The Do's And Don'ts Of A Candidate CV

Companies and hiring managers will peruse your CV in great detail before even calling you in for a face-to-face interview. Ultimately, your CV is responsible for the first impression you give to whoever is in control of offering you a job – and as we all know, first impressions count for everything.

There are a lot of simple blunders that you can easily make when producing your CV; and there are also a lot of essentials that you need to include for your CV to be a roaring success.

Firstly, it’s imperative that you don’t over-do it. No one has got the time or the patience to sift through ten pages of your life achievements; most of which have no relevance to the job you’re applying for.

Keep it to two pages – maximum. Employers will respect that you have the ability to outline the most important parts of your experience and skillset to demonstrate on your CV. For every single job you apply for, you should be creating an entirely different CV. Each application should be different, and this includes your CV content.

You should be tailoring your CV to suit the specific role you’re after.

Sending out multiple identical CV’s in bulk is perhaps the biggest mistake you can make when looking for a job.

Companies will end up with the same versions of it; and you’ll look desperate and fickle.

Researching about the job you want to apply for should be your first point of call. What is the company’s history? Why do you want to work for them? What can you bring to the business that your competitors cannot? Defining the answers to these questions and including them in your application will illustrate your passion for the job, which will stand you in good stead for that all-important phone call.

It’s a given that your CV should summarise your skillset and previous experience; but again, it’s easy to fall into the drop of going overboard with this. You should bullet-point a concise list of skills you have acquired and how these skills relate to your application. Your previous experience should be constructed as short, clear paragraphs that relates to the job in question. For instance, if you’re applying to work in retail, don’t bang on for half a page about your work experience in an office. Instead, outline your customer service qualities and any challenges that you have overcome in the workplace.

The hardest part of writing a decent CV is attempting to make your personality shine through when you’re essentially listing off where you’ve previously worked. But don’t fall into the trap of going too far when promoting yourself. Hirers don’t want to read clichéd phrases and buzzwords that they’ve heard a million times before. Using words like ‘champion of’ or ‘dynamic’ or ‘elite’ or anything remotely generic won’t get you very far. By claiming to embody qualities like this, yet not backing them up with real examples of how you have previously demonstrated these traits, you’re not setting yourself apart from anyone else.

Other aspects of a CV should be common knowledge. For example, not submitting a hand-written CV under any circumstances, including all of your vital contact information at the top of the page, make wise choices when it comes to your references and make it positive.

Last but most certainly not least, and perhaps the biggest CV-faux-pas you can possibly make, is not double checking your spelling and grammar. Always get a second, third and fourth opinion before impulsively sending off your CV. Even if you pride yourself on your abilities to use proper grammar and correct spelling, you’d be surprised by how much you miss when simply scanning through your own words.

Your CV can make you or break you as a candidate for a job. It's up to you to ensure that it isn't the latter!