THE CAREER DOCTOR DON'T AIM YOUR CV AT THE BIN

A little time, decent paper, and careful attention to detail are essential elements in the most important, but short, document that job seekers will produce, writes ROWAN MANAHAN.

Did your CV end up in the bin. Is it any wonder?

Okay fine, you would expect the kind of clueless sub-literate idiot (CSI) who makes that level of mistake to be disqualified. But, even allowing for CSIs, and that a certain number of applicants for every position are just not suitable - extraneous or insufficient experience, under-qualified for the role, lacking key personal attributes, or just plain chancing their arm - that still leaves a significant percentage of solid candidates with relevant track records ending up in the bin at this first stage of the recruitment process. Why?

If you are suitably qualified and have valuable experience that is pertinent to the positions to which you are applying, but are not getting invited to interview, then your CV is simply not doing its job. Your written application is the only aspect of the recruitment and selection process which you totally control. That is worth repeating: the only aspect which you totally control. I recommend that you take the time and trouble to fully exercise that control.

A Curriculum Vitae literally translated is "the race (or lap) of life". In other words, your life history. But do not make the mistake, as so many candidates do, of including everything about yourself. It may seem important or even fascinating to you, but the simple fact is that no recruiter cares about your life. So, you need to trim your written representation of yourself to (ideally) one or (maximum) two pages.

With no malice intended, he or she is looking for a reason to throw you in the bin and if you have not sold yourself in the first 30 seconds, that is where your CV (and by extension, you) will end up. Most recruiters will tell you that over-long CVs are the first ones to be dumped during the screening process. No one has the time or inclination to plough through three or four pages of your professional history when there might be another 30, 100 or 500 CVs to read after yours. Therefore,

It should be as tightly-written as an award-winning 30-second television advertisement, because 30 seconds is all your CV will get to sell you. If you were spending thousands of euros to buy 30 seconds of prime-time television airtime to sell yourself to a potential employer, think how carefully you would choose every word. Accordingly, keep your written representation of yourself short, relevant and easy to whiz through.

Your CV should reassure the reader of three things and three things only:

1. Yes, I can do this job. (This job, not just any job, but this one.)

2. Yes, I am a highly motivated person.

3. And yes, I will add value to your organisation.

In order to be able to write in this way, you need to follow

The poor unfortunate who has to plough through the large pile of CVs has a check-list of desirable qualifications, training, experience, skills and personal attributes. If you can get yourself into that person's head and catch a peek of that list, it is much simpler to write the CV that will get you noticed.

To begin the process of compiling your CV, write down everything about yourself, including the associated dates:

Then you can decide on your sections and headings - "Professional Progression" sounds much more impressive than "Work Experience", but would be an inappropriate heading for a series of summer jobs on a student's CV. Then decide the general order of your sections.

You now have the text of a core Curriculum Vitae which will be the foundation of all of your applications. Layout and styling come next, and these can only be finalised when you have a specific position in mind. There are no hard and fast rules for CVs - different people will like different things - but you won't go far wrong if you follow these five rules of thumb:

Rowan Manahan is Managing Director of Fortify Services, a Dublin-based outplacement and career management firm.

Original article here.