Further to our article on Free Resume Templates, we thought we would write a bit about MS Word CV templates in particular.
The general position conveyed in the free CV templates article was that they weren’t a good thing, but were still useful to base your own creative design on. The same goes for MS Word CV templates.
Many of you reading this article will likely have applied for lots of jobs and sent out lots of CVs. All of these were created using MS Word. Like you, when sending off my CV to recruitment companies, I didn’t really know what a good CV should contain or how it should look, and I found that MS Word CV templates were very useful in helping with this. I could go step by step to create a CV.
Later on in life, as I found myself in a position to assist with hiring staff, I saw many CVs. In that time I would pick up one and think, “Gah! Another MS Word CV!”. Not because they looked particularly bad, but because they were sometimes, so common.
Get creative with your MS word CV!
As the years progressed I got better at using MS Word so I started to mess around with the formatting of the CV template and eventually got to the point that it was quicker and easier for me to just create my CV from scratch. Basically, there was nothing left on my CVs that even remotely suggested that it was a template. And then I started receiving compliments from recruiters (mostly agencies) about my CV.
What’s the point here?
A good looking CV won’t get you a job, but it will help you stick out from the crowd and it will help recruiters remember you as an individual – not just a template!
Read up on the free CV templates article for more information about keeping your CV in a conventional format and then get to work on your own CV. Start with a template or start from scratch (depending on your skill with MS Word). And then get creative!
Summary
Templates in any walk of life are a good enough starting point on which to create your own individual piece of work. Notice the emphasis on “starting point” and “individual”.
You have a choice – be an individual or be a carbon copy? Many people are content with being carbon copies (pointing my finger at the few webmasters who come here and steal our articles and ideas!). Me? I want to be an individual. I want to create something original, be it with my CV or with my websites.
You have to decide what you want to do. How much effort do you want to make. How badly do you want that job (or any job!). How far do you want to go in life.
They say (whoever “they” are) that there are 2 types of people in this world – leaders and followers. Leaders are original and creative. Followers are carbon copies all from the same template. Which one are you?
Any thought son MS Word CV Templates?
Let us know in our comments below so we can all learn together!
