I had a coffee with a good friend of mine the other day. She is looking to change her job and possibly even her career so I was talking about looking at rewriting her CV (Resume for you guys over the pond). I wondered what prompted her to ask me to review her CV and she said this. “A CV writer had one look at my CV and told me it sucks!”. After I had cleared up the hot chocolate that I spat out (TMI) and regained my professional composure we discussed more details about what employers are looking for in a CV.
Updates
The thing is many people don’t spend time either writing or updating their CV’s. I find that it is often when you are either faced with looming redundancy or when a line manager has ticked you off and they are looking for a new job. Then updates are hurriedly made, typos or made or worse still a CV template is downloaded of the web in Times New Roman. Worse still with shading! One cannot expect to make an impact unless time and attention is given to updating your CV and not just when the prospect of moving on is facing you, but updating while you get new skills, training, awards and experiences on the job.
Sales Letter
Talking to a graduate recruitment officer at an event I was stunned by the amount of CV’s that go to some of the leading companies in the country. When having to scan quickly through this mountain of CV’s, style, content, grammar and typos where of paramount importance. Although some will deny it previous work experience and the university also count (but we won’t go there). One cannot emphasize enough that your CV (and cover letter where appropriate) are sales letters to get you in the door. That sales letter has to be good. It has to have powerful words, statements and reasons as to why an employer should be thinking “it’s me you want!”. It has to demonstrate your personal brand and what makes you more distinct than any other candidate.
So if you are going to do your CV (resume) make the effort and make it the best. Whether it is on paper or online ensure that it is done properly. Incidently if you need a free review of your current CV email me.
Filed under: Work , CV, Personal Brand, Resume
Right on the nail David. Shabby, badly written CVs with little or no attention to detail are flying around all over the place. Like you I will review a CV and give helpful ( hopefully ) comments. Often it has no sense at all of the person – it is just a list. Having had my recruiting hat on in the past I know how hard it is to find good candidates – for goodness sake help yourself by making sure your CV stands out ( for the right reasons!!)
Coincidentally I have been with my Speakersbank colleagues today here in Edinburgh – Sean Kennedy came up to work with us – and we were talking about the very same thing on the journey home.
Jackie
Thsi is a good article, however, I would love some practical tips on improving my cv.
Please have a look at the webpage above to see my current cv and leave me a comment when you find where improvement is needed!! Thankyou very much,
-Hannah.
NZ