Your CV: qualifications first, especially for NGOs

A CV has one job: to make someone decide, in seconds, that you are worth reading properly.

What it needs

• Name and contact. A phone number with WhatsApp and a professional email address.
• Location. City and district.
• Qualifications. Certificates, diplomas and degrees, with institution and year.
• Experience. Employer, role, dates and what you actually did.
• Referees. Commonly expected in Malawi — include two or three with their consent.

What to leave out

National ID number, marital status, number of children, religion. None of it helps the decision.

The NGO and donor sector reads differently

This sector is a large share of formal employment in Malawi, and it screens on:

• Formal qualifications, stated precisely
• Written English — reports are a core deliverable, and the CV is your first writing sample
• Project experience with named donors or programmes where you can say so
• Monitoring and evaluation skills, which are valued across roles

A CV with careless grammar is a real problem in this sector, more than in most.

Commercial employers

Banking, telecoms and manufacturing look for relevant sector experience and, where applicable, professional certification.

Agriculture and estates

Practical experience, crop or equipment familiarity, and supervisory history where you have it.

Describe the work, not the title

"Programme Officer" says little. "Managed a district-level nutrition programme reaching 4,000 households, supervised six field staff and prepared quarterly donor reports" says a great deal more.

Use numbers wherever you have them.

Length

Two to three pages is accepted in the NGO sector, where detail on projects is expected. In commercial roles, keep it tighter.

Keep it current

A complete profile means employers find you in their searches, even when you are not actively looking.