1. CVs

2.  CV (UK) ≠ résumé (US)  French CV ≠ British or American CV  Advice for producing a CV intended to Anglo- American companies  Advice for translating your degrees  A European template of CV in many languages is available at:http://europass.cedefop.eu.int/

3. Anglo-American CVs vs French CVs  In France: a list of duties/experiences  English speaking countries: a marketing tool

7. Content: what is expected  Personal information: not always  Education  Work experience, career history, professional experience  Miscelleanous (e.g., additional seminars and training, extracurricular activities, referees, etc.)

8. Content: what is optional  Marital status  Age or D.O.B.  Photo: avoid  Career objective  Summary statements  Summary (of your qualifications)

9. Personal information  Mr/Ms  First name THEN surname  Address and telephone in international format  Email

10. Producing a CV for an Anglo- American company 1) Define your career objectives 2) Identify the employer’s needs 3) Identify what you have to sell

11. 1) Define your career objective - Who do I want to work for? - What do I want to do? - When do I need to be in the new job? - Where do I want to live? - Why do I need to work? (value: money, security, time, growth, creativity…) - How much do they need to pay me?

12. 2) Identify the employer’s needs - cf classified ads, websites … - list qualities/qualifications required - identify personality traits - talk to experts - review the professional journals related to your career for pbs/issues addressed

14. 3) Identify what you have to sell  Answer the question “ Give me three reasons why I should hire you”

15. Production  Choose chronological CV (in reverse chronological order)  Functional or skill-orientated CV: less recommended (recruiters are interested in chronology)  3 Templates available in “ Démarrer ” “ Tous les programmes ”, “ Outils Microsoft Office ”, “ Nouveau document office ”, “ Autres documents ” “ CV ” but set the language on English as a default language  A European template available on http://europass.cedefop.eu.int/instruments/cv/step0.do;jsessioni d=3A689738B76B73095928FF22A8AD676D (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) http://europass.cedefop.eu.int/instruments/cv/step0.do;jsessioni d=3A689738B76B73095928FF22A8AD676D

16. Work experience/career history  Either a list of posts or a list of duties  Explain briefly what sort of company you worked for (revenue, size, number of employees)  Give figures (I increased sales by 16%)  Explain your achievements  -ed forms or –ing (managing human resources, etc.)  A list of action verbs can be found on http://www.quintcareers.com/action_skills.htm (last visited 17/10/05) or http://www.writeexpress.com/action-verbs.html (visited 31/08/06) http://www.quintcareers.com/action_skills.htm http://www.writeexpress.com/action-verbs.html

17. Miscelleanous  “ Computer literacy ” or “ systems experience ”  Responsibilities in community life  Travelling  Languages: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 OR: fluent/conversational/mother language  Language portfolio available on request

18. Degrees/Diplomas/Studies/ Qualifications  Degrees ≠ diplomas  Master’s, Bachelor’s  Do not abbreviate. Give degree names in full  Translate degree names into brackets  If you cannot translate, explain in a few words: undergraduate, postgraduate degree, etc.  The University of Bordeaux  “option”: translated option or major for option  You may want to list important subjects instead

19. Advice  Start with your strengths  Use margins, headings, bullets, colours  Play on font size (10-12) and colour  Do not abbreviate anything  Show you have contributed to success; give figures; show concrete examples

20. More advice  Be honest  1-2 pages  Never use negative statements  Identify any page beyond the first (1/2 & 2/2)  Include references on a separate sheet  Set your word processor on « English » as your default language

21. Example of a good student’s CV Octave Montesquieu's CV

22. Reproduction  The use of bold, italics, capitalization, headers and good layout is critical  The first read is typically a 20-second scan  Use a laser printer  No typos, erasures, strike overs. Proofread, proofread and proofread again  Use cream-coloured or grey paper with a high rag content

23. A few websites on which to find job advertisements in the UK  http://www.londonjobs.co.uk/ http://www.londonjobs.co.uk/  http://www.ici-londres.com/ for summer jobs http://www.ici-londres.com/  http://www.1stcontact.com/ but you have to register first before accessing the ads http://www.1stcontact.com/  http://www.monster.co.uk/ or its equivalent in other anglophone countries http://www.monster.co.uk/