Things to know about a CV / Resume / Profile
Did you know that around 85% of CVs, don’t do the job of conveying exactly what roles the candidate is suitable for? Take a long hard look at your CV and turn it into a document that works. Make sure that it says exactly what you do and always remember two things
Did you know that around 85% of CVs, don’t do the job of conveying exactly what roles the candidate is suitable for? Take a long hard look at your CV and turn it into a document that works. Make sure that it says exactly what you do and always remember two things
- The object of your CV is to make sure that you secure an interview of your choice.
- It also serves as a prompting tool during the interview.
A better way to present oneself is tell the story from today – and go backwards. This is reverse chronological order. Use employer names, dates and the functional title that you accomplished along with skills you utilised. There could be a disparity between your present title and your true job content. Eg: You may have been called the “Global IT Manager”, but if your job was actually doing 2nd & 3rd line support for a branch, 50-man business – make up a title that’s appropriate in terms of the overall organisational structure and your job content.
Structure your CV with plenty of white space. Don’t use 5mm margins and tiny font sizes. Think about business documents – they have plenty of headings, bullet points and white space. Copy what works.
How many pages should my CV be?
As long as it needs to be. DO NOT be constrained by the 2 page CV that has evolved in society. There are examples of 8 point Time Roman font, squeezed onto 2 pages. Terrible.
Our analysis have shown that the average length of most technical CVs is 4-5 pages. Additionally, the agency will add 2 more pages in the form of cover sheets and “consultant notes”. Clients therefore, are used to skimming quite large documents (remember the bullet points to keep it simple?).
Sometimes, the 2-page CV may be suitable. Particularly for senior management applying to a Sunday Times advertised role. But in that case, often the Senior Recruiter would present your details to the client attaching interviewer notes. Outplacement companies insist on 2-page CVs even for technical managers. Why? Nobody knows the answer.
Top ten tips
- No colour please – this is a business document
- Use a font size that works well “on screen”
- Be consistent where you use Bold and Underline
- Leave a proper margin
- Leave some room for reviewer comments
- Using email ? Think about your subject line and email body text
- Copy your contact details into the email body text
- Save as Rich Text Format
- Don’t use text boxes
- Spell check everything – and ask someone to proof read