Believe it or not, writing an effective CV and making it stand out are often very different things. Whether you’re looking for a change of position, or you’re just getting your foot on the career ladder, a long list of qualifications and skills can often be undermined if your CV is not unique. Making sure your CV cuts through the clutter is essential if you want to progress to interview stage. A key thing to remember is that a CV is all about selling yourself effectively, through emphasizing skills and experience. Your CV isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ document, it should be changed and adapted to fit each job description in order to fit the employers expectations and in a way which makes it clear you are suited to that particular role. Here are some simple steps you can follow to make sure your CV gets in front of the right people.
A strong start-
A key thing to consider when writing your CV should be ensuring that it is unique and truly reflects you as a person – anyone can talk about what they bring to a company, which is why it is key to attract the recruiter and grab their attention from the outset. This can be achieved throughout your personal profile, which should essentially tell the recruiter who you are, what you can offer, your career goals and aspirations.
Placing emphasis on your most impressive, interesting and relevant skills and abilities can be done whilst referring back to the job description as a guideline – this will ensure that you are focusing on the areas and skills that are most important to the employer. A personal statement should be a brief description and should be short and succinct – you should aim for your personal statement to be around 150 words long. Most job seekers want to share everything about themselves in their CV but this may appear cluttered and overwhelming for the recruiter, which is why it is essential to get straight to the point and attract the recruiters attention quickly.
Personal Development
You should not only list your previous job roles in your CV but you should also highlight your personal development throughout these roles – show how you have changed and evolved and the accomplishments that you have made. This will help to focus attention on the fact that you have learnt a lot from your past positions and demonstrate that you are committed to learning and expanding your skillset, alongside showing that you are more than the average employee. Demonstrating the fact that you are looking to expand your skillset through future roles whilst using your current skills effectively is a great way to show your employer that you are committed and interested in not only the role itself but also in using the role to develop your abilities.
Stay in the loop
Having good awareness of the industry that you are applying for will show the recruiter that you have the ability, and more importantly the motivation and interest, to stay on top of trends. Awareness of the industry can particularly help if you reach interview stage as this allows you to be able to incorporate background knowledge and truly connect with the topics raised. Some of the best ways you can stay in the loop is to actively follow social media channels and important professionals within the industry, interact with the professional network within the sector, as well as reading industry news stories and articles. Improving your commercial awareness can have benefits not only throughout your CV but also throughout the role itself, including helping you to perform better, improving your decision making skills, strengthening your reputation and increasing your chances of climbing your chosen career ladder.
Make the most of power words
Power words are words or phrases that help a CV stand out from the rest, they are usually action words that are striking and help describe tasks and responsibilities that were handled in past jobs. Including words such as adaptable, innovative, implemented and achieved for each of your listed roles can increase your chances of being selected for an interview, this could be followed up with impressive results or outcomes which demonstrate examples of what you have delivered as an employee. Using these words can help to demonstrate your strengths and highlight reasons why you are the perfect candidate. Many companies use database software to filter out candidates who don’t use certain key words, therefore it is vital to study the job description and ensure that you know what the recruiter is looking for, this will help you to tick all of the boxes.
Honesty is the best policy
Blatant lies on your CV can land you in sticky situations when it comes to employers checking your background and references. You may also get caught out at interview stage when you are unable to answer the questions that you have previously claimed to have knowledge on. Your CV should be a true demonstration of yourself, not a made-up version- it is the first stage of an employer getting to know you. Therefore, you should use your CV as a way to highlight your true strengths- even mentioning areas that you are not as capable in and are looking to expand your skill set in shows your employer that you are actively looking to develop rather than pretending that you have got it covered.
Show how connected you are
If you demonstrate that you are connected and involved in networking this displays that you have strong communication skills which is something that employers value greatly. Perhaps you are in a workgroup that is integrating several programs into one. Or perhaps you joined an interdepartmental team that is working on changing the culture of your office. These help to show that you have sought after skills, that you are connected and that you bring value beyond what you do from 9 to 5.
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