When applying for jobs, it’s a cardinal sin to neglect your CV. Not only because it’s an employers’ way of first getting to know you, but it’s also your chance to seriously stand out and get noticed. Though there are lots of approaches to honing your CV, here are Optimum Recruitment’s three key ways to supercharge your CV and impress recruiters and hiring managers alike:
Make it visually appealing
Visually appealing CVs aren’t just for designers and creatives. Splashes of colour can make your document stand out from the crowd, as can a bold heading or the most important information being pulled out into a colourful box. But first and foremost, your CV needs to be easy to read – so keep things nicely spaced out and formatted into sections, don’t write paragraphs when simple bullet points will do, and don’t be tempted to use wild fonts. You also need to keep in mind what your CV will look like when printed in black and white: it needs to be just as legible.
Focus less on responsibilities and more on achievements
Your key achievements – both in your career as a whole but also in your recent roles – are equally, if not more important, than your responsibilities. You’ll want to highlight the areas that set you apart from other candidates, so where possible focus on quantifiable results. These could include things like:
- Reduced costs by X%
- Grew sales by £X
- Increased readership to XXX
- Enhanced X process or system
Even if you can’t be quantifiable, using positive ‘doing’ words such as the above will highlight your value and help you to stand out.
Tailor your CV to suit the vacancy… every time
Often candidates tailor cover letters to suit the vacancy they’re applying for, but neglect to tailor their CV because they treat it as a static, standalone document. This couldn’t be further from the truth: your CV should be adapted to highlight the specific things an employer is looking for. And ideally, you should do this with every single application. Read the job ads closely and reflect the experience they are looking for in your responsibilities and achievements, and the soft skills in your personal statement. This will help a recruiter or hiring manager to quickly see your suitability in the role and put you forward for the next stage of the hiring process.
If you’d like to know more about how to supercharge your CV or how to tailor it for specific applications, it may be worth speaking to a recruitment agency to get an expert opinion. Optimum Recruitment supports our candidates in every stage of the hiring process, and we’re always happy to talk to new candidates about how to stand out and get noticed by employers. Do feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.
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