 |
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?
| "I
worked here full-time there"...
"I
require a salary commiserate with my extensive
experience"...
"Typing
Speed: 756 wpm"...
"Received
a plague for Salesperson of the Year"...
"I
am sicking and entry-level position"...
"As
indicted, I have over five year's experience analysing
investments" |
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.
Ugly
Fact:
A
busy recruiter with a large pile of CVs to wade
through is going to scan-read each one for a
maximum of 15-30 seconds.
|
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,
Rule
Number 1:
Your
CV is a 30-second advertisement, designed to
get you to an interview.
|
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
Rule
Number 2:
When
you are writing about yourself, think like a
recruiter, not like a job-seeker.
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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:
| Career
objective - short, medium and long term |
A
50-word profile of yourself |
All
of your job titles |
Responsibilities
and key functions of your jobs |
| Company
or organisation names and locations |
Your
boss or manager's titles |
Achievements
- any time you made a difference |
Promotions |
| Education |
Training |
Interests
|
Extra
curricular activities |
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:
| 1. |
Word-process
it. (Unless you are going for a job as a calligrapher).
|
| 2. |
Use
appropriate fonts. Word processing software packages
come with umpteen fonts which are worthless for
business use. Save them for fun activities and
use Times 12 or a similar font. (If your CV is
likely to be scanned, you will need to use a sans
serif font and test it by OCR scanning it to assess
layout and legibility). |
| 3. |
Allow
generous margins and plenty of white space on
your CV. This will make it easier to read. You
should also demarcate your sections clearly using
lines or white space. |
| 4. |
Use
good quality paper (100 gram or heavier, don't
steal 80 gram paper from the photocopier at work)
and print it at high resolution (600 - 720 dpi)
on a laser printer. |
| 5. |
Do
not bind it! Binders are just a nuisance and always
get torn off and thrown in the bin, to the accompaniment
of a lot of irritation on the part of the reader.
Binders make reading, photocopying, scanning and
filing your CV more difficult, so DON'T.
A paperclip or staple is perfectly sufficient.
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Sounds
like a lot of work? It is. Worth it? Definitely. If
you are applying for jobs which pay in or around the
average industrial wage £18,500 you are talking about
a return of £58,000 plus over three years for an investment
of what? - a little time, a ream of decent paper and
some careful attention to detail.
Rowan
Manahan is Managing Director of Fortify
Services, a Dublin-based outplacement and career management
firm.
Original
article here.
