CV format for Ghana: what employers look for
Recruiters in Ghana often receive hundreds of CVs for one job. A clear, well-organised CV helps yours get read. Here is a format that works for most jobs, from banking and teaching to NGOs and sales.
The sections to include, in this order
- ✓Your name, phone number, email and town or city. A professional email address (firstname.lastname@…) looks better than a nickname.
- ✓A short profile: two or three sentences about who you are and the kind of job you want.
- ✓Work experience, newest first: job title, organisation, dates, and three or four points about what you achieved.
- ✓Education, newest first: qualification, school or university, and year.
- ✓National service and attachments, if you're early in your career.
- ✓Skills: the ones the job ad asks for, such as Microsoft Excel, customer service or a language.
- ✓References: names and contacts of two people who agreed to speak for you, or "Available on request".
How long should it be?
One or two pages. Fresh graduates can usually fit everything on one page; people with many years of experience can use two. Recruiters rarely read beyond that.
Personal details: what to leave out
Many Ghanaian CVs list date of birth, marital status, hometown, religion or the number of children. Most jobs don't need any of this. Add personal details only when the job ad asks for them.
Photo or no photo?
A photo is optional. If you add one, use a clear, recent picture with a plain background and work-appropriate clothes. If the job ad says no photos, follow the ad.
Common mistakes
- ✓Using the same CV for every job instead of matching it to each job ad.
- ✓Long paragraphs instead of short, clear points.
- ✓Listing duties ("responsible for…") instead of results ("increased sales by 15%").
- ✓Spelling mistakes and different fonts on the same page.
- ✓Sending a Word file when the employer asked for PDF, or the reverse.