Continuing from Part I, we tell you how to save your CV from becoming the butt of standing boardroom jokes.

Making people laugh may stand you in good stead in your personal life, but doing so through your CV will mean only one thing -- a chance lost.

Insight 1: Avoid psychedelic formatting

Using formatting is a good thing. Clear demarcations between different sections of the CV make it easy to read.

However, there is such a thing as overkill. Refrain from underlining every single sentence, using big flashy fonts and sunny, cutesy colours. Show some consideration for your prospective employer's vision.

"An advertising professional's resume had eight colours and was complete with smileys," says Purvi Seth, vice president of Shilputsi Consultants, a human resources development firm.

Sometimes, in their enthusiasm to cram in as much information as possible, people leave very little white space in their resumes. This makes for bad reading, Seth feels.

Text: Kirthi P
Illustrations: Dominic Xavier