How to create an outstanding CV - Hays Viewpoint - CV tips Viewpoint careers advice blog

How to create an outstanding CV - Hays Viewpoint - CV tips Want to create a CV that will get you noticed but not sure where to start? Listen to this podcast to find out how you can present yourself well on paper and ensure your CV leads to an interview. Podcast notes: It’s extremely important to make sure your CV catches the eye of a recruiter or a potential employer.   How can you present the best CV? A great CV can be the difference between you getting the perfect job, and not even getting a call about an interview. So its really important that you think about how you are going to present your CV before you send it to anyone Use acronym CATCH which stands for Clear, Accurate, Targeted, Concise, and Honest. Clear:  The most important, most relevant information really needs to jump out and be easily readable. That means no gimmicky fonts or formatting as it distracts from the important information Accurate: Simple grammatical and spelling mistakes can cost you an interview.   These mistakes speak volumes about your attention to detail Targeted: Think about the person who is going to be reading your CV and also the job and the firm to which you’re applying. Make sure you tailor all your information accordingly Concise: Think about limiting information to that which is the most important Honest: Exaggerations can really have a massive impact on your career. Make sure your CV is a true reflection of who you are Here’s a simple guide to writing the perfect CV How can you make your CV stand out to a recruiter? On your CV or with any discussion with a recruiter/hiring manager, it’s your achievements and results that really count and not just the words. We really want proof that you did your previous jobs well. Everyone can say that they’re ‘innovative’ but not everyone can say that they ‘designed and delivered a new online sales booking system which increased revenue by 15 per cent in the first six months’. Show and highlight your achievements in your CV Think about your CV in terms of action verbs and make sure that those verbs are used in terms of examples as well, so instead of writing, you ‘manage the team’ try using verbs as ‘directed a team’ or ‘motivated a team’. For example, ‘I united and motivated a team of five underperformers and after a year, customer service scores increased by 15%’. Read more on how to impress a recruiter with your CV How important it is to tailor your CV to each application? How should people go about doing this? The best place to start is to look at a job description. Highlight key words and phrases on this job description List them on a piece of paper and group them into categories such as soft skills, technical abilities and job experience. This will make it easier to incorporate the key words and phrases from job description into your CV In terms of tailoring your personal statement, you need to explain to the reader why you’re keen to work not just in this specific industry but also with this particular company.  You need to make sure your personal statement mirrors the aspects of the job description, the qualities, the character and the experience specified in it Try to fit the tone of your CV to the job description. If the advertisements uses a   very relaxed tone, very formal CV might jar when you send it across. Make sure the tone match, and the words match to grab the recruiters attention and pitch you as a very good fit for the job Take some time to polish your work history. Everything in your employment history must be true but adapt it to highlight the duties and the achievements that are relevant and are mentioned in the job description It takes some time to do all of these things, and youre not going to be able to send out a hundred CVs per day. But the point is, by tailoring it particularly well, you have much more chance of getting a job application successfully read by a recruiter and then invited in for interview Read more:  Why you should always tailor your CV â€" and how to do it Should we be digitalising our CV? If so, what’s the best way of doing so? Always, when you include your contact details on your CV, you need to include your LinkedIn profile, your Twitter account and any other relevant social media links Make sure though that your digital presence, your LinkedIn profile particularly, links up and totally reflects your CV. You don’t want the two things to contain contradictory information Make sure that any social media accounts that should be considered private or you use purely for social use are kept that way and not included on your CV Most CVs are now read online. Depending on your industry, you might want to include links to websites or blogs or any other work samples that you’ve done. This will really add flesh and weight to your CV. Read more:  4 ways to give your CV a digital makeover How often should we be updating our CVs? Updating your CV is a constant work in progress. It’s important to revise your CV at least every three to six months Keep adding new information on your CV even if you’ve stayed in the same role for a while as you’d have gained new skills and experience Include, on a very regular basis, everything you’ve been doing in your current role. When the new job comes up, you’re raring to go Consider these things when updating your CV Does it matter if my CV is more than two pages long? In the UK, the standard is 2 to 3 pages long It does vary, depending on your country and industry In some industries youre expected to include work samples, which can lengthen the CV considerably It’s best to look at the location and the job itself and then to take a view on that These tips will help to prepare your CV for international applications What’s the best piece of CV advice that you’ve been given? Be true to yourself on your CV and at interview as well. There’s no point of writing a CV which gets you an interview for a job that you’re underqualified for Make sure your CV reflects the best of the real you so you can definitely then secure the right role Subscribe to the HaysWorldwide podcast Did you enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the Hays Worldwide podcast on SoundCloud and download it on iTunes.