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I know. I know. You are wondering on earth who Edwin Akpan is and what audacity he has got to ask whether CV format is really important in CV writing.

Relax. I’m not here to make noise about myself. But if you may know, I am a professional copywriter and I do my writings based on sound and basic principles. I am compelled to ask the above question because of what I have discovered.

I discover that jobseekers and professional CV writers worry about CV formats to use – functional CV format or chronological CV format or even both?

See why they get confused? They don’t even know which format to use in a given situation.

Some experts have advised jobseekers and CV writers on which CV format to use in a given situation, but I have got the nerve to say that they don’t really matter.

Yep! They are immaterial. Employers don’t care about CV formats. They are humans like you and I, meaning that they decide to read CVs based on emotion, then they can look for different kinds of logic to justify their reading and settling for a particular CV. Catch my drift? So where does CV formats come in here?

 Listen, when you want to write CVs, don’t bother your head on whether to use functional or chronological CV format. You may end up more confused. If you really want to get confused just try looking up the definitions of these words.

The first thing to do before writing a CV is to understand your audience.

* Who is going to read your CV?

* What are their needs and wants?

* What are their concerns?

* What solutions do they need?

* Why do they want to hire new employees?

Then address these questions in your CV starting from the most important.

That is the secret of CVs that generate endless interviews. You want to capitalize on that immediately.

Want to discover how to address the specific needs of employers in your CV? Visit http://www.mycvwizard.com

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The difference between successful CVs and ineffective CVs is simply branding. When employers don’t perceive the value you’re going to add to them, they simply ignore you.

Your brand is a perception. Your brand is an emotion. This perception and emotion are maintained by employers after reading your CV and it reveals to them what to expect as a result of having a relationship with you.

So, when employers don’t get to know what to expect from you, then your CV becomes ineffective.

Now, when talking of branding, never make the mistake of thinking of fancy logos, catchy slogans, glorified images, and other bells and whistles that people erroneously think as branding. Branding is far beyond the above contrived and superficial elements.

Brand is a relationship. Brand is about building trust. Brand is connecting to another person’s value system, mission, vision, and goals. When this happens, then miracle happens in a matter of minutes. So, in your CV, you must connect or at least appear to connect to your employers’ needs, values, and goals. This means that you must understand the needs of your employers.

Everybody already has a brand. But to bring it out and communicate it in clear, eloquent terms in your CV is the hard part. That is why I took time to develop the Personal Brand Profile Worksheet. This worksheet forces you to think through and through about yourself and help you develop a clear, complete, strong and valuable personal brand that tells employers in compelling terms the great things to expect from you as a result of having a relationship with you. Send me an email to request for a free copy of this worksheet.

Really, you don’t need a Harvard degree to be able to brand yourself in your CV. In part 2 of this article, I’ll show you simple steps to take to powerfully brand yourself in your CV.

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 One of the frequent questions jobseekers ask me as a professional CV writer is whether they should include their hobbies in their CVs or leave them out? Important question! And as usual, I’ve got the perfect answer.  Read more… (263 words, 1 image, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)