Your CV is the first impression someone will have of you. Take the time to get it right. You never get a 2nd chance to make a first impression and you may not have a second chance! Think about your CV as your marketing tool or your sales pitch for a vacancy, it represents you and how you market yourself, so it pays to take the time to get it right and each time you are applying for a vacancy, tailor make your CV to that vacancy. A hiring manager may take 10-15 seconds to initially skim through your CV to see if you have the relevant experience before either reading or not shortlisting your CV. Sometimes it can be hard to know where to start, see our CV Template for an initial outline and read our top tips below to give you that edge when applying for roles this year.
General Layout
A 2/3 page CV should be enough to give the relevant information to apply for a job vacancy.
Starting with Name, Profile, Employment History (most recent first), Education, Qualifications, Other Skills, Interests, Personal Information and References.
CV Content
Put all of your personal details on your CV, details left off will result in the interviewer needing more information or alternatively your application may be excluded due to short time frames. Always put your name, address and phone number on the CV, you would be surprised how many people miss off vital information. Have a personal profile (a couple of lines) outlining your strengths, at the beginning of the CV and give the reader a taster of your skills, experience and aspirations. If you have worked for a number of years, list your last 10 years experience and summarise the previous roles.
Fonts
Don’t be too flashy with fonts and text sizes, logos, or cartoons, they could be distracting from the actual information. Using capital letters, bold or italics, indents etc can help highlight certain information. Keep it professional and simple.
Formatting
Keep the format the same throughout, dates, company names etc, again it will be less distracting from the actual information.
Bullet Points
Use bullet points and bold text to highlight your skills and experience, it’s a really quick and easy way for your CV to be evaluated more effectively.
Clear and concise
Is your CV laid out in a clear and concise way that allows a hiring manager to skim through quickly and easily? Can they clearly see what roles and responsibilities you have had and how many years’ experience? Have you listed what industry those companies are in that you have worked at? (Especially if they are not well known or local).
Spell Check
Most importantly always spell check your CV, bad grammar and spelling create a really bad impression. Get someone else to check it for you; often it is easy to miss something.
Adjusting your CV for a specific role
If you have the skills or experience needed for the vacancy you are applying for, make sure you have added them to your CV, if you don’t have them don’t make it up, the interviewer will question you on that experience especially if they need it. Research the company, what industry are they in, do you have any experience in that industry or with any of their competitors or the products or services they offer? If so, is it listed on your CV? Make sure all the relevant experience they are looking for is highlighted on your CV and you have covered everything off that they are looking for. If you don’t have the experience, think about what transferable skills you have that you could highlight as an example to bridge that gap.
Be your own cheerleader.
Make sure you list your accomplishments and achievements. Have you saved your company money, turned around underperforming departments, decreased attrition rates, increased sales? Won any awards?
Upskill Yourself
If there are roles you are interested in and you are not hitting the mark or getting to interview stage, think about how you can get that experience. Udemy is a great website offering online training for very low costs and could easily give you some broad experience in software packages or skills that could make you more marketable to employers.
By just tweaking your application and taking the time to make it relevant for the vacancy you are applying for and highlighting your skills, you will increase your chances of successfully getting through to the next round! Good luck.
