The very beginning: what makes a good CV
If you’re trying to land that new job you have always wanted, then your CV is the first chance you get to make a good impression. Ensuring that you have a top-quality CV will inevitably boost your chances of getting an interview so it’s worth sitting down and making it the best it can be.“You never get a second chance to make a good impression” is the old advertising slogan and never has that been more relevant than when applying for a job.
Your CV is the first opportunity to make a good impression with your prospective employer so failure to do that and you’ll severely harm your chances of landing an interview. Follow these guidelines and your dream job will be that little bit closer.
Employers want:
1. A logical and easy to read CV
Recruiting can be time consuming and there’s nothing worse than reading through hundreds of CVs, many of which are poorly presented and full of errors. So imagine what they think when they come across a simple, logical and well-presented CV: they’re going to be thankful and are much more inclined to read it!
4 things to focus on:
- Name and contact details are clear and are present on every page
- Entice them in at the start of your CV with a sentence or two as to why you are the person for the job as well as listing your key skills
- Your job history should begin with your most recent job and work backwards.
- Your educational details should focus on the qualifications needed from the job, so concentrate on professional qualifications and training, degrees and GCSEs and A-Levels (or equivalents).
Remember: Don’t include your cycling proficiency certificate or your 10m swimming award!
2.You to show stability in your CV
Prospective employers want you to show that you have the relevant experience and skills to do the job. To get this, you may have had to move jobs on quite a regular basis to get the opportunity to broaden your skill set. However, this has to be done with a view to showing stability on your CV.
If you have a CV that shows you moving jobs every few months it could come across in quite a negative manner so, consider this in the future when thinking about moving on.
- Is there a way you can gain more skills in your current role?
- Can you invest in your own training to enable you to stay in your current role?
Employers want to know that you are not going to disappear after just a few months so having a few longer periods of employment on your CV can help secure you that interview to tell them why this is the job for you.
3. Relevant skills with proof
From an employer’s point of view, what is to say that those claims you make on your CV are true? When they’re looking through a pile of CVs that all say things like “I helped increase company sales” and “I improved the efficiency of the company” imagine if they came across your CV and it too made claims but backed it up by proof.
How good is that going to look? For example: “I improved company sales by 25% by implementing X, Y, and Z. You can see from the attached graph and testimonial from my Managing Director…”
Can you see how much giving proof sets you apart from the competition? How could they not invite you in for an interview after that?
By implementing these basic things into your CV you can significantly increase your chances of an interview and who knows, within a few weeks you could be starting that dream job.
Get your CV evaluated by a professional CV expert.
