5 Most Important Things Nigerian Employers Are Now Looking For In A CV

Your CV is the first step that gets you the job.

It determines whether you get shortlisted for an interview.

Now, when you look at your CV and honestly critic it, does it increase or decrease your chances of getting shortlisted?

Perhaps your CV formatting is wrong or you have included unnecessary things in your CV.

It has now been revealed that there are 5 main things Nigerian employers are looking for the minute they open your CV.

1. Your Career Objective

A career objective is a summarized account of who you are as a professional. It MUST be tailored to the job description.

At this point you also state your total years of experience, your achievements and finish off with your enthusiasm for the job.

Also be sure to include your soft skills such as result driven and tenacious professional.

A career objective should however not be too lengthy. The secret is to keep it short and sweet.

2. Academic Qualifications

Academic qualifications should not be listed randomly.

Always begin with the highest level of academic excellence and proceed to the lowest. Kindly include your class if it is  a strong one (First Class, Second Class Upper)

Additionally, avoid indicating the grades you scored.

NEVER breakdown the units you did in school. This is wasting much needed space on your CV.

3. Your key skills and Competencies

This is a very important component on your CV. It should be the point at which you sell yourself.

When listing your KEY skills and competencies, ensure they are related to the job description.

List both technical and soft skills in order to ensure that as an employer reads your CV he can be able to discern you have a good grasp of both.

AVOID giving one word vague pointers here such as saying; accounting skills, communication skills, Computer literate.

ALWAYS give statements e.g. “Communication Skills: Excellent oral and written communication skills acquired throughout my career.

Your key skills and competencies should always come immediately after your academic background.

4. Your Achievements

What have you achieved in the last few years or months working that will boost your chances of getting an interview?

If you do not have any work experience, what were you able to achieve in school?

Ensure that you list relevant achievements. Be very specific as you do so as well.

List 1-3 achievements.

5. Your referees

Did you know that you MUST always have 3 referees in your CV?

These can be people you know professionally i.e. people you have worked for, interacted with at a professional level etc.

NEVER include referees who you know personally.

You need to know that employers always make follow ups with referees and in the event they call them up or email them and find out you lied, you will not get shortlisted.