Your CV or La hoja de vida in Spanish It is also important to adapt your curriculum to the country you are in so as to fulfill the employer’s expectations. However, there are many features of a Spanish CV that can be used in different countries. The most important item to consider is resume related vocabulary to impress the interviewer and stand out from the rest. 1
La hoja de vida or CV -as Spanish speakers refer to the resume- is a summary of our education and work experience, skills and accomplishments. If you are interested in applying to a job in a Spanish speaking country, you definitely need to know how to write a resume since there are slight differences with a resume written in English.
2 Put Your Latest Picture in Resume.
Before writing your curriculum in Spanish do a research about your expertise that need to be include and what’s appropriate so as not to be discarded in the process. In Spain, for instance, people include a picture in their hoja de vida. To do so, you simply need a passport-sized photo and attach it to the curriculum. It is advisable to take the picture with a plain background and wearing a suitable outfit since it is to apply for a job not your Instagram account. 3 Personal Information and References
El curriculum in Spanish includes several sections such as: Información personal (Personal information), Experiencia profesional (Work experience), Formación académica (Education), Habilidades (Skills), Otros datos de interés (Other information) and Referencias (References). 4 Layout of your CV
If you follow this layout, pay attention to details and use powerful adjectives and verbs, you’ll manage to write a resume in Spanish from scratch on your own. Besides, by doing so, you’ll learn new vocabulary and you’ll impress your interviewers showing off your linguistics skills in Spanish.
Personal Information in Your Resume
| 1 | To begin with, you’ll start with your Información personal or Personal information. The first detail is your Nombre completo or Full Name. Alternatively, you can use Nombre y Apellido which means name and surname. Rule:- Spanish native speakers tend to use Nombre y Apellido rather than Nombre completo. |
| 2 | Your Date of Birth : Mentioning your DOB or Fecha de nacimiento or Birth date is important. Some people tend to write their age but you´ll have to update your resume every year. La fecha de nacimiento is written as follow: dd/mm/yy. La fecha de nacimiento is preceded by the city where you were born or ciudad de nacimiento. It isn’t advisable to hide your fecha de nacimiento since interviewers want to know if you are suitable candidate or not. |
| 3 | Your Address: When writing your current address or dirección you simply use the name of the street and then the number of your house/apartment. Then, add the zip code and the name of the city you are in or el nombre de la ciudad. |
| 4 | Your Contact Details: As regards phone number or your número de telefono, you need to include international dialing code if you don’t have a phone number from the city you are currently living. In some cases, people tend to include el estado civil or marital status. Rule:- In the Spanish language, you need to distinguish between female and male. For females, you simply use Soltera or Casada if you are single or married. For males, you simply use Soltero or Casado. |
This section includes detailed information of previous jobs or Experiencia profesional. It is the most important part of your curriculum. You should include years of experience or años de experiencia in each job or puesto de trabajo. Then, add área de experiencia which means area of expertise. Imp:- Your previous jobs should be listed in reverse chronological order so the most recent ones are at the top. For each puesto de trabajo you simply add date, job title/task/responsibility, company name and address and city/country where you were working. Write a few lines for each place of work to give some context. In this section, include the most relevant jobs describing briefly your responsibilities and achievements.
You should include in a third section, idiomas e informática or Languages and Computer skills. You simply add your skills and the level of your spoken and written languages. To do so, add Nivel oral y escrito. Levels are basic, intermediate, advanced, mother tongue (básico, intermedio, avanzado, lengua materna). As regards, Informática you can include types of IT programmes you master and level to impress the interviewer.
In this section you have to include your Formación académica or education to demonstrate your qualifications and certificates. It is your educational background. You have to include the name of institutions attended, dates, courses taken and grades. To do so, you simply use Nombre de la institución, fechas, Cursos y Títulos. Your Titulo is important to demonstrate high academic achievement All this information should be included in a reverse chronological order.
Rule: Write down a Summary Note to go along with your CV giving very brief of your suitability. This is just 50 words describing your resume in nutshell.
Writing your curriculum in Spanish is not a matter of translation since there are some differences to take into considerations. Moreover, context and cultural differences must be considered when writing your resume in Spanish. Also, as a general rule, resumes written in Spanish tend to be shorter and less detailed than American ones.
Remember to use simple language, be concise, precise, professional and formal. You don’t need to be wordy to impress the recruiters. If you are not an advanced student of Spanish yet, keep your resume short and to the point. There’s no need to write elaborated paragraphs.
