Before you get a chance to talk about your qualification in a job interview, you will need to write about them in a CV. Your curriculum vitae is one of the most valuable tools at your disposal for getting a new job, and yet, many people do not know how to properly write this document. Learn some useful tips by reviewing the communication officer CV example below and the guidelines that accompany it. Hopefully your own writing will improve, and you will have much greater success getting interviews in the future.

 

Joan Cressman

123 Fake Street, City, State, Zip Code

E: email@email.com P: 000-000-0000

Professional Summary

Experienced communication officer with extensive knowledge of media relations and public relations writing. Excelled at obtaining new clients for past employers and maintain friendly relationships with all of them. Ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines and oversee the operations of a team. Constantly updating knowledge of current social media trends to implement them effectively at own place of business.

Skills
  • Knowledge in systems evaluation to determine what areas need to be improved upon in an organization
  • Extensive knowledge of webpage creation software and have developed numerous websites for previous employers
  • Knowledge of basic office equipment, including photocopiers and multi-line phone systems
  • Understanding of marketing principles and how to apply those principles to real world applications
  • Negotiation skills to reconcile differences between people on a team
Work Experience
Communication Officer
October 2013 – Present

 

 
 




 
  • Produce press packets and distribute them among local news organizations.
  • Establish media contacts across a variety of channels.
  • Develop programs to take to local colleges and high schools to encourage students to apply for positions at company.
  • Attend conferences across the Western United States to draw in new clients and promote benefits of organization, which has resulted in obtaining contracts for over a dozen new clients in two months.
  • Maintain company’s website and update social media pages regularly.




Communications Specialist
November 2010 – October 2013

 

 
 




 
  • Coached upper management on how to speak with the press and wrote speeches for these individuals.
  • Conferred with associates regarding which points should be emphasized in interviews and press releases.
  • Remained proactive in ensuring company’s reputation among the community was always positive and performed damage control when necessary.




Public Relations Coordinator
June 2007 – November 2010

 

 
 

 

 
  • Conducted market research to ascertain what general public considered to be the strengths of the business.
  • Created marketing campaigns, including filming a commercial that aired on local television stations that resulted in a lot of goodwill and more business.
  • Consulted with staffing agencies to fill out the ranks in the organization when it was required.
  • Developed new webpages, and utilized the latest SEO principles to make them achieve higher rankings on Google search results.

 

Education
Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Management
2007

 

 
Southern Oregon University
City, State
 
 

 

 
 
 
Hobbies and Interests

I like to stay active, and one of my more recent hobbies is going mountain biking. There are some really great trails in the area, and I hope to explore them all over the coming months. Additional hobbies include hiking and bird watching.

 

 

Questions for Your Communication Officer CV

1. How do you write the qualifications section of a communication officer CV?

Your qualifications section is your first proper introduction to employers. They’ll read this paragraph before anything else, so your qualifications section needs to pack a powerful punch in no more than three sentences.

Use this section to describe high-level skills that make you desirable to employers, particularly what makes you unique and provides competitive differentiation versus other candidates. If you’re struggling for qualifications to call out, review target job advertisements for the skills employers seek. Our communication officer CV sample provides other examples, and if you need more help you can try our CV builder which lets you make a customized CV with no writing needed.

2. How do you highlight soft skills on a communication officer CV?

Your soft skills should remain one of the main focuses of your CV. Even though communication officers also need hard skills such as project management, reporting, and similar capabilities, the core of your job relies on your ability to effectively communicate a message and manage a company’s relationships with the public.

Make that ability the central core of your job descriptions, professional summary, and list of skills. Discuss how you turned your soft skills into real results for your past employers by showing how your talent for building a rapport and conveying ideas had measurable impact. This can include smoothing over PR disasters, or gaining public trust. For examples, check our communication officer CV sample.

3. How do you describe achievements on a communication officer CV?

Achievements should focus on results. Think of moments when you truly made a difference, as described above. Perhaps you completely transformed the company’s branding and messaging, resulting in a significant uptick in customer approval. Perhaps you were instrumental in the language that made a proposal successful. Take moments like those and write them using action-oriented language; demonstrate the outcome of your efforts with succinct, confident bullets mixed into your work history

4. How many skills should you put on a communication officer CV?

Your list of skills is essential to calling out the talents you want to draw attention to. However, don’t go overboard by stuffing your list until it takes up half the page. Five to seven skills will serve you well enough as long as you’re smart about adjusting them based on the job you’re applying for. Eliminate anything you don’t need for a particular job or that doesn’t sell you as a general statement, and replace it with the skills employers seek in job advertisements.

5. How do you optimize your communication officer CV for an ATS?

The skills list mentioned above is critical to passing an ATS, which stands for “applicant tracking system” Employers use these systems to preemptively screen out unqualified candidates based on match percentages for desired skills. The ATS identifies these skills based on keywords, so the best way you can pass an ATS is to optimize your CV keywords.

Use your skills list to include phrases taken directly from job postings; you should also mingle them into your work history and summary. For examples, take a look at our communication officer CV Sample.

Communication Officer CV Must-Haves

What Does a Communication Officer Do?

A communication officer is generally responsible for maintaining good public relations between a company and the community. This includes writing press releases to be distributed to news outlets and creating other forms of advertising to get the word out.

In today’s digital age, a lot of a communication officer’s duties will involve maintaining a strong online presence. This includes creating new webpages that are easily readable and being proactive through a variety of social media channels. You may also need to coach people within the organization to be camera ready and capable of answering interview questions.

This professional also usually plays a role in an organization’s reputation management, which can involve responding to problems but also being proactive in emphasizing the positive attributes of a company. Take another look at the communication officer CV example to get an idea for how this information needs to look on the page.

Tips for Creating a Great Communication Officer CV

These pointers are other ways you can make your CV stand out in a pile:

  • Emphasize your knowledge of different kinds of software throughout your CV.
  • Highlight experiences or education you have in public relations.
  • Include detailed achievements in your CV.
  • Each point in your Work Experience section should begin with an active verb. Use present tense if you still work at that job, but use the past tense if you are no longer there.
  • It is preferable to write any honors you earned under Education as opposed to your GPA.
  • The information presented under Hobbies should offer employers a glimpse of your personality while also further emphasize important skills. For example, discussing a hobby you have recently started is good for showing how you are not afraid of new challenges.
  • Make sure to include your computer prowess, and mention specific software you have used in the past.

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