When looking for a new job, one of the first steps is updating your curriculum vitae, CV for short. Companies receive numerous CVs with similar contents for one position and recruiters browse through the CVs quite quickly, some saying the impression needs to be made in just 7 seconds. In light of this, HR professionals have shared insight into what you should focus on.
1. Introduction: Who are you?
Start with a simple display for your personal details, name, current job title or degree. Unlike many CV templates suggest, your home address is not relevant in modern days. For location you can mention the city that you live in, and rather focus on the correct spelling of your email address and phone number. Visuals, such as receiver sign for a phone number are a nice touch.
A brief profile description should bring out your personality and how you see yourself as a person and a professional. You can go into more detail in the cover letter, but the CV profile should only be one or two sentences long. A photo is not necessary, unless it’s a common practice in your line of work.
2. Relevant work experience
Our professional paths in life can lead to many directions, and have some wild turns or pit stops. Though recruiters respect your early work experience such as stocking shelves in a store, you should only list recent positions and tasks relevant to the one you are applying for. Same goes with other qualifications, since there is limited space.
As said before, the aim is to impress the recruiter in a short amount of time and show that you are able to perform the duties described in the job advertisement. In case you have completed courses on topics directly applicable in the offered position, you should bring that out over less relevant experiences.
3. Length and layout
A known claim about resumes, is that they should not be longer than one page. This was especially true in times, when the resumes would be printed out and handled in physical form. In modern times paperwork is handled electronically, and documents with multiple pages are easy to handle in PDF format. Just make sure that all information, as previously stated, is relevant.
The internet is full of different resume templates, and with some effort you can find a good one for free. The best CV template according to recruiters shows the most important information at first glance, why templates with two columns are preferred. Those show both your personal and most recent employment details on top of the page.
No matter how much experience and knowledge you have, if your CV is not easy to comprehend, recruiters will not acknowledge it. The best way to make sure your resume gets noticed is to study the job advertisement and research the company, as you would research an online casino before joining it, and use the knowledge to target the company’s core values.
In short, according to recruiters the best CV consists of relevant information clearly stated in an accessible form. Don’t be afraid of using colors, symbols and other visuals, as long as they support the information instead of drowning it. Best of luck!
