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. Town and province.
- Experience. Employer, role, dates and what you actually did.
- Qualifications. Certificates, diplomas and degrees with institution and year.
- Certifications, with validity dates.
- Referees. Commonly expected — include two or three with their consent.
What to leave out
NRC number, marital status, number of children, religion. None of it helps the decision.
Mining and construction
Safety and technical certifications go near the top, with expiry dates. In these sectors they are often threshold requirements rather than extras.
Include the specific equipment, systems and standards you have worked with, and any site or shift experience.
An expired certification reads worse than none, because it suggests it was not maintained.
NGOs and development
This sector screens on formal qualifications, project experience with named donors or programmes, report writing and monitoring and evaluation.
Written English matters here more than most places, because reporting is a core deliverable and your CV is the first sample.
Banking and corporate Lusaka
Formal layout, professional qualifications stated clearly, and often automated screening. Keep the format simple and use the words from the vacancy.
Describe the work, not the title
"Plant Operator" says little. "Operated crushing plant on a copper site, maintained production logs and worked to permit-to-work procedures across a two-week shift cycle" 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. For mining and commercial roles, keep it tighter.
Keep it current
A complete profile means employers find you in their searches. Review certification dates first — those expire.