Actionable Tips on Crafting an Eye-Catching CV
In this era of ever-increasing competition in the labour market, what would be the most effective ways to stand out among other job applicants?
It all starts with your ability to present yourself, by that letting your true professional value be noticed by recruiters, hiring managers, and people in your network (who might actually help too).
Since we have only one chance to make a good first impression, let’s make sure it’s the best one.
These days, we have two key self-presentation tools widely used for selecting and hiring job seekers. This post is going to guide you through the process of creating and smartly updating your Resume/CV.
LENGTH
Unless you work in science or academia and your CV must include long lists of written articles and attended presentations OR you’re a top-manager with 20-years’ experience, keep it down to two pages (IT with all certifications is the only exception).
Remember how busy people are, especially recruiters and HR professionals who sometimes have to process hundreds of CVs every day.
TEMPLATE & FORMAT
Choose resume format and type based on your industry and targeted position. If in doubt, Google it. There are available free samples for engineers, software developers, etc.
Mind the difference between ATS-friendly (simple, black-and-white, text-only) and human-oriented (may include graphics) templates.
Also, if your CV is intended for a job in a public or governmental sector, quirky designs are unacceptable.
LAYOUT
Make sure it’s easy-to-read, with fonts not too big, not too small. Stick to Arial, Calibri, Tahoma, or Trebuchet. Keep fonts and formatting consistent throughout the entire document.
Place most important information on the first page (awards, projects, achievements, any quantifiable results of your professional activity).
Avoid vague statements, be as specific as possible – make your CV data-based and result-based.
If you’re a recent graduate, put your education before experience. Same with any certification or training you want to highlight.
If including personal information is a common practice in your country, put it at the end. Focus readers’ attention on your professional side.
HEADING AND TOP SECTIONS
This is the most visible and viewable part. So…
Put all your contact details in the heading. No weird emails (your_name@gmail.com is the best option).
Profile of qualifications – 2-3 sentences about your experience and expertise.
No objective – very outdated. You might be asked where you see yourself in <Number> years during a job interview, but don’t waste your CV’s valuable space on it. As an option, briefly explain what kind of role you’re targeting and how you can contribute to your future employer (NOT what you expect to get from your new job).
Well organised skills – a list, a table, or one-sentence bullet points. In addition to your competencies (hard skills) and computer knowledge (tech skills), always add soft skills!
EXPERIENCE
For each employment, focus on presenting your accomplishments rather than listing responsibilities. Current job – present tense, previous jobs – past tense.
Don’t go in details with jobs 10+ years old. Including company, position and dates would be enough.
For job descriptions, each line should start with a strong action verb that implies positive change. Replace
“responsible, manage, work, perform, execute…”
with
“increased, improved, enhanced, developed, designed, drove, optimized, streamlined, created, empowered, built…”
The idea is presenting yourself as an “achiever” rather than a “doer”.
In the end, employers are usually interested in two things – what results you have delivered so far, and how you can contribute to solving their problems. Plus, your CV should be clear, concise, and visually appealing.
A FEW MORE VERY HELPFUL TIPS
Should we look for job openings that match our CVs? Or should we look for job openings and match our CVs with them? Believe me, finding a job description that would 100% match your CV is practically impossible. That’s why we do these things:
Use Matching Keywords –
Instead of submitting your general CV to 100 job ads, send it to 10 but make sure you modify it based on a job description and include keywords. Ideally, your CV should have vacancy matching job titles, contain keywords and phrases from a job posting, have no employment history gaps, and match by most recent experience.
Always Attach a Cover Letter –
Create and submit a separate cover letter for each vacancy.
Make Your Job Search Targeted –
Choose a few companies and ‘monitor’ their websites/LinkedIn profiles for vacancies. Network with their key decision makers. When contact recruiters, have a specific position in mind and highlight your relevant achievements.
Smart, targeted effort – faster results. You can do it!
Don’t miss my upcoming posts about writing a winning cover letter and optimizing your LinkedIn profile. For more information, you can find me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/galyna-daniel/
Great tips!! When my job was eliminated, I had to start from scratch with a completely re-formatted resume as the last job I applied for was 19 years ago. I think it matches your tips. I read numerous job posting for my target job to incorporate key words and skills. I also customize each cover letter. I hope this all pays off soon with a job!!
Thank you, Lauri. Glad those tips were helpful. Sounds like you’re on the right track, and it will definitely pay off. Good luck with your job search!
Thank you!!
Dear Galyna,
Thanks so much so this writer up, I think the reason I have not had an interview for the past one year should be the way my CV is structured!
Can you help me to fine tone the CV?
Thanks
Hi Emmanuel,
Helping people improve their CVs was the main reason why I wrote this blog post. It should guide you through the process, so you would be able to help yourself.
Thanks Galyna Daniel for the tips. I think l fall in this category. Kindly let me know how you can be of help l need to redraft my C.V.
Regards.
Hi James,
Contact me via LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/galyna-daniel
I’m not sure if this will help anyone, but maybe it will. I was told by a career/resume coach a functional resume will be best since I am changing careers. This resume lists your accomplishments separate from the job you held. I’ve been applying for jobs for 5 months will no results. I went to the career center I’ve been attending seminars at and was told this is a hard format to read by the ATS system and most recruiters are not familiar with the format and my resume is probably getting kicked out of the system. I have a new, traditional formatted resume to use. I don’t know if this will solve mu problem, but I’m hopeful it will.
I applied for a job with my newly formatted resume and I received a reply. I very excited. I made it to the next step and hoping for an interview.
Hi dear Lauri, thanks for updating us on the progress. I’m really excited for you!
Like you fairly noticed, format of the resume template means a lot. That’s why I usually use traditional ones to make sure they would pass the ATS.
Thanks for the valuable comments and keep us updated!
Thank you Galyna.
I’ve tried a million (okay, okay – 999,999) different suggestions for my resume, and it’s still perfectly useless. I know it’s not working but I don’t know why. I copy and paste it into Notepad so I know it doesn’t have goofy formatting to confuse the ATS, but frankly I have little faith in the usefulness of ATS and subsequently avoid them like the plague.
Resumes on my website need to be a pdf, if you want to add it to your profile. This is for your safety.
Hi J.N., thanks for sharing your concern. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are often used in big companies where hundreds of resumes are processed per day. The only way to avoid ATS is applying to medium/small companies or start-ups.
If you applied so many times and still had no response (even after experimenting with different formats and templates), there could be other issues causing it. Maybe the content of your resume needs updating or reworking too.
JN, I am not an expert by any means so use my advise with that in mind. I do think you should have someone who works in your field (a person doing the job you want) take a look at your resume. Resume writers and the like are great for the initial construction and format, but may not understand your field for specific accomplishments and content. The way to get past ATS is to have key words and phrases taken from job posting descriptions.
Hi Mam
Need your Help to Re-Draft my CV
Kindly let me know how you can be of help l need to redraft my C.V.
This Is Hem Chandra Fulara From India 17 Year experience at Present Working in Railway Project
A Line in Reply will be highly Appreciated
Rgds
Hem Chandra Fulara
Great tips
Rgds,
Annekeyah Anthony
From Kenya
+254718111467