The Basics in Writing your Curriculum Vitae (CV) or Resume

Think of your CV as a sales document - you are selling yourself to potential employers and, as such, it should be a professional and concise representation of you and your employment history. Don’t rush this document, this should be polished, detailed but not to the point that you are writing your life’s history. Don't be tempted to write a novel! If you have a long professional experience, up to four pages is generally acceptable, while anything longer will likely see your CV consigned to the reject pile. I suggest outlining the positions that’s actually suited or related to the Job that you’re applying for. In other cases, it may warrant the inclusion of a single line with the period worked, name of company and position held. Even if we have to decide which to include or exclude on our Resume, we still have to follow a certain professional requirement in writing one.

Your CV/Resume should include the following basic information:

Your personal details (name, address, telephone number, email address) are the obvious starting point as you need your prospective employer to be able to contact you easily with regards to your job application.

Professional qualifications (if any) and be honest. Don’t oversell yourself to the point of telling a lie! While many employers look to professional qualifications as a filter in the event that they get a lot of applicants, a strong CV with good professional experience should hold on its own if you have been in a "learn on the job" role.

Career history, write this starting with your most recent job working backwards, I suggest to be honest and write down only the jobs that you were employed in. Don’t exaggerate the Job descriptions as well - answering phones for your boss on a secretarial position does not qualify as a “Call Center Experience”. Believe it or not, I’m actually seeing this on some CVs.

Your achievements in each role should also be highlighted, be concise about it and make sure you only highlight that which deserves to be. Don’t go outlining everything to the point of bragging. Those you highlighted should also show your characteristics that are relevant to the post that you are applying for.

Write down your educational background as well from your most recent working backwards. If you don’t have any employment history yet, write down your academic achievements, seminars that you deem fit for the job as well as on the Job Trainings that’s related to the industry that you are applying for.

Write at least two references and their contact details. Make sure to advise them that someone might call to inquire about you. The best references would be your previous supervisor or college professor and a colleague or someone you know who is already employed at the company that you are applying for. I suggest a combination of both so that the employer can gauge your professional and personal characteristics based on your reference.

The format of your CV should be very clear and easy to read, with a simple font like Ariel or Times New Roman, using 11 or 12 point size and one and half line spacing. Highlight the names of your employers, the position you held and the years spent working there.

Your CV is part of the first impression you make with an interviewer and it is a key to the questions that they would be asking. It would be worth it if you put a lot of effort in crafting an outstanding CV to give yourself the advantage in moving forward on a job application. While writing your CV down, start to formulate the questions that might be asked by the interviewer based on the information that you provided. In this way, you won’t be caught off guard once the questions pop out. Happy hunting and remember, don’t give up on your Job hunt. Those who strive are rewarded.

Tips on How to Improve your English Communication Skills

Although we don’t need to delve deep into grammar for you to be able to communicate with a native speaker, you still need to learn and familiarize yourself with the basics for you to speak clearly and become an effective Call Center Agent. The familiarization of the English grammar and the discovery of new English words will help you to get a stronger grasp of the language and in turn help your career by shaping your personality – remember that if you can convey your thoughts clearly, the easier it is to talk to you. Though you do not need to be a conservative grammarian, the basics will help you build a foundation for your communication skills. Once you’re used to it, you should be able to determine what’s right and wrong in a sentence just by listening to it.

Here are a few ways to improve your English Proficiency:

Go back to the Basics and Simplify Your Thoughts 

Filipinos have been privileged to have been exposed to the English language since the day they first started school, for some, it even started since the day they were born. English movies, Television Series, Literature and Articles are so accessible that students tend to take their English lessons for granted. I’m not telling you to go back to school again, what I’m suggesting is for you to remember the basic grammar rules that were taught to you in your grade school and high school. It’s a sad fact that even though we have English subjects every school year, we still fail at mastering the art of communication in the English language. It’s not because we don’t understand it, it’s because we have a hard time simplifying our thoughts for our mouth to utter the words.

The key is to use simple words, construct simple sentences and re-learn your basic grammar rules to make sure that they are correct. You may Click here for some tips on the grammar rules. A good practice would be to learn Phrases – Click Here for sample phrases and familiarize how the sentence was constructed with the proper grammar rule. A more enjoyable practice would be watching English movies with subtitles and imitate the dialogue on the movie. You can also imitate the pace, the pitch and the intonation of your favorite Celebrity. Make sure to take note of how fast they are speaking when talking with each other on the Movie, this is the pace that you want for someone to understand you. What are you waiting for? Go watch that favorite English movie of yours and start a practice that you can also enjoy.

Expand your Vocabulary – Read and Learn Online and Offline 

The world of internet is full of opportunities, information and a lot of free materials. You can utilize this resource to the fullest to improve your knowledge of the English Language. You’d be able to find a lot of sites that offers articles that you can read, a good example would be the Rarejob News Article blog – the blog is a summary of News articles from all over the net with a list of vocabulary per article to add to your English arsenal of words. Since Rarejob caters to Japanese students who want to learn English, you can make sure that their articles are simplified in way that you can use them as if you were learning again for the first time. I would also suggest making it a habit to read newspapers or books, the Newspapers is not just for you to keep up with the current affairs but this can also introduce you to a range of new words and Sentence Structures. They also help you to form opinions on various issues. The habit of reading a book is also bound to make you aware of the grammatical rules and also strengthen your vocabulary. You can also read magazines and journals. The majority of writers who write in famous publications have a pretty good knowledge on the fundamentals of proper grammar. In this practice, you'll be exposed to a lot of useful materials that would help you increase your English proficiency, aside from that - you might even learn something new.

Read Out Loud 

This practice is awkward to some people but mind you, this is really effective. Remember when we were kids where we were shown pictures by our teachers and were asked to read the words that come with the picture out loud? When you do this, your brain records the sound of the words as spoken by you and you will never forget the way the sound goes with the image. Eventually, we get exposed to new ideas and techniques in reading and we start to just whisper the words instead of saying it out loud until the time where we only read through our minds.  This technique though is also the reason why our tone and enunciation is also deteriorating as time passes by. When we read silently, we only use two parts of our body – the brain and the eyes. To get back to the saddle - we should back up a bit and start to read out loud again and when we do, we would be using four parts of our body - the brain, eyes, ears, and mouth. Using more parts of the body would increase your retention level since your mind had been trained to listen to your own native language and it is resisting the learning. So you can train your mind to listen to something new by actually reading out loud, with feelings and emotions as the word turns. This way, what the eyes see, the brain will hear and the learning becomes faster and the skills you develop will get better from your practice. You would also be able to exercise your facial muscles since the sounds are shaped by our facial organs - tongue, teeth, nose, lips, etc.

What would be the best source of practice for this? We should look for materials with gentle cadences that change the mood of the written word like poetry or literature - materials with dialogues that you can imitate. Experiment with the tempo, the tone, raise your voice up and down and notice that every time you do this, even with the same sentence, it would turn up with a different meaning. Always read what interests you, in this way, you won’t have a problem with getting bored and giving up right away. Observe what your read, when you read out loud, use your mind to the maximum. Notice how the sentences are put together, the order of the words, how they construct the sentences and the grammar rules that they are using. Try to remember these things and put them in practice when you speak and write in the English language.

Never give up on Practicing 

In case you find yourself getting bored or uninterested in learning, don’t give up. Think of giving up as a mortal sin. Like your job hunt, you shouldn’t give up on your Communication Skills as well. Learning and mastering the English language is never easy. The key is to keep practicing until you get the hang of it.  You reduce your practice hours or frequency but don’t quit - keep reading and writing.

The rewards of a good communication skill are not just limited to your job hunt or your employment, this will also develop you personality and your people skills. It is an investment that’s worth the effort with only your time as the cost, work your way in developing these skills and reap the rewards, you will never regret it.

Essentials Things To Do When Preparing for a Job Interview

The BPO industry in the Philippines has this simple yet effective way of sourcing out applicants. They just ask the applicant’s full name and contact number and the applicant would get an invite for an assessment and interview. Believe it or not, the assessment is actually the easiest part of the whole process. It’s the interview that you have to prepare for. Most companies give utmost importance on scrutinizing the applicant’s personality and communication skill since most of the other attributes are acquired knowledge. Remember - product information and customer responses can be taught and scripted but how you deliver it is you and yours alone. I’m not saying you have to disregard the assessment. The bulk of it anyway is just Basic English and Computer know-how which I’m sure was taught to you way back in high school. So if you were listening then, I’m pretty sure you won’t fail it. You do have to prepare for your interview - this is something that you have to keep in mind so I have listed some essential things to do before you even go through the whole process.

The first thing you need is to have a good understanding of the position you are applying for. There is nothing worse than giving your interviewers the impression that you just applied for the post and you don't even understand what it is. Lucky for you, we have a whole section - Call Center 101 dedicated for you to understand what a Call Center Agent is all about. You may Click here to visit that section. Once you are scheduled for a job interview, take time to review the job descriptions. Pay close attention especially to the tasks and responsibilities involved. Visit the company or the organization's website if it has one. Read its Mission/Vision as well as core values. Try to have a sense of what it’s like to work in that environment. Present yourself as someone already working there but never try to put on a persona, just be yourself, knowledge is everything in this industry so try to equip yourself with one.

Another thing to remember is to anticipate the interview questions and prepare an answer for them. Always remember though that most of the questions will mostly come from your Resume so spend some time to read through it, think of the possible questions that the interviewer might ask and it’s best that you have an answer for all of them. There might come a time where an interviewer would throw an oddball / trick question that’s out of context, just keep in mind that these questions are designed to gauge your communication skills and how you react to unexpected things, it doesn’t have a right or wrong answer - just answer the question with confidence and you should do good. Always diversify your answers and never forget to give out examples as it would be your proof that you’re not making up stories. What I suggest to do is write down all your positive attributes, traits, characteristics, abilities and give out 3 examples for each of them. When worst comes to worst, since you have probably listed a lot, it’s easy to pull one up even if you forget the other ones. You may also Click here to view the Sample Question and Answers that may be asked when you go through an interview. Don’t get caught off guard – shield yourself with confidence through preparation.

The last thing to consider is to plan how to be on time for the interview. You already know how important a good first impression is. You can be certain that you will not make a good first impression if you are late for your job interview. To avoid being late, double check the address and the time, make sure you know very well how long it will take you to get there. If it’s possible, take a trip to the area where the interview will take place ahead of time. That way, the timeframe is more accurate. On top of all that, on the day or time of the set interview, plan to arrive about 15 minutes earlier. This will provide you some time to get relaxed – Click here for a tip on how to do that and maybe briefly meet and have a casual chat with someone before the interview.
The success of your job application hinges on a lot of things. It’s best that you prepare for all the scenarios that may come up during this time. Going to war without any preparation is the worst thing a soldier can do, so arm yourself, plan ahead, set your goals and land that job.