Enhance Chartered Accountant CV

How can a CA Aspirant enhance their CV?

It is very important to have a good CV while applying for a job. CV can be made powerful by following some general tips.

By CA. Nitesh Sharma

There is a phrase in English – “the first impression is the last impression”. It also fits in the case of CV (curriculum vitae). A CV is a professional document used to apply for jobs. It is your first impression before your recruiter. On the basis of your CV either you are selected or rejected at the beginning of any hiring process. This is found in studies that on average recruiters spend just seven seconds looking at a CV before deciding whether a candidate is suitable for the role. 

A CA aspirant usually applies for jobs like BIG4 and big corporations in the industry. Hence, it is very important for a CA aspirant to have a powerful CV that reflects his qualifications, experiences, skills, and personality in the best possible manner for the recruiter so that he can be shortlisted for the hiring process.

Whether you are a fresher or experienced CA aspirant, today I am sharing some tips with you that you can follow to enhance your CV to make it stronger and more attractive.

Personal Profile

Start with your personal profile because it is an important part of your CV and tells the recruiter exactly who you are, so you want to make the right impression. When preparing a CV you can start strong with a summary of your skills and key accomplishments. It will grab the attention of the recruiter. Freshers can start by writing their career objectives.

Example:

CA fresher can write as:

 “A highly qualified CA seeking a challenging position in Accountancy and Finance to enhance my professional knowledge and proficiency in this field for organizational and career growth.”

“A self-motivated CA searching for a lucrative role at a financial organization to use my knowledge and skills and augment the growth of the company.”

Experienced CA aspirants can write as:

Qualified CA with +5 years of experience in managing overall finance function in conceptualizing and implementing financial planning & management, procedures, and controls, maintenance & finalization of accounts, working capital management, profitability monitoring, capital restructuring, project implementation, and building internal financial controls. Possess a remarkable track record of meeting assigned targets in an efficient and effective manner, dealing with internal and external customers. Competent problem-solver with proven capabilities of working in dynamic teams in a fast-paced environment.”

“Highly experienced and self-driven Chartered Accountant with more than 7 years of experience in forecasting and investigating finance and account issues. Track record of success reviewing the companys systems and analyzing risks, along with a great insight into maintaining accounting records and management information.”

Internships

If you are a fresher then internships are a great opportunity to add interesting experience to your CV. When you are getting started in your career, short internships apart from CA Articleship or Industrial Training are a great way to learn and gain experience. Showing internship experience on your CV, stand out you different from other fresher candidates. 

Emphasize results not responsibilities

You should emphasize on results by giving quantifiable data to show your accomplishments rather than just listing your past responsibilities on your CV. For example, instead of saying “I helped to reduce overall business expenditure for Company X”, write “I was able to reduce overall business expenditure by 15%, approx. Rs. 750000 a year for Company X.”

Project Experience

Highlighting projects on your CV provide recruiters with real-life and verifiable proof of your skills and experience. It provides hiring managers with examples of actual projects where you used your knowledge and expertise to achieve results and move the organization towards its goals. It makes them able to judge whether you are an ideal fit for their role. Describing your projects can also show employers whether your personality traits are compatible with their company culture.

So, if you get the opportunity to work on any project, just grab it.

Highlight your growth

CA profession is much diversified in its nature. Multiple responsibilities are expected from a CA. Hence you should also demonstrate in your CV how you have grown and diversified your roles and accomplishments achieved. It will help recruiters to understand that you learn from your past positions, committed to learning and expanding your skills. 

Learn and highlight your technical skills

It is the world of the digital era. Recruiters expect from CA aspirants technical knowledge of many software and tools generally used in the industry for work like SAP, Hyperion, Tally, Advanced Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc. You should learn these types of relevant technical skills as per your domain and highlight them properly in your CV. You can also mention your proficiency level in these tools. It will keep you ahead at the time of shortlisting.

Certification Courses

Our profession requires us to be updated on the changes happening around our profession. There are various post-qualification courses that are run by the ICAI like the Certification courses on Ind AS, GST, International Taxation, or Forensic Audit. Other online learning portals also offer various online courses. It is easy to do them online as per your comfortable timings. You should join them and complete them properly to get a certificate. It will enhance and update our knowledge as well as you will be able to demonstrate them on your CV. It will tell the recruiter about your commitment to update yourself in the profession.

Join a professional body or group 

Look for membership in those professional bodies, groups, or societies that are relevant to your career goals. They could be professional, charitable, purely social, or community-focused. Committing to something that relates to your degree or dream career path shows youre passionate and genuinely interested in that area. You can include a heading as “Memberships” in your CV to show these details. It will provide weight to your CV before employers.

Volunteering

There are many volunteering opportunities out there and many of them will be relevant to the CA profession. You can search for existing opportunities locally or contact organizations directly to create your own. For example, Income Tax Department organizes Income Tax Return filing camps every year.  You can participate and join them as volunteers. Apart from our profession ICAI branch offices organize many charitable works from time to time like Blood donation camps, Warm clothes distribution during winter, etc. You should also join them. It will not only increase your networking but also enhance your CV when you will mention it as extracurricular activities in your CV.

Hobbies and Interests

Showing hobbies and personal interests on your CV is a great way to stand out from the crowd, show the prospective employer a bit of your personality and make it a basis for conversion at the job interview. You should include attractive hobbies that are valuable to the company like something that demonstrates clear qualities about your personality, and ideally, is relevant to the job as well. 

Example of how to add it to your CV:

• Two-time chess champion at the junior rounds of the state competition
• Published two books on motivation and productivity in the workplace
• Every week, I coach high school football players in my local community.
• Collect disposed items from my community then recycle them for useful materials
• Financial contributions to the local community center to support the education of students

Languages

The ability to speak, read and write multiple languages can open many professional opportunities for you in MNCs. When applying for jobs, especially in BPOs like Accenture, and Genpact its important to note language skills on your resume to help you stand out to HR. There are many online languages teaching courses available on the internet. ICAI also conducts batches of certification courses in foreign languages. You can also learn from here.