Knowing how to format a CV in South Africa for job seekers is a huge part of the successful process of getting selected by recruiters or hiring managers. A good CV format is a piece of well-organized information on your curriculum Vitae (CV) or as we interchangeably call resume.
One of the most frequently asked questions by job seekers in South Africa is how to format my CV. If you want your curriculum vitae to stand out among my competitor job seekers, then you should continue to read this article.
How To Format A CV In South Africa For Job Seekers (2024)
South African job recruiters and hiring managers love a well-formatted CV. It makes them appreciate you for creating a one-page detailed and accurate career, education, skills, and experience history for them to select you for the role they are hiring job seekers for.
Moreover, a formatted curriculum vitae makes it easy to pass the Application Tracking System (ATS) CV scan. More recruiters and hiring managers have been adopting AI systems to access CVs of candidates to fast-space the hiring process.
According to a worldwide report on recruiting automation trends, about 75% of talent acquisition professionals claim that AI-based technology will play a pivotal role in their hiring process and South Africa is no different.
Therefore, it’s ideal for cvjoint.co.za to let the people of South Africa know how to format a CV the best way with these seven tips to create a good curriculum vitae.
Here’s how you should format your CV in South Africa when applying for a job researched and compiled by cvmentor.co.za
1. Set One-Inch CV Margins on All Sides
Your Curriculum Vitae (CV) must have one-inch margins on all sides. This helps to organize the page sizes to bring in more white space to decorate the CV in a nice arrangement. The one-inch margin helps to make the CV look professional and easy to read.
Also, a one-inch margin helps to improve readability by providing enough white space to frame the content of the CV.
Again, it improves the appearance of the CV, making it look neat and organised. Moreover, a one-inch margin on a CV format helps to create consistency. A consistency margin across a curriculum vitae (CV) brings to light a matching application package.
2. Use 1.0 or 1.15 Line Space To Format A CV
Although, there’s no one-size-fits-all rule when determining how to space a CV. However, the general rule is to use a single spacing (1.0) for the body text of your curriculum vitae.
Nonetheless, you can slightly increase the line spacing for the section headings or bullet points of your CV format in South Africa to improve readability and visual separation.
3. Use a Good Font To Format A CV In South Africa
Using a good font size when formatting a CV in South Africa is very important because the font you choose and the font size you use affect the readability and professionalism of your CV or resume.
For readability: If the font you use to format a CV is too small, it will make it harder for recruiters or hiring managers to read your information on the CV. The objective is to make the CV as easy to read as possible.
For appearance: If the font you use to format your CV is too big, it will make the letters look bulky and unprofessional.
Again for consistency, It’s advisable to use the same font throughout the CV. This includes the headings, subheadings, and body text.
Note: Hiring Managers and recruiters prefer the standard font size for formatting CVs. Good font size for a curriculum vitae is often between 10 to 12 points for body texts and 4-6 points larger for section headings and the name in the header.
Remember to use fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, or Calibri when choosing the font type for a CV.
4. Create a Professional CV Header Format For Your Contact Details
A CV header is the top section of a Curriculum Vitae where you add your personal details which are clearly shown in this section of your CV formatting for a South African job application. The header section of a CV format includes your full name, professional title, and contact information (email, phone number, and social media handle e.g LinkedIn).
Creating a professional CV header on how to format a CV in South Africa for job seekers helps in the following areas.
First, a professional CV header helps to make a good first impression of your curriculum vitae. Since the CV header is the first section of your CV and how it’s formatted, it’s create the first impression about how you’re organised.
Second, it catches the hiring manager or recruiter’s attention. A professional well-organised CV header catches the attention of the reader by creating an appetize to read through your CV.
Third, provide key important contact details. A CV header helps the recruiter or the hiring manager to have the contact information they need to reach you if they want to relay information about your application status for the job.
5. Divide Your CV Into Legible Sections
Knowing how to format a CV in South Africa as a job seeker includes dividing your CV into legible sections. Your Curriculum Vitae should have the following sections to make it complete and professional.
- Contact Information
- Personal Statement
- Work Experience
- Education, Skills,
- Additional Information
When you have all these comprehensible sections on how to format a resume in South Africa for job seekers, the chances of your curriculum vitae standing out among other candidates are high so are your chances of winning the job.
6. Make The Section Headings Slightly Larger Than The Rest of The Content
This emphasis on font and font size again. Using section headings is a good way to break up your Curriculum Vitae (CV). Make sure the section headings are slighter larger to stand out from the body text. The best font size for CV section headings is 14 or 16 points and in bold.
7. Name Your CV File Correctly
Job seekers in South Africa who create CVs usually overlook the importance of naming their CVs correctly. This is so important if you’re not applying for just one job but also different jobs that demand different CVs.
You should always make sure you have named your CV correctly so that you know which CV you are submitting to which job you’re applying. Sending the wrong CV to the wrong job will automatically strike your candidature out by recruiters or hiring managers.
For example, if you’re applying for a managerial position at a bank, job experience, skills, and achievements are expected to be tailored to that financial management role. This CV is expected to be different in terms of skills, and job experience from that of a CV that intends to be used to apply for a Business Studies Lecturer at a university.
8. Save Your CV Format In PDF
It is highly recommended to save your CV format as a PDF. This is part of knowing how to format a CV in South Africa for job seekers.
Saving your CV in a PDF format helps to maintain the original formatting of your curriculum vitae unlike saving it in Word. PDF is mostly preferred when submitting a CV to a job recruiter or hiring manager.
9. Know The Type of CV Format To Use?
There are two main types of CV formats often used by job applicants in South Africa. They are;
- Chronological CV format (focused on your work experience)
- Skills-based CV format (focused on your skills).
Therefore, the type of job you’re applying to will determine the CV format to use. If the job centres on work experience, then you should use the chronological CV format likewise if the job centres on skills. then you should use the skills-based CV format.
What is the correct CV Format in South Africa?
The most used CV format in Africa is the reversed-chronological CV format. This is considered the most popular CV format by job applicants and hiring managers. It is the most used CV format in South Africa since it emphasises work experience, career achievements.
The chronological CV format is the most easy to adopt for job applicants of all levels of experience.
How Many Pages Should CV Format Be In South Africa?
Traditionally, CVs are formatted onto a one-page of an A4. At most, a CV should not be more than 2 pages of an A4 sheet unless you’re applying for an academic research job. Candidates are to focus on their recent and most relevant experience and achievements.
This is because employers want to know if your experience and skills are what they’re looking for and your capability for the job is assured if they hire you for the position in their firm.
Therefore, your Curriculum Vitae (CV) or resume should be straightforward, and concise with relevant information tailored to the job role you’re applying for.