B2 — upper-intermediatePractical and transactional life

CV & cover letter

Lesson opening

This is the first part of the lesson. The rest, the exercises and the reviews are in the app.

CV and cover letter

A job in Serbia starts not with the interview but with two files: a biografija and a propratno pismo. An English CV translated word for word gives itself away in the first line.

What it is called

English “CV” and “cover letter” each split into several Serbian words.

Examples

Serbian	English
biografija, radna biografija, CV	CV, résumé; the words job ads use
propratno pismo, motivaciono pismo	cover letter, for a job; motivation letter, for a scholarship or a course, though job ads often ask for one too
konkurs, oglas za posao, prijava, rok za prijavu	a formal call for applications (schools, hospitals, ministries), a job ad, an application, the deadline
radno mesto, uslovi konkursa, kandidat, razgovor za posao	position, the requirements of the call, candidate, job interview
Nepotpune i neblagovremene prijave neće se razmatrati.	the last line of a konkurs: incomplete and late applications will not be considered

Prijavio sam se na konkurs, rok je bio do petka. I applied to the call for applications; the deadline was Friday.

The section headings, top to bottom

Examples

Heading	What goes in it
Lični podaci	Ime i prezime, Datum i mesto rođenja, Adresa, Kontakt telefon, Imejl: name and surname, date and place of birth, address, phone, email
Radno iskustvo	your jobs, latest first
Obrazovanje i usavršavanje	university, school, courses, further training
Veštine, Znanja i veštine	professional and “soft” skills
Poznavanje rada na računaru	computer skills: software and level, a section of its own
Poznavanje jezika (Znanje jezika), Vozačka dozvola, Reference, Dodatne informacije	languages, driving licence, references, additional information

A foreigner adds Državljanstvo “citizenship” and radna dozvola “work permit”. Leave out the JMBG, the personal identification number: it belongs on official forms. Bračno stanje “marital status” is going out of use; a photo is normal. If the ad asks for consent to process your data, it goes at the bottom (a woman writes Saglasna sam): Saglasan sam da se moji lični podaci obrađuju u svrhu ovog konkursa. I consent to my personal data being processed for this application.

Radno iskustvo: reverse chronological order

The rule is obrnutim hronološkim redom “in reverse chronological order”: your latest job at the top, older ones further down. Each entry: dates, employer, position, what you did. The year takes a full stop, because Serbian reads it as an ordinal number: 2019., od 2019. do 2023. godine, 12. maj 2019. After od and do the month takes the genitive: od marta 2021. do juna 2024. godine (lesson “Genitive in dates & time”).

Instead of Zaduženja “responsibilities” you will also see Opis posla or Ključne odgovornosti “job description, key responsibilities”; Postignuća “achievements” gets a line of its own. A gap in your record (pauza u radu) is not hidden but named in one line: roditeljsko odsustvo, usavršavanje, selidba u Srbiju “parental leave, further training, the move to Serbia”. Company types: d.o.o. is a limited liability company (like Ltd or LLC), a.d. a joint-stock company (like plc or Inc.), preduzetnik a sole trader (lesson “Abbreviations & acronyms”).

Cheat sheet

The cheat sheet — everything essential from the lesson on one page. In the app it opens at any time.

CV and cover letter

Genres

Examples

Serbian	English
biografija, radna biografija, CV	CV, résumé
propratno pismo / motivaciono pismo	for a job / for a course, a grant (in job ads too)
konkurs, oglas za posao, prijava, rok za prijavu	formal call, job ad, application, deadline; requirements: Uslovi
radno mesto, kandidat, razgovor za posao	position, candidate, job interview
Nepotpune i neblagovremene prijave neće se razmatrati.	ends a konkurs: late or incomplete ones rejected

Headings in order

Examples

Heading	Contents
Lični podaci	Ime i prezime, Datum i mesto rođenja, Adresa, Kontakt telefon, Imejl; no JMBG
Radno iskustvo	obrnutim hronološkim redom: latest first
Obrazovanje i usavršavanje	university, school, courses
Veštine: stručne / meke	professional / soft skills
Poznavanje rada na računaru	software and level
Poznavanje jezika, Vozačka dozvola, Reference, Dodatne informacije	languages, driving licence, references, other

A job entry

Year + full stop: 2019.; od marta 2021. do juna 2024. godine (genitive). Or Opis posla, Ključne odgovornosti; Postignuća; a gap: pauza u radu.

What you did

Examples

Phrase	Case
bio sam zadužen za / bila sam zadužena za, vodio sam / vodila sam	accusative
učestvovao sam u, radio sam na, stekao sam iskustvo u	locative
bavio sam se, sarađivao sam sa	instrumental
postigao sam, ostvario sam, unapredio sam, uveo sam, razvio sam	achieved, improved, introduced

Bio sam zadužen za nabavku i vodio tim od pet ljudi. I was responsible for purchasing and led a team of five.

A duty: imperfective vodio sam; a result: perfective uveo sam. Bullets: nouns (vođenje tima, izrada izveštaja, organizacija obuka).

Education, skills, languages

osnovne akademske studije, master studije, doktorske studije (BA, MA, PhD); fakultet, smer, stečeno zvanje; kurs, obuka, sertifikat; in ads SSS, VŠS, VSS (school, college, degree: visoka stručna sprema), nostrifikovana diploma (recognised). Soft skills: komunikativnost, timski rad, odgovornost. Licence: vozačka dozvola B kategorije. References: Reference na zahtev., pismo preporuke.

Examples

Level	Written as
A1–A2 / B1–B2 / C1–C2	početni nivo / srednji nivo, aktivno znanje / napredni nivo, tečno
a line	engleski – C1, u govoru i pismu; srpski – B1; ruski – maternji jezik
in a letter	Tečno govorim engleski.

CV & cover letter

Lesson opening

CV and cover letter

What it is called

The section headings, top to bottom

Radno iskustvo: reverse chronological order

Cheat sheet

CV and cover letter

Genres

Headings in order

A job entry

What you did

Education, skills, languages

Propratno pismo: three paragraphs