Let’s face it, in the competitive job market of today, standing out amongst the crowd is a tough gig! Creating a compelling CV is essential for landing your dream job. Your CV is your personal marketing tool, showcasing your skills, experiences, and qualifications to potential employers. To make a lasting impression and increase your chances of getting noticed, here are some tips to give you a helping hand.
Tailor Your CV for Each Job Application:
Resist the temptation to use the same CV for every application. Take a little bit more time on your applications, adjust your CV for each job application by emphasising relevant skills and experiences that align with the specific requirements of each individual position.
Clear and Concise Formatting:
Keep your CV well organised, neat, and easy to read. Use a clean and professional format with clear headings and bullet points to highlight key information. Ensure a consistent font and layout throughout.
Contact Information:
Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people have out of date contact information on their CV! When applying for a new role, you want employers to be able to contact you. Put your contact information at the top of your CV. Include your full name, phone number, email address, and, if applicable, a link to your LinkedIn profile.
Professional Summary:
Write a concise professional summary that highlights your career goals and your key qualifications. This section should capture the employer's attention and encourage them to read further.
Highlight Achievements:
Rather than just listing job duties, focus on achievements and contributions you’ve made in each of your previous roles. Use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your work and showcase your ability to deliver results.
Skills Section:
Create a dedicated section for your skills, incorporating both hard and soft skills relevant to the job. This provides a quick snapshot of your capabilities and makes it easier for employers to identify your strengths.
Education:
Whilst education isn’t necessarily the be all and end all in most roles, it is still important to include your education. Present your educational background in a clear and chronological order. Include the name of the educational setting, degree or certification earned, and completion date.
Work Experience:
List your work experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent position. Provide descriptions of your roles, focusing on accomplishments, responsibilities, and skills developed.
Use Action Verbs:
Start each bullet point in your work experience with powerful action verbs to convey a sense of accomplishment and dynamism. When employers are sifting through a lot of CVs, this will make yours a lot more engaging. Here is an example for you…
· Transformed customer service operations by implementing a streamlined communication system, resulting in a 20% increase in customer satisfaction within the first quarter.
Include Relevant Keywords:
Many employers these days use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter through CVs, so you don’t want to get thrown in the ‘No’ pile because you’ve missed out some keywords that recruiters will be looking out for.
Quantify Achievements:
Where you can, quantify your achievements with numbers or percentages. This adds credibility to your accomplishments and provides a tangible understanding of your impact in previous roles.
Proofread Thoroughly:
If your CV is riddled with errors, it can leave a negative first impression. Check it, check it, and check it again! Look out for any grammatical or spelling errors. We’ve all got that friend that’s a stickler for detail, why not asks them to cast their eye over it for you too, just to be safe.
Length:
If your CV is like reading a short novel, you’ll lose the recruiter. Keep it to a maximum of 2 pages if you can. Naturally, the longer you’ve been in employment for, the longer it will be.
Personality:
We’re all human beings, and we all want to like who we surround ourselves with, and that goes for at work too. Tell potential employers about yourself! If you like to go out running, horse riding, floristry, salsa dancing, hiking, reading, whatever it may be…tell them!
Final Word:
Your CV is your ‘shop front.’ It doesn’t always come naturally to us to blow our own trumpet, but if ever there was a time to do it…this is it! You want to stand out from the crowd for the right reasons. By following these tips, you can create a standout CV that showcases your skills, experiences, and potential contributions to prospective employers. Remember, your CV is not just a document; it's your personal brand, and with careful composing, it can open doors to exciting career prospects.
Good luck!
