Before writing your CV, it is advisable to think about your resources (skills, knowledge, and experience that you have) and then plan your career path.   

First step: analyse your competencies. 

  • KNOWLEDGE – what do you know? 
  • SKILLS – what can you do?  
  • ATTITUDE – are you ready to use the knowledge and skills gained from working in a given position? 
  • PERSONALITY TRAITS / ABILITIES – which of your personality traits and abilities will you use at work? 

Second step: analyse your qualifications 

Qualifications include knowledge, skills and social competencies confirmed by a document issued by a certifying institution.  

Example: Upon completion of the massage therapist qualification course, a participant gains qualifications confirmed by a certificate.  

Third step: plan what sort of work you would like to perform and where

CV Process

Fourth step: identify your priorities in the following areas: 

  • Targets  
    • short-term – what is already possible? 
    • long-term – where do I want to be professionally in 6/12 months? 
  • long-term – where do I want to be professionally in 6/12 months?   
    • Resources – what do you have? 
    • education, experience, skills, competencies and qualifications 
  • housing conditions, child care when you are at work 
  • Industry, profession – link to the list of professions in PL  - work and living options are also available in smaller towns in Poland, where the costs of living are lower than in metropolises. 
  • In what location would you like to work? Work and housing opportunities are also available in smaller towns in Poland, where the cost of living is lower than in metropolitan areas. 
  • What position do you want to work in and what could be your level of responsibility and remuneration?  
  • What kind of working conditions do you prefer? Specify the working arrangement: shift work, remote work, flexible work.Specify the working hours. Specify the terms of employment: type of contract, other benefits, etc.  

Fifth step: planning your career path 

It is you who decides what you want to do professionally in Poland. You can develop your existing work experience or change industry and profession.   

  • What would you like to do? What do you want to achieve?  
  • Where would you like to work?  
  • How do you want to use your experience, competencies and qualifications?  
  • What kind of barriers can emerge?  

Obstacles may include unfamiliarity with the Polish language, lack of knowledge of the local market and labour laws, lack of qualifications or an untranslated education certificate/diploma. It is understandable that when you come to a new place from your own country it is difficult to immediately become aware of what opportunities there are on the labour market and where to look for support. That is why IOM offers assistance in this regard. IOM career counsellors will explain how the labour market works in Poland, help you identify your resources, plan your career path, write a CV as well as present an offer of free language and vocational courses. What is more, IOM labour market specialist will present you with job offers that match your CV and, once you have been hired, will verify that the employer has completed the required paperwork for legal employment. 

IOM career counsellors are waiting for you at integration centres in Warsaw, Krakow, Rzeszow, Walbrzych, Wroclaw, and Gdansk.  

How to write a CV?  

Basic information concerning a CV
  • It is the primary information that an employer receives about a candidate applying for a job. 
  • It shows the job seeker’s professional situation – his/her qualifications, competencies and work experience. It shows the professional situation of a job seeker - their qualifications, competences, professional experience. 
  • It should always contain true, confirmable information. 
  • It is not a formal document, but it should be aesthetic in appearance, linguistically correct and credible.  
  • It should be tailored to the specific job offer, using phrases similar to those that appeared in the job advertisement.  
  • Use Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana fonts – always one type for the entire CV. Recommended font size is 10-12. 
  • Read before sending.  
  • Send in the PDF format. 
  • Note the file name: first and last name, e.g. Anna_Nowak_CV ;
  • Pay attention to the file name: name and surname, e.g. Anna_Nowak_CV 
How to prepare a CV?

A CV should contain the following elements: 

  • Personal and contact data   
  • First name and surname  
  • Address of stay / residence  
  • Phone number  
  • Email address   
  • Website, blog, LinkedIn profile address – if you have one  

Photo  

  • On the upper right or left side of the CV  
  • Face seen from the front or silhouette from the waist up  
  • Light or white background  
  • Preferably grey, graphite or navy-blue clothing   
  • Of good quality  
  • Can be taken with a mobile phone, but should not be a selfie  
  • Remember that a smiling person always makes a better first impression.

Professional summary, professional profile  

  • At the top of the CV  
  • Max. 50 words, 3-4 lines of text  
  • A brief description of your key strengths in terms of the position/job you are applying for 
  • Education – as long as the school or university are related to the job for which you are applying; 
  • Job positions - list your current positions and jobs (preferably if they match the job offer you are applying for);  
  • Skills – Describe your skills. What can you do?  
  • Career goal – What kind of job are you looking for? What will the employer or the company gain by hiring you?  

Education   

  • Last completed school/university: period, name and location of the school/university, profile  
  • Postgraduate studies (if related to the position)  
  • Student activities, students’ associations, academic achievements – for persons before and after graduation

Professional experience  

  • Particulars:  
    • work period (month/year),   
    • name and location of the place of work,  
    • name of the position,  
    • scope of responsibilities – this is important because it shows your skills;  
  • Start with your last place of work   
  • Apprenticeships, internships and volunteering also make up your work experience  

Skills  

  • Preferably in relation to the expectations contained in the advertisement  
  • Examples:   
    • Communication skills, teamwork skills, conscientiousness, reliability, commitment, punctuality 
    • Category B driving licence  
    • MS Excel — intermediate level  
    • Ukrainian language – native, Russian language – advanced, Polish language – basic    

Courses and training   

  • Name and place of the training course   
  • Completion date  
  • You can add a description of the acquired competencies and qualifications  

Consent to the processing of personal data  

  • Note! Without providing this consent the employer may not respond to your CV  
  • Recommended shorter form: I consent to the processing of my personal data by (name of company/your company) for the purpose of recruiting for the position I have applied for.  
  • Longer, but not mandatory, form: I hereby give my consent to have my personal data processed for the purpose of conducting the recruitment process (in accordance with the Act of 10 May 2018 on the protection of personal data (OJ of 2018, item 1000) and in accordance with the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (GDPR)).  

You can create a CV yourself or use CV builders:

Benefits of free CV builders:   

  • You set up your individual account, which you can use free of charge.  
  • Once registered, you create a CV using a template of your choice.  
  • Entering the data that every CV should contain is simple.  
  • Having generated a CV, you can save it to your computer or mobile phone and send it to employers yourself or apply for jobs as part of online advertisements. 
  • You can always change the content of your CV owing to a possibility of logging to your profile for an unlimited number of times.  
  • You define your expectations (including industry, position, location) and after that job offers, for which you can apply yourself, will be sent to your email address.  
  • Through your mobile app, you are kept up to date with job opportunities that are tailored to your expectations, and you can quickly customise your CV to respond to the needs of employers.   
  • The CV builders are tailored to your native language.  

Would you like to consult your CV to make sure it contains the required information? Contact IOM career counsellors.