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Modern CV Rules: How to Make a Lasting Impression in 8 Seconds
You’ve been looking for the right job for days. You quickly put together a CV for the position. You send it to the recruiter but receive no response. You’ve done everything you can think of, yet you still haven’t received a response. Why?
After working in the recruitment industry for over 14 years, I’ve seen over 60,000 CVs and have learned what works – and what doesn’t.
As job positions in USA, UK, New Zealand, India, UAE and Australia are currently inundated with applications, read on to understand the critical components of a CV you must include (and exclude) to ensure your next application is successful.
Keep It Brief (CV Rules)
You have 10 seconds to make a good first impression.
The most widely referenced study is one conducted by TheLadders, which claimed that recruiters read your CV for an average of 10 seconds before assessing whether or not you are qualified for the post.
- Try to keep your CV to three pages.
- Please include your correct contact information. Ideally, there should be two points of contact: a phone number and an email address.
- Include a brief professional profile that highlights your significant talents and experience in a few phrases.
- Limit your experience to the last decade to highlight your most current abilities and contributions at work.
Also Read: Recruitment KPI’s | Talent Acquisition Indicators | Best Recruitment Metrics / Formulas
Tailor Your CV to The Position You’re Looking For (CV Rules)
Take the time to read the advertisement or job description if one is available. Include employment experience, accomplishments, and abilities that are relevant to the position you are looking for.
Whether you have limited information, look for persons who are currently in that role on LinkedIn and see if they have described their major tasks. Examine the company’s website and main values to learn more about it.
Design and Readability (CV Rules)
- Use a consistent font and formatting throughout your CV.
- Bullet points are a terrific method to break up the CV and make it easier to read.
- Use shorter sentences and paragraphs to make better use of blank space; this makes it much easier to scan material.
- Use typical CV titles to aid navigation, such as “Contact Details,” “Personal Summary,” “Work Experience,” “Key Skills,” and “Education.”
- Avoid using abbreviations, acronyms, or organisational lingo in your CV. Use caution when include a photo of the candidate – according to studies, 88 percent of CVs with a photo of the candidate are rejected!
Grammar and Spelling (CV Rules)
- Double-check your spelling and grammar.
- Check your spelling and grammar several times!
- Check your spelling. Grammarly, for example, can assist you in ensuring that your grammar is flawless.
- If possible, ask a friend to review your work; a second set of eyes can often catch errors that you may have overlooked.
Also Read: All About Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) – Complete List
Accomplishments (CV Rules)
Your CV is your chance to market yourself and highlight why you are the greatest fit for the work, so add examples of where you have gone above and beyond in terms of accomplishments. Achievements could include:
- Identifying an issue and improving or solving it.
- An idea you developed or implemented that enhanced productivity, saved money, saved time, or raised income; and
- Any honours you have received.
Provide evidence of your accomplishments when appropriate, and include statistics where accomplishments are measurable.
For example, if you were in charge of ‘implementing new security software,’ explain how ‘the new software directly contributed to an 88 percent drop in risks to the company’s IT security.’
Bring your most essential career accomplishments, and/or the most relevant career successes to the post you’re applying for, at the top of the list.
Keyword Research (CV Rules)
Use the appropriate ‘keywords’ to guarantee your CV is found in word searches. The first place to look for keywords for your CV is in the job advertisement or job description.
Keywords should appear throughout your CV, not only in the job title and essential abilities summary section.
For more technical roles, summarizing the primary “tools and technologies” you employed under each position will demonstrate to the employer how experienced you are, as well as how recent your experience is in that particular tool or technology.
Also Read: Data Analytics and Related Career Prospects
Matching Your LinkedIn Profile to Your Resume (CV Rules)
Check that your LinkedIn profile matches your CV in terms of dates and work titles.
List any significant technologies, tools, and frameworks you have worked with on your LinkedIn profile so that recruiters can find you if they conduct a LinkedIn search.
Spell check is just as crucial on LinkedIn as it is on your CV!
How May The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Void Be Filled? (CV Rules)
The first thing to realize is that COVID-19 has thrown thousands of students’ career plans off, and you’re not alone. Career-enhancing activities such as work experience, internships, and volunteering have been postponed or cancelled as a result of the pandemic. Let us set your mind at ease if this has you worried about the corona-shaped gap on your CV.
Employers are fully aware of the difficulties that lockdowns can bring, and they will not expect you to have completed any work experience during this time. Nonetheless, you may show potential employers how you spent this time productively, demonstrating that you are a proactive, dedicated, and resilient applicant.
You could mention:
- details of online courses or Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) you’ve taken or webinars or online events you’ve attended
- the acquisition of new skills, such as learning a language or learning to code
- volunteering work, such as checking in on and shopping for vulnerable neighbors or caring for young siblings or elderly relatives
- Charity work, such as fundraising or raising awareness for a specific organisation.
- Develop new activities, such as beginning a vlog, taking up a sport, learning to cook, or forming a book club in your neighborhood.
Remember to relate these to the job you’re applying for, so concentrate on the abilities you learned from these activities and how/why they’d be valuable.
The location of this information is determined by the actions. Volunteering or charitable work might be classified under the subject ‘Work experience.’ Online courses and further qualifications should be kept in the ‘Education’ section, while any new skills should be kept in the ‘Skills and Achievements’ part. Put any new hobbies in the ‘Hobbies and interests’ section if they’re relevant to the job you’re looking for.
Also Watch: Tell Me Something About Yourself – Most Asked Interview Question
Summary (CV Rules)
Your CV is your first impression with a potential employer, so make the most of it! Use the advice in this article to put yourself ahead of the competition when applying for your next job.
- Keep it brief
- Tailor your CV to the position you’re going for
- Layout and readability
- Grammar and Spelling
- Accomplishments
- Keyword research
- Matching your LinkedIn profile to your resume
- How May The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Void Be Filled?
