that we have is not evidence or prove about our profile or professional achievements, especially if we belong to the female sex.
• Explain in the first paragraph why we must be chosen, talk about your strong points, qualities, in the other sections of the CV, for example, giving details of specializations. Is not the same a graduate on education that a graduate on education specialized on TICs.
• The interviewer must find precise information in a quick way.

The basic structure of a CV is:

Personal information; name, mail zone, email, telephone and cell phone, is recommended to be formal.

Courses/studies: title obtained, the scholar center where the studies were taken, and the number of years, for example, “Graduated on education, specialist in TICs (1999-2005) University XXX

Job experiences: name of the company, its address, and the period of the job; if that relationship is finished, you have to indicate the beginning year and the ending year as well. If the contractual relationship remains, you can write “2002-remains”. Under that, you have to add the work position that you had, or the current one. Next, you can describe the functions using a technical language. For example, if we worked as telemarketers we can write “Commercial area with direct sales and telephonic attention to the clients”

Languages: it is a strong point in the CV. We must differentiate the reached levels in the oral and written expression. It is not convenient to put “low level”. If you have some knowledge about a foreign language, even reduced, it is better to write “intermediate level”.

Computer knowledge: we must indicate our level as “Basic”, “User”, or “Expert”. It is important to emphasize the operative system that you use. If you have knowledge about Office, it is not necessary to mention the version of it, or the programs that are included. If you are able to use other specific programs, you must explain in few words why they are useful. For example: “Audacity (sound edition)”.

It is not useful to invent experiences that we are not capable to prove, or to exaggerate knowledge. In a CV we always have to tell the truth, although it depends of how we choose to express that, in front of people. One piece of paper with our experience, in a very truthful and concise manner, is better than many pages with false information. Besides, the consultant offices accustom to store the CV of the candidates; that is why there is a risk we will be caught in that lie.

To omit is not to lie

You should not write exact dates (days, months). It is better just to mention years. This is useful to hide inexperience, or not too much time in a job. If we accustom to change frequently of job, it can give us a bad image. That is why it is a good idea to omit that information.

When you have a fair amount of experience, you can omit some previous jobs and courses and include only the most relevant. The CV will have a better way to be read if it is made in just one or two pages, and the information put in it is of quality. A speech of two hours about any given topic must not be considered as a seminary (and it must not be included).

Everything is experience

Jobs in familiar business, student activities in companies or similar labors are good ways to prove experience; that is the reason we should add all the scholar studies that were useful for your professional training.
Jobs without pay are useful for those people without experience. You should work in at least one free job and, therefore, in your next job meeting, you will be able to say that you have worked in some plan related with your professional area.

Organization and concision

You should keep a certain order if you want to have a CV easy to read, and, in order to get it, you must use just one or two pages. With this purpose, it is necessary to be concise. We have to divide the CV in two sections. First the personal information (full name, place and date or birth, nationality, marital status, full address, telephones and email). After that, scholar information, job experiences, include reference data (you can order it by date or by relevance) and, at least, your academic courses (idioms, computer science, etc)

No matter what style you choose to present your CV, it has to prove professionalism and has to be easy to read.