4 questions your CV must answer

Get recruiters to notice your CV by ensuring it meets this essential criteria.

Everyone needs an effective CV to hold recruiters’ attention and persuade employers that they are worthy of an interview.

It really doesn’t matter if you could do the job with one hand tied behind your back, if your CV doesn’t give you the chance to get a foot in the door, how are you going to get the chance to prove it?

Let’s take a closer look at 4 questions to make sure your CV is selling your skills effectively to your potential new employers.

1. Is your CV tailored for your target roles?

Having a standard generic CV that you issue to all potential employers isn’t going to make a good first impression at all. Doing this means risking your CV becoming just one of a flood of bland and ordinary applications that will never stand out from the crowd.

You need to pick out all the relevant skills from the job description that the employer is looking for and make sure those skills are presented and highlighted on your page for all to see during that crucial first skim of your CV.

2. Do you start with a persuasive profile?

Your most important information needs to be on the first page. Your personal introduction should showcase those skills that the employer is looking for right away.

If you think how long an employer spends reading through possibly 80 to 100 job applications, they are not going to wade through two pages of your CV to find all the necessary information about you on the third page.

You would have already lost them by the end of page one. Introduce yourself and tell the employer you have the skills they want right off the bat.

3. Is your CV easy to read?

Take a fresh look at your CV by imagining how it looks to an employer reading it for the first time. Is the structure and layout easy to follow? Does it lead the eye naturally down the page?

Does it give the reader a good gist about your skills and experience without being too wordy or overly long-winded? Are there plenty of bullet points to deliver relevant snapshots of information and to help break up the text?

Can you include a smart looking head shot in your profile to help introduce yourself – employers like to know who they are reading about.

4. Do you prove your impact?

You may do a great job of listing your relevant skills and experience, but without showing the impact your actions made on previous employers, you will not clearly demonstrate your value.

Rather than simply detailing your input into a role, you should endeavour to explain how your work impacts your employers or customers. Maybe you help to cut company spending, or perhaps you help to reduce customer waiting times. Whatever impact you make, ensure that it is clearly visible in your CV.

Written by Martin Hofschroer