The CV

It is essential to have a good CV when you are searching for a job. It is most likely what your potential employer is reading first. If an employer receives between 80 and 200 applications (or more), there is not much time to familiarize with you and your profile. Often they only spend 30 - 45 seconds on browsing through a CV. There you should strive to have a CV with overview, relevance, structure and priorities. Also, remember an accurate photo and try to keep the CV on 2-3 pages (unless more is substantial). 

Language

It is important that you communicate your competences and experience properly. Keep your target group in mind. Chances of your potential employer being a field specialist like yourself are rather small. It is often the head of department, who might have a vocational education, that reads your CV. It could also be an HR responsible or external recruiter who are in charge of the recruitment progress. Be careful with the use of field lingo, legalese and a high readability index.

A brief presentation

It is a good idea to initiate your CV with a brief presentation of yourself, a professional profile, in which you can clarify your relevant competences (both personal and professional) in relation to the job opening you are applying for. Keep it short, between 6-8 lines, and remember that this presentation sets the scene for the rest of the CV and will influence the potential employer who reads it. 

Reversed chronological order

Make sure to structure your CV in reversed chronological order, presenting the newest and most relevant competences first. You should decide whether to present your work experience or education firstly based on the relevance for the job opening you are applying for. If you have no relevant work experience you should present your education as the first thing. 

Work experience

As a student or newly graduate it can be difficult to present relevant work experience if you don't have that much of it. Remember to point out the "relevant work experience" such as student jobs, volunteer work, etc. In other words: types of work, you can relate to the tasks, that the company wants you to solve. Being sales assistant in a convenience store or nursery assistant could profitably be presented as "other work experience". Remember that employers also value volunteer work. It is a good idea to do a section called "volunteer work".

Education

Make sure to state what you have learned and which competencies you have achieved during your university education in your "education"-section. Examples could be experience with project management from study projects, technical competencies from the lab, analytical skills, etc. This is also the section where you can present your thesis and projects if it is relevant. 

Other formalities

Remember to emphasise your IT skills: database systems, administrative registration systems, CMS, Office programmes (for some employers it is not a matter of course that you know them), Adobe, etc. Furthermore it is important to point out language skills as well, optionally to grade them also, like German: Fluent, French: Experienced, etc. If it is relevant you could add publications and curses. 

Finally, it is essential to present your hobbies. You hobbies give you the opportunity to create a relation with you potential employer already during the first screening. If you share a hobby with your potential employer, like playing tennis or loving haiku poems, this might help you stand out and help you to get an interview. It might seem coincidental but hobbies have a strong signalling effect in Denmark and are often deprioritised in a CV.