Top 5 Tips for your CV

 

Sell Yourself

Ensure your CV gives a good first impression for the audience who will be reading it.  It must contain the appropriate information that is directly related to the vacancy whilst communicating it to the recruiter in the right way. Be sure to include any snippets of information reinforcing you are the right candidate for the role such as examples of specific skills, experience and academic background to alert the reader to your employability.

 

Remain Concise Throughout

Especially in current times, recruiters will be faced with mountains of CV’s, you therefore do not want to submit a rambling wordy document. Stays focused, and remember your CV is merely your initial introduction to employers as a way of getting in the door. Once you secure an interview, you will then have the opportunity to divulge more information. Keep your CV easy to read, to the point and stick to selling your abilities. Your CV should ideally be no longer than 2 A4 sides.

 

Tailor your CV

Although time consuming, ensure you make the effort to tailor your CV to each individual role you apply for to maximise your chances of securing one of them. No matter how similar 2 roles may be, your recruiters will be looking for different areas you excel in from your CV, so take care to speak the language each job opportunity presents in each CV.

 

Thoroughly research the company and the job advertisement to gauge what each prospective employer is looking for in an employee and link your skills and experience to the requirements of the role.

 

Don’t Leave Gaps

By leaving gaps in your CV you are openly inviting the recruiter to make their own assumptions as to what you were doing within these periods. Always give details of what you were doing during that time and present the positive skills you accumulated in this time specific to the job role. These may include “soft skills” such as communication, self management, teamwork or project management.

 

To avoid potential gaps in your CV, keep this vital document updated regularly whether or not you are thinking of applying for jobs. By staying on top of this, you will avoid the need to think back to points in your career which may not be as fresh in your mind as you hoped.

 

No Error’s Allowed

The simplest form of screening used by recruiters is by eliminating any CV with grammatical errors. To ensure you do not fall at this unnecessary hurdle, check for basic spelling and grammatical errors. You can even get the document proof read by friends and family who have a fresh pair of eyes who may be more likely to pick up on any mistakes as you have spent so much time perfecting your CV.