The First Step to Finding a Job Abroad: How Should Your CV Be?

In my article, in which I announced that I would settle in Munich and explained how the process developed, for those who want to find a job and live abroad, based on my own experiences Abroad/Europe’ I mentioned that I would prepare a section about settling in. I decided to start with the how to find a job abroad section for those who will make changes due to work like me, and I detailed the subject of preparing a CV abroad in this article.

The first step to finding a job is, of course, a resume, i.e. CV. Even though I am not a Human Resources Specialist, I have some suggestions on how to have a good CV, and I learned things that are different from us abroad over time.. If you have different suggestions or experiences, you can specify them in the comments section, or you can reach me from my e-mail address and specify the topics you want me to add to my articles.

Guide to Foreign CV Preparation

Divide Your CV into Sections

• The order of the sections in the CV usually starts with Personal Information, Work Experience (if applicable), Education and Hobbies generally, I I think this format is correct. After that, it may vary according to your field and experience; New graduates can make a title about their projects at school, while people with work experience can make a title about the certificates they have received.. For example, since I worked part-time during my university life and I thought this experience contributed a lot to me, I made a topic about part-time jobs.

Keep Your CV Short

• Don’t think creating a longer CV is the way to prove you’ve done more. Try to create a CV that does not exceed 2 pages if you are a recent graduate or 4 if you have been working for many years.. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the reader to find the information they are looking for, and they will not want to spend their limited time on your crowded CV.
• Don’t try to fit everything by writing it to the bottom, just because I gave a page restriction Titles, You can use line spacing and text in different fonts.. For example; You can write the WORK EXPERIENCE title in bold with 11 fonts, leave a space, and write the company name in 10 font bold and the explanations about what you do at that job in 10 fonts without bolding.. So you need to guide the reader from a general heading to smaller sections and where to move to a different section.

Use an Easy-to-Read Format

• Pay attention to page alignment, bulleting and spacing. Proceed in the same way throughout the CV; For example, if you are describing what you do in a job in bullet points, do not put a line at the beginning of the items and another sign at the other place.
• Leave line spaces between the items (incorrect at the top, correct at the bottom) so that your CV is easy to read.

• Prepare your CV in word format, after you finish “ justify” or “justify” for English speakers. Be careful that the name of the document is not “Cv-sonnn” After typing a proper document name such as “Fatma Olcucu_CV”, save it as pdf and save it as a pdf, not a word, to the places you will apply.

Be careful with page alignment and the bullet points you use, your entire CV is aligned, with the same spacing, in the same font and the same shape (top wrong, bottom right).

Keep Your Narrative Language Consistent

• If you are describing what you do at a job, do not write one in a sentence and the next as a clause (Example: Attending meetings, I spoke with customers WRONG; Attending meetings, with customers Talking or Attending Meetings, Talking to Customers is TRUE).
• When this happens, the punctuation mark you put at the end of each article ti will also be the same and appear consistent. If it is in clauses, end it with a comma, and if it is a sentence, end it with a period.

What you describe in clauses is in the same form (I did, I did or to do, to do) so that you maintain integrity in punctuation marks.

Don’t Make Spelling Mistakes

• Don’t make typos and pay attention to punctuation. For example, leave a space after periods and commas, not after apostrophes (this is the normal sentence order, you can examine the punctuation marks in my post).

External CV preparation guide: Leave spaces after periods and commas, not after apostrophes (top wrong, bottom right).

Make Sure You Can Explain Everything You Write

• Make sure you can explain each word you add as soon as it’s asked, don’t add it just to sound cool if it’s not something you can explain. For example, if you wrote something like “I increased productivity by doing…”, you should have many concrete things to say about that productivity.

The Language of Your CV

• The language of the CV should generally be English; however, if you are applying to a country where a language other than English is spoken and you know that language, of course, prepare accordingly.. “If you know that language” part is important; To apply to France, do not have your friends who do not know French prepare a French CV Or do not have your friends in Germany prepare a CV just because you took a German course and added that you know a little German to your CV.. The reader will not understand and be confused how you can write a resume so well even though you have a basic knowledge of the language.. In the last step, you can ask someone who is at least as good at English as you to check your CV in English and ask them to correct minor grammatical errors.
• >Forget about Turkish characters. I don’t think you should use Turkish characters in your name either; How would you feel if someone sent you a CV with a dot a or a dash s? My last name is Measurer and I haven’t met a foreigner who can read it, so my last name is Olcucu for an English CV.. But for example in German there are the letters ö and ü (no ç), while preparing for them. Do not fall into the confusion of “big i – small i”, which is the most common mistake I see; the smaller one is i and the larger one is I. For example, when writing an address, we write Istanbul, not Istanbul.

Abbreviations

• Make sure to write your CV in a way that someone who has no knowledge of Turkey can understand.. For example, when talking about a Turkish company that everyone knows, be sure to include the full name and industry of the company in the business statements, taking into account that it is not known abroad.. Also, if you are using abbreviations, write the long versions in parentheses; Of course, this does not apply to abbreviations such as FMCG or SAP, which are known to everyone in the industry.

Personal Information

• Your email address and phone number must be in addition to your name in the personal information section.. Your email address should not be something bullshit with a nickname (barbigirl, crazyboy) or a teenager-like look (buraq, fatosh, justin_lover). If the place of application is Turkey, the home address is also useful (unfortunately, considering the traffic, those who live close to the company may be preferred). For Turkey, you must also indicate your marital status and for men, your military service status.. If you don’t smoke, you can write that too; If you’re using it, don’t write it, if asked, tell it.

You must add it.

• Don’t forget to add the country code (0090 or +90) to the beginning of your phone number.. If you are going to write an address, add TURKEY to the end, but generally there is no need to add your current address for abroad.. Do not include pictures, marital status, date of birth, smoking information; Because, unlike in Turkey, it is considered discrimination to evaluate people based on their appearance, age or whether they are married, widowed, with children, or not.. I added this information for a long time because I thought it would be advantageous for me to be “not over 30” or “non-smoker” (habit, of course), but after researching it, I decided it was unnecessary and I got a job offer with my CV, which did not contain any of this information.
• Only if you are a Turkish citizen, do you need to add this?. I left it attached for a long time but deleted it later. Regardless of citizenship, they probably ask if you need a work permit to be sure, and this work permit issue is unfortunately very important (You can’t get a job in some of your dream jobs just because you’re a Turkish citizen). If you have other citizenships (such as dual citizenship) or a valid work permit, I think you should definitely mention them.. All companies claim to give equal rights to everyone (equal opportunity employer), but in practice it may not be so and all doors are closed to those who need permission.

Work Experience

• The things in the CV that are valid for certain time periods such as work experience and education should be written starting with the end; that is, at the top, such as your current workplace and the last school you graduated from.. Do not overwrite the oldest.
• Try to be concrete when describing work experiences. I changed this part many times and finalized it as follows: First, tell us what you did in that job, we can think of it more as a job description (I worked as a team with X units, I reported to Y position, I was responsible for Z). I think it’s a bit in the air when you have this information alone.. Therefore, add a subheading that specifically states what you are doing in that job, such as Projects or Highlights (such as signing a C agreement with customer B in sector A and ensuring the continuity of business relations). Thus, you first talk about what kind of work you are engaged in in general and then you give an example of what you do within the scope of this occupation.

Yurt non-cv preparation guide: After specifying the job description in your work experience, you can be more concrete by stating what you do and what kind of jobs you work under an appropriate title such as “Projects”.

Training Status

• Having a master’s degree and/or MBA is an advantage in some jobs (eg engineering jobs like mine). If you have such an advantage, you can draw attention by stating it at the top of the CV, next to your name.. Like “Fatma Olcucu, MSc, MBA”.
• If you have done anything abroad before (language school, Erasmus, Work and Travel , education, work, etc.) make sure to specify this. It is thought that if someone who has had the experience of living in a foreign country before is accepted to a job, it will be easier to adapt and this experience can give you an advantage.
• Degree (undergraduate-master’s) when specifying education Go in order of school, institute-faculty, department. Abbreviations for BSc undergraduate and MSc graduate. Like “BSc: Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Management, Industrial Engineering” or “MSc: Istanbul Kultur University, Institute of Social Sciences, Business Administration (MBA)”. We don’t write much about institutes-faculties, but they do.
• If you graduated with a successful grade point average, Grade Point Average or with its abbreviation GPA under your training, of course, specify how many (like 3.43 / 4.00). Information such as the scholarship you received and your graduation thesis can also be added.