- nicolamullarkey6
Ensure Your CV Stands Out From The Crowd
Updated: Apr 9, 2021
Employers and recruitment consultants are receiving so many CVs these days that you need to ensure that your CV catches their attention and does it fast! Most hiring manager and recruiters spend an average of 7 seconds reviewing CVs! Within 30s they have decided whether to speak with you or not!
So your job is to catch their attention within those first 7 seconds!
How can you do that?
State at the beginning of your CV under ‘profile’ or just under your name what your area of expertise is including any relevant qualifications for example ‘Prince 2 qualified Project Manager’ expand on this with relevant information, types of projects, areas you working etc.
Next share your achievements – in a bullet point fashion, to ensure ease of reading and conciseness.
Career History – ensure you start with your most recent role – readers want to know what you are doing NOW and to see that it is relevant to what they are looking for! They are not interested in what you did 10 or 20 years ago! If you have a long career history, ensure all the dates are covered but only share in detail about the last 3-4 roles, covering no more then the last 10 years.
Bullet point your achievements and responsibilities for each of your roles.
The above will get the reader’s attention is you have made it easy to read and full of achievements.
What else to keep in mind:
Length of your CV – there are so many articles about keeping your CV to two pages, I disagree with this, I do suggest that you keep it concise, if you have a long career history, putting all your experience on two sides can be challenging, so going over to 3 or even 4 pages is seen as acceptable these days, especially in the tech industry! Though more then 4 pages is definitely a no-no!
Do not shrink the size of your font so much to get more information on your CV – again this will put people off reading it.
Bullet points - be consistent, you either put a full stop at the end of each bullet point or you don't, either is acceptable, but do NOT alternate between both, its shows inconsistency.
The most important thing about writing your CV; do NOT lie or embellish any part of your experience or skills, the likeliness of getting found out is high and then you will not get the job, which could be your dream job.
Do not write your CV in the 3rd person or in the first person, start sentences with verbs rather that ‘I did’ or ‘David did’.
Do not use clichés like ‘good team player’, ‘good communication skills’, ‘works well under pressure’ or ‘fast learning’ give concrete examples from your experience where you can demonstrate these.
Don’t list every process and package you have used, just list the main ones, the ones that you are currently using, the ones you want to be using in your next role, the ones that you’d consider essential to do your role.
Education and qualification, depending on how long ago you gained your education depends on where you put it on your CV – if you are a recent graduate, then this needs to be right up front on your CV, if you have many years’ experience, then this is usually considered before education so putting your education and qualifications at the end of your CV is best. Ensure that your list it is reverse chronological order!
Hobby section of your CV is great to see as it shows you have another side to you other than just work…ensure it is brief, these can be expanded on in interview if asked.
Do NOT include a picture of yourself, you do not get a job based on how good looking you are! Its about your skills and achievements.
Also avoid including unnecessary information i.e. your age, gender or religion
References; do not add them to your CV, instead say “References provided on request”.
Ensure that your contact email address or contact details are appropriate, that they are professional.
Lastly but more importantly check for ERRORS!!!! If you have spellings or grammatical errors throughout your CV this shows you may not have great attention to detail! Your CV is your sales page! This needs to show you and your experience at your BEST! Errors do not do this!
If you need assistance please don’t hesitate to get in contact with our team.