Your CV should present you in the best possible light, in a concise and well-structured manner. There are plenty of resume-writing guides out there, that can teach how to write one down to the finer details. The problem is that they often do not agree on the finer details. This is why we have put together a number of generally agreed guide-lines, plus some specific details that could help EE students.

A regular CV for business purposes should not go over one A4 page. If you intend to use it for academic purposes, and not for a job, the CV can pass that limit, but on the condition that you use the extra space to describe academic activities, like conferences, publications list, etc.

A well-written CV first shows what is most important, but contains all relevant information. To this goal, we advise you to adapt it to your target (specific type of job or scholarship). Cut information from your CV only as a last resort,  paying attention to the order in which you present things.

Print the CV on plain-white A4 paper, save some of the same type for the cover letter. Never send a CV without a cover letter, and find matching A4 envelopes. If the announcement does not say anything about a cover letter, you still should send one. It introduces your CV to the reader, attracts attention to the parts of it that you want to highlight, or mentions aspects of you and your skills that for some reason could not be listed in your CV.

To make it look neat, we suggest you use one of the Word pre-made formats, unless you are computer-savvy and feel confident that you can produce an even better-structured and easier-to-read format. You will be able to introduce your own headers in that format; below we have advice for the most-often used sections in a CV.

Objective
This is a concise statement of what you actually want to do. It's best if it matches the post you are applying for. Don't restrict it too much "to get this scholarship", but rather "to develop a career in...” --whatever you're going to study if you get the scholarship. If you apply for a job, you can be even more specific - “to obtain a position in..., where I can use my skills in…". You can use a few lines to describe that specifically, but keep in mind that you should show what you can do for the company more than what the company can do for you. Writing a good objective can be tough; take some time to think about what exactly you are going to write.

If you are a student, or a person who has just graduated, you should start your CV with your education. Probably, at this age it is your most important asset for the recruitment. We suggest you use the reverse chronological order, since it is more important what master’s degree you have rather than that, for instance, you went to high school in your native town. No matter which order you decide on -- chronological or reverse --you should keep it the same throughout the rest of your CV.

Try to give an exact account of your accomplishments in school: grades (do not forget to write the scale if it differs from the one the reader of your CV is used to), position in class (in percent), title of your dissertation, expected graduation date if you think this is an important aspect.

There is no need to write all of the above, but only those that put you in the best light. If you not in the first 20 percent of your class, then it is better not to mention ranking. Maybe you still have good grades, or your school is a renowned one. In any case, do not make your results better than in reality--this information may be checked and if it isn't accurate, the whole application will lose credibility. Cheating is a very serious offense in Western schools.

Awards received
You should introduce this header right after the education, in order to outline all the scholarly or other distinctions you have received. Another solution is to include these awards in the education section, but this might be the best approach -- the reader wants to get an impression about the schools you went to and the overall results, not about every distinction you were awarded. Still, these are important. Therefore, mention the most important --scholarships, traineeships abroad you had to compete for, prizes in contests, any kind of distinction.

Here, the same as everywhere in your CV, write a detailed account of what happened: do not just mention the year and "Prize in Physics", but rather give the exact date (month), place, name and organiser of the competition. For a scholarship abroad, write the time-frame, name of the University, Department, the subject of classes there, for instance: managerial economics --name of the award-giving institution, if different from the host-university.

Practical experience
Here you should include internships as well. Don't feel ashamed about what you did, don't try to diminish your accomplishments. Nobody really expects you to have started a million dollar business if you're still a student. Accountability is an important criterion for what you write in this section. The account should show what you improved, where, by how much, what your responsibilities were.

The idea is that when you apply for a job you have to show growth-potential. That is, that you showed some kind of progress from one job to another and that, especially at the last one, you proved that you were so good that you could obviously do something that involves more responsibility -- like the job you are applying for now.

The overall result should portray you as a leader, a person with initiative and creativity -- don't forget you have to convince the reader of your CV that you are the best for that job recruitment.

Extracurricular activities
If you're writing a professional rather than an academic CV, this is the place to mention conferences or any other activities outside the school that for some reason haven't been included in the CV so far. A good section here can help a lot towards that goal of portraying you as a leader, a person with initiative, not just a nerd with good grades.

Source: www.scholarshipnet.info/scholarship-tips/how-to-write-a-cover-letter/