Don’t have the time for a big CV overhaul? Here are three quick updates you can make to your CV in under an hour.
Are you a results-driven thought leader? Do you have strong communication skills? Do you work well in a team or individually? And do you love socialising with friends? All of these statements may well be true, but putting them on your CV could be ruining your chances of getting that job.
“Some candidates cram their CV with popular buzzwords in an attempt to impress employers, but often this has the reverse effect and leaves recruiters unimpressed,” says the Guardian.
One quick way to vastly improve your CV is to replace all of these clichés with more meaningful examples of how you possess these qualities.
Totaljobs provides a great example of how to do this. Here’s how they would demonstrate great communication skills without resorting to clichés and buzzwords:
Do say: “Completed a complex project by communicating with all levels of the business and external partners.”
Don’t say: “A great communicator who loves meeting new people.”
If your CV is full of lengthy paragraphs that you’ve struggled to fit onto the page, it’s time for a redesign.
“A good [CV] design is eye catching, without being an eyesore. This template is simple and clean, with a sleek aesthetic that sets it apart from every other CV out there,” says time.com.
Here are some quick and easy ways to achieve this:
“Normally, over 75% of candidates are taken out of consideration before a human ever sees their CV … So you have to strategise based on a piece of technology,” explains time.com.
Companies and recruiters receive enormous volumes of applications, so they use bots to search for the ones that best fit the job description.
Here are two easy updates you can make to your CV to ensure it gets seen by human eyes: