How many times have you thought about applying for a job in an English-speaking country but started hesitating when the prospects of writing your cv and cover letter seemed too daunting for you? How many times have you had to ask somebody to lend you a hand because, even though you know how to communicate in English well, you were afraid of not doing it the right way? Here are a few tips which can help:

First of all, you need to know that your CV layout, content and length will vary depending on the country where you are sending it to. For example, in certain English-speaking countries, like the US and the UK, CVs do not usually include photos whereas they do need so in other countries. CVs need to be one page long in the USA while it can be one or two pages long in the UK.

Translating your CV will never be an easy task but you can get some help from online tools like linguee and wordreference. Wordreference´s forums are often very helpful if you cannot find the word anywhere else.

It is also important to know that not every single word or expression should be translated into English. University, school and company names must not be translated since they´re proper names.

As regards layout, be careful to maximise your use of space, balancing the content while using white space for ease of reading.

With reference to content,  it´s necessary to emphasise the return on investment to the potential future employer by quantifying each of these areas: your skills, achievements, qualifications and experience. Try to make sure that you have the right amount of summarised and detailed content.

Finally, regarding language, using the first person sometimes helps to make CVs  simpler, clearer and more digestible.

You will find more tips on the British government website and on the Europass web (if you are applying for a job in a European country).

Good luck with your CV writing!!