Your CV: qualifications first, and written English matters

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. District and town.
• Qualifications. Certificates, diplomas and degrees, with institution and year.
• Experience. Employer, role, dates and what you actually did.
• Referees. Commonly expected — include two or three with their consent.

What to leave out

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

The NGO and development sector

A large share of formal employment, and it screens on:

• Formal qualifications, stated precisely
• Written English — reports are a core deliverable, and your CV is the first sample
• Project experience with named donors or programmes
• Monitoring and evaluation skills

Careless grammar is a real problem in this sector, more than in most.

Financial services and telecoms

Professional qualifications stated clearly, along with relevant sector experience and systems knowledge.

Construction and technical

Trade certifications, equipment and systems, and safety record.

Agriculture

Crop and equipment familiarity, supervisory experience, and availability across seasons.

Describe the work, not the title

"Programme Officer" says little. "Managed a district health programme reaching 6,000 households, supervised eight field staff and prepared quarterly reports for two donors" says a great deal more.

Use numbers wherever you have them.

Length

Two to three pages is accepted in the NGO sector where project detail is expected. Keep commercial applications tighter.

Keep it current

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