How to write a CV for National Service in Ghana

Most National Service CVs are turned down for the same reason: they list everything the writer has ever done and leave the supervisor to work out which parts matter. A supervisor reading forty of these has about twenty seconds for yours. Your job is to make the relevant part impossible to miss.

One page, no exceptions

You finished school last year. Everything worth knowing about you fits on one page, and a second page reads as padding. Cut the personal statement that says you are "hardworking and a fast learner". every CV says that, so it carries no information.

Use a plain layout: name, phone number, email, city at the top, then Education, then Experience, then Skills. No photograph, no coloured borders, no tables that break when the file is opened on someone else's laptop. Send a PDF, named with your own name, not "CV final final.pdf".

Lead with what the posting needs

Read the placement description and find the two or three things it actually asks for. record keeping, data entry, working with the public, a specific software package. Those belong in the top third of your page, in the words the description used.

If you are posted to a district assembly's revenue unit, "compiled and reconciled fee records for a 400-member student association" is worth more than a list of your electives.

Turn coursework into evidence

You have more experience than you think; it is filed under the wrong heading.

• Your long essay or final project. Name the question, the method and the finding in one line. That is research experience.
• Attachment or vacation work. Even six weeks counts. Say what you produced, not what you observed.
• Association and church roles. Treasurer, organiser, secretary. these are budget, logistics and minute-taking experience.
• Anything you were paid for. Tutoring, mobile money agent work, helping in a family shop. All of it shows reliability.

Write each entry as a result, not a duty. "Answered phone calls" is a duty. "Handled about thirty walk-in enquiries a day and kept the visitor log" is a result.

One tested rule: every bullet should contain either a number or a name. If it has neither, it is probably a claim rather than evidence.

The details that matter locally

• Full contact details that work. A number on MTN or Telecel that you actually answer, and an email address that is your name. not the one you made in SHS.
• Your city and region. Postings are regional, and a supervisor filling a role in Sunyani wants to know whether you can start there.
• NSS number, once you have it. Put it under your name so nobody has to ask.
• Referees who expect the call. A lecturer and a supervisor, with their permission, their title and a number they answer. Never list someone who does not know they are on your CV.

What to leave out

Your date of birth, marital status, religion, hometown, WASSCE aggregate if you already have a degree, and hobbies unless they are genuinely relevant. None of it helps, and some of it invites bias.

Before you send it

Read it aloud once. Check that every date is right and that no month is missing. Have somebody else read it for typos, because you will not see your own. Then keep two versions: the general one, and the one you tailor each time from it.

When your posting is confirmed, keep the same CV working for you. a service year is twelve months of real experience, and the version you write next year should show it.