How to write your curriculum vitae

Are you getting ready to apply to ESDES? There are a few things to know before sending your final application to candidature@esdes.fr ! You can check out previous blog posts for more on How to Write a Cover Letter, and you should also be sure your CV is top notch! Don’t forget, the CV that you send with your application will be part of the evaluation with the admissions jury. Here are a few tips to make sure your CV will impress the jury and help your acceptance to ESDES! 

First, there may be differences between your home country CV expectations and French CV expectations. Although it is okay to apply with a CV from another country, it is important to understand that the jury will expect certain information and structure to be included. If you do your research and find that your typical CV from your home country is missing several parts of a typical French CV, it may be best to add some of this information to your resume as well. For example, on a typical French resume you would include a clean photograph of yourself. However, in some countries it may be illegal for photos to be required on your CV (like in the US for example, this is not normally required). Therefore, the jury will understand, and may not look for this on a resume… but you are also competing with French students who are applying to ESDES at the same time, so if you have a nice photograph it can show that you did your research on applying to a French university and may impress the jury! 

Second, it is good to be sure that your document is well formatted and clean. If the jury will have trouble finding the information that they need they may be less inclined to approve your CV for the application. Remember, each piece of your application is given a grade and then your overall score dictates whether you are admitted or not! This is why each document you send should be professional and well thought-out. Think of it like a job application - most job recruiters only spend a couple seconds on each resume that comes onto their desk, so you may have a few seconds to impress the jury and make them interested in your application document! 

If you would like to fully embrace the French CV, there is an easy website that allows you to input your information and will then create a final CV for you! This is a tool that many French students use as well, so you can be sure that you will meet the basic requirements of the jury if you complete the template fully. Then, if you want to make your CV stand out more, you can finish with a bit of editing and… voila! Simple CV in 15 minutes or less! Here is the website (not affiliated with ESDES):  Create your Europass CV

As always, if you have any questions, you can contact the international promotion team at ESDES: concours@esdes.fr ! They are happy to support you with any questions you might have regarding your application or CV. You can also contact current students to get their opinion and ideas on applying to ESDES: ESDES Ambassadors - ESDES Lyon Business School !