The other day I wrote about top ten tips for a successful CV but what is a CV? What does it stand for and where did it come from? These are the questions I will be answering in this post. A CV is short for curriculum vitae. Curriculum originates from new latin and first appeared around 1633 it translates as course. Vitae means life so put the two words together you get Course of life.
The idea behind a CV is to add your information like name address and list your skills, abilities and recent places of work with job descriptions. You then send your curriculum vitae off to jobs you have seen on a job site or hand them in to local businesses. This allows the recruitment team to view your CV and scan for the information they are looking for, Then they will get in touch if you have been successful in getting a Job interview.
Apparently Leonardo da Vinci was the 1st to write a professional CV in 1482. Modern CV’s started to became mainstream in the 1940s including information such as Age, height, weight, martial-status and religion. it wasn’t till ten years later that CV’s were expected to be given to Employers or Job agencies.
In 2012 The CV has evolved and the competition to get a job is tough so a covering letter about the job and why you are right for the job should be included. More about covering letters tomorrow.
