How should the CV size be?

In general, there is no clear distinction about CV such as whether it should exceed 2 pages or the more pages the better. However, while CVs that do not exceed 2 pages are generally preferred in the UK school, a detailed CV expressed in more than 2 pages is more preferred in the USA. So what is the situation in our country? How much should the CV size be?

In our country, the CVs of people looking for a job through online career sites are delivered to companies looking for employees. Therefore, the information that job seekers will enter on online career sites is directed to companies looking for employees.

 Considering that a hundred, two hundred applications are made for a position of one or two people in any job application, these applications must be eliminated according to several criteria in order to be eliminated quickly and reduced to the number that can be taken to the oral interview. For this reason, since the information left blank will be considered unwritten, the candidate's application may be automatically eliminated. First of all, in order for our application to pass the first screenings, it is mandatory to enter the information completely on the online career site.

Automatically, when the main information required on a normal CV (education, experience, hobbies, references) is entered, an A4 size of at least 2 pages is reached. Another point to be considered here is that the information to be disclosed should be expressed plainly, clearly, and unnecessary extensions should be avoided. Because the HR officer will most likely not have the opportunity to examine every CV at length. In this case, a professional CV consisting of short and concise information, in which the expressions to be emphasized will come to the fore, will be more effective.

How should the photo to be added to the resume be?

Especially in our country and Asian countries, a CV without a photo is unthinkable. In addition to the technical knowledge and skills of the person to be hired, being presentable is also an important factor in the recruitment process. For this reason, having a photo on the CV can help us to get ahead of other candidates. This photo is expected to be a headshot, taken in a well-dressed manner and with a smiling facial expression to reflect our positive energy to the other party. A photo with these features will make our CV strong.

How should educational information be written?

 The level of education we have received is, of course, one of the most important factors for us to get the top ranks in the ranking, even the most important.

First of all, the schools we graduated from (or are still attending) should be written in the "from the end to the beginning" date order. If we have graduated from school with a degree, this degree must be indicated. In general, it is sufficient to go down to the high school – college level in the completed schools. It is not necessary to specify the primary-secondary school levels (unless there is a special reason - finishing with the first place, etc.

Especially if we consider that there are a lot of unemployed people with diplomas in our country, it is better understood how much attention we should pay to the importance of the level of education. In this case, if we have gaps in education, it would be a very correct move to look for ways to close them.

 For example, if we want to work in a business line that requires at least a university degree, graduating from the university in the relevant field will not be enough on its own to pass the pre-selection. A master's degree that is a continuation of the relevant field will of course give you a great advantage at the point of choice. However, if we assume that a master's degree with or without thesis will take at least 1.5-2 years, and you do not have that much time, it would not be very reasonable to wait to finish the master's degree.

At this point, fast certificate programs that will strengthen our CV will provide us with great advantages. One or even more certificates that will provide you with preliminary/detailed information in the relevant line of business, and will make you different from other "university graduates" in the eyes of the employer and make you "noticed" will make your recruitment process much easier.

In this way, following certificate programs that will give you an advantage over competitors that are the same as your general education level will help your CV stand out from other candidates. Even before graduating from school, receiving trainings for personal development and preparing for business life, crowning these trainings with certificates of participation or achievement will make a great contribution to your job search process.

How should social experiences be written?

Employers don't just value technical knowledge. Your social personality is also one of the important criteria for hiring. This aspect, which will generally be examined more dominantly during the interview process, will also increase your value during the first review of your CV. Especially during the elimination of CVs with the same technical experience and information, your sociability will allow you to gain a plus value.

We can express the importance of this as follows. Employers, HR officials; Only the person with technical knowledge is not obliged to put it together. At the same time, they are the people who are responsible for bringing together the elements that will protect the social environment in the workplace, create synergy and not disrupt the existing synergy. For this reason, your sociability, the type of social activities you have participated in, your personal development should show that you can speak the same language as the current staff in your workplace. The courses you attend here, the activities you do in accordance with your hobbies, the associations you are a member of (especially if it is an association close to the same line of business) will be a great advantage.

How should work experiences be written?

Current work experience is one of the most important criteria for hiring. However, these experiences should be in such a way that they follow each other from the end to the beginning and without leaving any gaps in between as much as possible. Therefore, if you want to make any job change, it is necessary not to leave the old job before starting a new job "so that your career is not damaged".

In addition, if there is work experience in different sectors, if the relevant personnel profiles are very different and unrelated from each other, it would be more appropriate to write the experience to be highlighted. In addition, while the experience in the relevant job is explained without going into too much detail, the other irrelevant work experience should either be mentioned very briefly, or even if there is no need at all and it is thought to be redundant in the CV, it would be more logical not to write it.

By the way, if you are a recent graduate and have no work experience, there are a few edits to be made. First of all, while you are at school, you should definitely evaluate your internship knowledge, if any, as "experience" and include it among your career information. If you do not have an internship, you should look for an internship place during the job search process and even take this step before graduating from the university, which will make you stand out among graduate candidates. It should not be forgotten that many workplaces entered as interns; If he sees in you the determination to work and the necessary attention and dedication, he will not have any difficulty in opening the doors of the workplace to you "as a staff".

How to write testimonials?

 The presence of people (other than family members and close relatives) who can get ideas from you, the fact that they can give you references, say good things about you, and give information about your working order is a prominent feature, especially during the interview phase.

The most important thing to consider here is to get permission from the people you think will reference you. They should be aware that those people (for example, your professor at university, your former boss at work, etc.) are referring to you. In addition, it should be ensured that these people have "positive" opinions about you.

For example; If it is desired to apply for a job at the internship place, it is almost a necessity to show your manager, who is responsible during the internship and has positive thoughts about you, as a "Reference".

Finally, in this field, it is an option to leave the reference subject to the interview stage, with a statement such as "it will be given when requested". This method is preferred, especially if the previous workplace has been exited in an unpleasant way.

 Are social media accounts included in the CV?

 Today, it is known that human resources managers have started to obtain additional information about the relevant person by following the relevant person on social media sources (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.) as well as the information written in the CV about the personnel they will hire.Therefore, it is in our hands to use these social media resources in a positive way. A proper profile that reflects our personal development will always leave a good impression for us to live in business. Making positive posts on applications such as Linkedin, which is frequently followed by professionals of business life, can ensure that job offers come to you before you even apply for a job.

Finally, logical and physical consistency; 

First of all, after preparing a CV that pays attention to the criteria we have tried to express in detail above, it will be very useful to put ourselves in the employer's shoes and empathize in order to see possible mistakes in the CV.

In addition, we can give an example of logic errors. If we have applied for a job posting in the Private Sector, a recent exam information (KPSS, etc.) for the civil service entered in our CV will express between the lines that you want to work in public institutions and may prevent you from being hired.

If we say what kind of mistakes are usually made; We can talk about date inconsistencies, mixed education and work experiences that are expected to be sequential, and irregular fonts and titles in an unsightly way.

After printing it out from the printer, we should definitely examine the CV in our hands and review it one last time as it is on paper, whether it will be different from what we see on the screen.

In addition, saving the CV as a PDF and sending it as a PDF before sending our CV in the e-mail form will prevent changes to be made on the CV to some extent outside of us. Because the other party can open the CV sent in Word format and make changes on the CV, even if it is unintentional.

As a result, it should not be forgotten that the CV is a whole, just as we first look at the outside and clothing of a person we have just met, and then examine his speech and character, the same prejudices exist in the recruitment process. Based on the fact that the appearance is examined on the CV and other features are discussed during the interview phase, it should be taken into account that the HR officer and recruiter of the company have the same feelings.