Getting started with your job-hunting journey is an excellent achievement in itself. But having to create your own CV and learning how to do that can get a little bit tricky.
Although there are many CV creation services online, the Europass website remains one of the most searched CV-building sites to this day. Still, regardless of its popularity, people often wonder whether it’s still the best one you can use for this purpose.
If you’re having the same dilemma, we’re here to answer all your questions! Keep reading to find out whether you should create a Europass CV or give a chance to another CV-building software!
Key Takeaways
The Europass CV is a standardized CV format that has been popular among Europeans for years.
A regular Europass CV features the reverse-chronological format, relevant experience, concise information, and neat design.
Although this format has been popularized among many people, using Europass CV in 2022 is not recommended. The format is rigid, the platform doesn’t offer unique layouts, and the process can take a long time.
What is a Europass CV?
Europass CV is a well-known European CV format. It was developed by the European Commission and funded by Erasmus+. Over time, it became one of the most common ones, and recruiters and most institutions have been familiar with it for a long time.
You can easily create a Europass CV online through a CV builder, which is provided on the official website of the European Union. To do that, you need to create a profile beforehand and add all the necessary information about yourself and your work history, skills, and education to it.
After completing the profile with all the details your CV should contain, you can create an unlimited number of CVs based on it. Once you choose a suitable color and format, your document is ready, and you can download your CV as a PDF file to a preferred device.
Once you go through all these steps, the end result will look similar to this:
As you can see, the Europass CV has a fairly simple template and lists all of the information concisely. This makes the document look neat and keeps only the most relevant details in it, which is definitely a huge plus of this service.
Europass CV Format
Wondering what you get when you opt to create a Europass CV? Here are the most prominent features of this format:
Reverse-chronological order. The document is created in such a way that it puts your latest professional endeavors and academic experiences first. This format is preferred by recruiters, as it’s orderly and easy to skim through.
Relevant and concise information only. Thanks to the specific limitations this format imposes, you can only list relevant information on your CV. This layout doesn’t leave room for more than that, which is good because there will be nothing that could distract recruiters from the crucial parts of your document.
No personal statement or professional summary. If you have seen a CV before, you may have noticed that such documents usually have a short “introduction” that summarizes the candidate’s experience and achievements. The Europass CV format doesn’t contain these, which is why it may seem unprofessional to some hiring managers.
How to Write a Europass CV
The main thing to consider when creating your Europass CV is that you have to stand out. This can be rather challenging, given that you don’t have that many options when it comes to CV format and appearance.
Still, there are a few CV tips that can help you make your Europass CV pop. Let’s see what you should do:
Europass CV Tips
Make a specific CV for a specific job application. Make sure that your CV matches the requirements of the job you’re applying for and is tailored to fit the job description perfectly.
Use simple language. You need to make sure that your CV is easy to read and understand. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sprinkle a few action verbs here and there to further highlight your achievements.
Avoid spelling, grammatical, and punctuation mistakes. Before finishing and submitting your CV, double-check everything you wrote to make sure there aren’t any errors. These can make you seem unprofessional and unserious, which is why you should steer clear of them at all costs.
Use keywords that match the job description. To catch the recruiters’ attention, you should use the keywords from the job description throughout your CV. You can add them to your skills section or work history since there are no personal statements or professional summaries in Europass CVs.
Should You Use Europass CV?
Even though it has been extremely popular for years, the Europass CV format is a bit outdated, and no one requires you to use it when applying for jobs in the EU. For this reason, it’s best to stick to newer, more creative methods if you want to create a unique and professional CV.
The Europass CV website is actually visited by over 24 million people a year, which means that this format has also been overused. Having the limited number of features and options in mind, most people who use this service create similar CVs. Therefore, it might be rather difficult to grab recruiters’ attention when the competition uses the same CV format as you.
Europass CV Disadvantages
Let’s observe some of the main reasons why a Europass CV format isn’t the best option to use in 2024.
Rigid Format
As mentioned previously, since Europass CV offers one standard format, all the CVs made this way will look the same. There are only about five formatting and color options that are rather similar to each other, which doesn’t allow you to create a unique document.
That means that this format leaves no room for you to properly sell yourself and emphasize your soft and hard skills and everything you’re good at. In other words, recruiters may not be able to differentiate your CV from all the other documents that they receive.
Lack of Space
Properly organizing your information is an essential part of CV creation. Sadly, due to the above-mentioned limited format options, the Europass CV format makes it difficult for you to fit all the relevant information onto one page. This doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, but you will need to work hard to achieve it.
Another thing to consider is the Europass logo, which takes up a lot of space on the page. Needless to say, that space could easily be used for a better purpose!
Creation is Time-Consuming
Once you decide to create a Europass CV and visit the website, you are required to create a profile with the necessary information before you proceed with generating your document. In other words, this process requires two separate setups, which can take quite a lot of time.
This may take quite a lot of time, and you probably just want to create a CV as quickly as possible without undergoing multiple-step procedures online. In fact, according to research, 86% of users absolutely hate being obligated to create new accounts when they need a specific online service. Needless to say, this makes many people give up on creating their CVs this way.
Hard to Maneuver
The page can be hard to use, especially for the ones who enter the website for the first time. When you enter the CV builder, you get blasted with way too much information. The interface isn’t as user-friendly and neat as most other CV-building websites you can find online nowadays, so you might need some time to figure out how everything works.
Besides that, the site doesn’t give you a guide or any tips that you can use to perfect your CV. You’re all on your own there, and that can make things more difficult, especially if you’re applying for a job for the first time and have never worked on creating a CV before.
Europass CV FAQ
#1. Is Europass CV good?
Europass CV is good, but not necessarily great. The European Commission created it with the best intentions, and many European recruiters are used to its format and appearance. However, it is way too outdated, and there are plenty of other, much simpler options available out there now that let you customize your CV with better options.
#2. Is Europass CV only for Europeans?
No, using Europass CV is definitely not limited to only European citizens. However, it’s most useful to people who plan on working in Europe because it was made based on the typical CV standards in this area.
#3. Is Europass CV free?
Yes, Europass offers a free CV-building service for everyone.This is actually one of the few advantages that Europass CV has to offer.
#4. How do I write a CV for Europass?
Here are the steps you should take to write a CV with Europass:
Steps in Creating a Eupopass CV
Create a profile on Europass
Verify your email address
Fill in your personal information
Enter your work experience and academic experience
Enter any additional skills, achievements, awards, and other relevant details you want to include in your CV
Click on “Save” once you’re ready
Change the CV color and text size, and include page numbers if necessary
Save the file as a PDF document on your PC
Final Thoughts
Let the curtains fall now, because that was it!
We hope that learning more about Europass CVs and the way they work helped you realize why this option isn’t recommended anymore. One thing is for sure—this format definitely marked the entire era of job searching and helped thousands of people apply for jobs all across Europe, which definitely deserves respect!
