BuildingPeople

Know Yourself

What motivates and invigorates you? How would people who really know you describe you?

Being truthful to yourself about what you are good and not so good at will not only help produce a compelling resume, it will also assist you in targeting jobs you were made for.

Know Your Market

What position are you trying to secure? Strictly speaking you should produce a specific CV for every position you go for.

Research the industry before you do anything else and understand what employers are looking for in that role. Then ensure your CV addresses those aspects.

Sell

If you have ever been on a sales course you will know that the key to success in promoting something is by highlighting features that will benefit the customer in some way.

The next level up in sophistication is selling unique features that promote specific benefits that competitors don’t share. Selling your attributes to an employer is no different.

But Don't Over Do It

Be confident but never mislead or over-state your capabilities.

Keep in mind that there are equally qualified people out there with same career goals as you, but you will have unique attributes and talents to them so there is no need to pretend you are something you are not.

Give Examples

Just because you bullet point 'excellent communication skills' in your resume doesn’t make it so. When was the last time your communication skills made a real difference to your employer?

Make that point as concisely as you can. Competency statements are a popular way of doing this:

• Skill / Ability
• A statement of fact about yourself that exemplifies this skill / ability
• Qualifying evidence or a referee that can be contacted to corroborate that statement (you don't have to disclose contact details of referees until someone asks for it).

Be Clear

Ensure that the structure and detail of your CV is consistent with your level of experience. There is no perfect solution but try and find balance between the detail and space on the page.

Try and use short sentences and avoid large paragraphs as it is easier for the reader to digest the information.

It is recommended you spend some time researching and exploring this area as the reader's first impression will determine their attitude when reading the content.

Detail

The two page CV is no longer the ‘universal norm’. Detail is important to clear up any assumptions the reader may have about particular roles or organisations. A four page CV if you are just out of school will always be a bad idea.

Include the major accomplishments and achievements in your career rather than all of them. Provide sufficient detail to give a potential interviewer a point of reference to ask the questions that will allow you to go into depth.

Use Keywords

Keyword searches are the backbone of most recruitment software; ensure that you use words that are commonly used in your industry and succinct in expressing your experience, skills, attributes and motivations.

Don’t try and entertain people with a witty and/or an unusual CV as it will be pushed to the back of the list by the software let alone a human being.

No Humour or Gimmicks

It will be noticed but for all the wrong reasons. Even if you are the funniest person you know avoid the temptation to use it in your resume.

You will be in a better position to gauge the appropriateness of humour in an interview situation but in writing it will definitely split opinion.

If it doesn't look like a CV it won't be treated like one.

The Basics

No excuses, if you use a word processor to write your CV use the spell check but don't just rely on it. Read your finished CV several times over to weed out mistakes then give it to someone else to read.

Writing a CV over a period of time is also a good idea as it will balance your perspective.