THE-LIFESTYLE-EDIT-CV-TIPS-How can you make a real impression with your CV? It’s the question we all face when trying to bag a new role and it’s important one. Often the first thing a prospective employer will use to gauge your suitability for a role, creating the perfect application that showcases your strengths and downplays your weaknesses, while pushing your experience to the fore and linking that to the job specification is no easy feat.

So what are secret behind mastering it? We’ve quizzed employers to career and life coaches on what they look for when it comes to devising the CV the type of CV that you will differentiate you from the pack. From being short and concise and making the most of your skills to more basics tips like remembering to proof read and keeping it updated, these peals of wisdom will help take you that one step further to landing your dream job.

Back to basics: There is no science to writing a CV but there are some basic sections you need to cover. These include: personal and contact information; education and qualifications; work history and relevant experience; skills tailored to the job description in question and some mention of references, whether the details of the references are included or not.

Presentation and length matter: Before anyone starts reading your CV, the first thing they’ll look at is the way it’s presented. Pink scented CVs may have worked in Legally Blonde but the trick is to keep it clean and simple and carefully and clearly printed on white A4 paper. The top middle area of the first page is where your potential employer’s eyes will naturally fall so make sure to put the most important information there. The trick is to put most recent work experience first and work backwards, putting qualifications last.

Employers aren’t interested in reading about everything you’ve ever done. Talking about the sports clubs you were in in school or the fact that you enjoy shopping in your spare time is a waste of space.

Chances are, the position you’re apply for is oversubscribed so any recruiter will want to quickly see whether the experience and skills you’ve outlined match the job description. Most will make a judgement on a CV in seconds so make it easy for them by not drowning the crucial pieces of information with fluff. Stick to a maximum of two pages of A4 paper as a guide. Avoid using wordy sentences – short and clear sentences help recruiters to get a sense of your experience quickly and at a glance.

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Understand the job description
Your biggest tool to put your best foot forward is the job description. Think of it as a gift from the recruiter telling you everything they want you to show that you can do. Make sure to read the details from start to finish. Take notes, bullet point and go through your experience, picking out key examples of how they illustrate the skills outlined in the job description.
Remember, there is no such thing as a generic CV. Every CV you send to a potential employer should be tailored to the role. Talking about irrelevant skills will only drown the skills you do have that the recruiter is looking for. That doesn’t mean re-writing it each time; just adapt the details so they’re relevant.
If you can’t draw on an example from your work experience to demonstrate a criterion in the job description, fear not. All is not lost. Simply adapt skills you do have by drawing on relevant skills and show how they’re transferable and apply to the role in question. For example, if a criterion is sales experience, it’s perfectly acceptable to mention how any retail work you’ve undertaken illustrates that.
If the role you’re applying for is above your current level of seniority, don’t be afraid to state that you’re ready for a step up but use the experience and qualifications you do have to justify that. It can be hard to remember some of the skills we develop every day so make a point to give yourself monthly appraisals. Treat yourself to a nice new notepad and at the end of every month; make a note of any new experiences or skills you’ve developed that month.

It could be anything from pitching an idea to a large group and the skills you developed in doing so to working on your first big fiscal budget. These are all skills that will impress an employer but are easy to forget when it gets down to working on your CV.

Coping with a career change

There’s nothing worse that having made the decision to change careers but feeling deflated because your experience and skills aren’t the area you’re planning to go. Don’t let that get you down. Instead, take time to do some retraining. Sign up to an evening or weekend course to show that you’re actively working on developing your competence in the area of your dreams. And like you would adapt your CV for any role, make it clear how the experience you’ve gained in your current role will stand you in good stead for the next chapter in your career. Simply sticking with an unrelated CV is not strong enough alone to get you a job interview.

Proof-read, proof-read, proof-read

It may sound like an obvious one but spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are one of the most common mistakes with CVs no matter how good your CV is, they’re often the slip up that can eliminate you from the pool at the first hurdle. Don’t rely on Word to flag up mistakes. Get it written up, check through mistakes and then take a step back for a few hours and come back with fresh eyes. Even ask a friend or colleague to give it a once over. What makes sense to you might not make sense to someone else. It sounds long-winded but, trust us, it makes a difference.

19th January 2015
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