4 CV Secrets, CV Career Tips, CV Research, ATS Optimisation, Keywords

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Selected or Rejected: 4 Secrets of Crafting a Catchy CV

It all starts with your ability to present yourself based on your career goals and job market demands, and by that to ensure your true professional value is noticed by the right people.

In this era of ever-increasing competition in the labour market, what would be the most effective ways to stand out among other job applicants?

You have only one chance to make the right first impression as a jobseeker, with your CV being the number one point of contact between you and a hiring decision maker (whether applying online or by referral). Let’s use this initial interaction to your full advantage.

4 CV Secrets

#1. Start with research and goal setting

Believe it or not, CV writing doesn’t begin with putting down your name and contact details on top of the page. At this preparatory stage, you should form a clear picture of what you are looking for (your career goals) followed by thorough job market research.

While you are putting it all together, consider researching this:

♦ Most in-demand industries and skills;

♦ Your target roles, companies, and locations.

To tie it all up, figure out which areas and organizations look for professionals with your qualifications (i.e. locate the demand), and recognize the necessity to up-skill yourself or reconsider your goals based on your findings.

This stage also entails a few self-reflection and self-discovery exercises. For example, create a list of your top strengths and explore your “superpower zones” to understand job functions where your professional potential can be fulfilled to the maximum.

Another effective resource is keeping a record of your achievements and success stories. Not only will it help you easily find and add tangible data to your CV, making it more result-focused. It will also gradually build up your confidence and enhance your ability to articulate how exactly your future employer will benefit from hiring you.

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4 CV Secrets

#2. Choose the right template

While being viewed and reviewed, an effective, catchy CV has to meet 3 criteria:

♦ Be visually appealing — and help decision makers quickly find the right information

♦ Be optimized to pass the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) used for initial screening and candidate selection

♦ Comply with the standards of your chosen job market, industry, and career level.

Please keep them in mind when building your CV or choosing a template.

Some people go for fancy, colourful, graphically overloaded CV samples that promise to help you “stand out and get hired.” They may choose the one with lovely little icons by their contact details, a chain of boxes illustrating their career history, and a set of bars to demonstrate how good they are at each of their skills … They think it will make them look great and grab more attention.

Don’t make this mistake! In reality, such visual opulence interferes with essential information that could become a game changer if it was highlighted better. And the higher your career level is, the odder those graphics and extras look on your CV.

It is far more important to present your career data in a way that is clear, simple, and consistent. Plus, it has to allow the viewers to visually perceive and “digest” the information within 6 seconds (average time spent by recruiters on reviewing each CV).

So the key here is finding a balance between clarity and good visual presentation, making sure the format, structure, and layout of your CV help key data “jump off” the page rather than perplex or interfere with it. Because it’s not the colour of your CV, but your ability to show how you meet the needs of your potential employer, that will make it truly noticeable.

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4 CV Secrets

#3. Make it relevant and focused

Next, please don’t put on your CV everything you have ever known and done. By now, you should have discovered through your research that each role comes with certain requirements and expectations. Hence, when you start adding your skills, responsibilities, and achievements, give a preference to those relevant to a position you are looking for.

Focus on the most recent 10 years of your career — that is what recruiters first of all look at. If you fulfilled a few roles at the same time, highlight the one closest to what you are aiming for. The same with professional training and certifications — add only the valid ones that align with your targets. If you believe your CV will benefit from some of your older jobs, add them without dates and broad descriptions, ensuring that the entire document does not exceed 2 pages.

Basically, everything you put on your CV should be tailored to your chosen role. To make the process more effective, select 3-4 job openings that describe your dream job, and transform the content of your CV based on what they are looking for. Put all the best about yourself on the first page, supporting each skill with a tangible/measurable achievement or result (instead of providing a mere list without any real-life evidence).

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4 CV Secrets

#4. Customize and optimize by keywords

It’s no longer a secret — the hiring process is getting more and more automated for a number of reasons, with the major one related to the growing workload and a constant flow of applications recruiters have to deal with every day. That is why the aforementioned ATS has become so widespread, especially in large companies and recruitment agencies.

To be sure you will pass the ATS screening, first of all thoroughly read through the vacancy, and then make your CV match with their description as much as possible. Don’t copy-paste but carefully read and note the most repeated keywords, phrases, and requirements. This will greatly increase your chances of getting noticed and selected.

Obviously, customizing your CV to a specific job description every time before you apply is more time-consuming than making hundreds of random submissions with the same CV. However, it is more effective because (in addition to making it ATS-friendly) it shows your consideration and genuine interest in this particular job opening, which will definitely be appreciated by those reviewing your CV.

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The above tips are meant to help you start seeing your CV as a self-marketing tool (rather than a form to fill in). That is why thorough research (1), appropriate template choice (2), relevance and focus (3), and keyword optimization + vacancy customization (4) will help you produce a document that will make you truly shine. Highlight your accomplishments and potential impact — and here you go, getting invitations to job interviews.

To tell you the truth, employers are usually searching for two major answers in your CV — what results you have delivered so far, and how you can contribute to solving the present problems of this particular company or organization hereafter. If you manage to showcase both, then you are practically hired!

Certified CV Writer

Galyna Daniel is a Co-Founder of Dream Job CV and a Certified CV Writer, with a background in digital marketing and copywriting. Having had 5 years experience in Career Coaching, CV Writing, and LinkedIn Profile Optimization, Galyna guides jobseekers on how to achieve their professional goals through appropriate self-presentation and self-marketing in the digital space.