How to create an impactful CV
Have you worked very hard but don’t know why your CV is not getting shortlisted? A well-made CV can significantly increase your chance of selection as you can differentiate yourself from the competition. This is especially true since the average time a recruiter takes to read your CV is 10 seconds. These are some guidelines you can follow to create an effective CV:
- Start by writing down all your accomplishments over the years and create a master file which you can keep as a reference for any future CV that you create.
- Recent points are more important and so work-related accomplishments, and some college related points can be highlighted. If you have an experience of more than 2 years, a significant portion of your CV should be dedicated to work related points. Show both what were your day-to-day responsibilities and any special projects you completed and the impact your work had. Exceptional points from school can also be included.
- Make sure to add any facts, figures, and numbers wherever possible. This will give credibility to what you write and will show your attention to detail. Further, instead of writing statements such as “won first prize in…..”, you can use statements such as “won 1st prize in….”. This will visually attract the person reading it.
- Make each sentence as concise and easy to understand as possible. Try to also cut down on redundant points. The priority should be ease of comprehension as if it is concise but hard to read it will take longer for the recruiter to understand than a longer sentence.
- Start each sentence with an action verb and vary these verbs in different sentences to make an impact.
- Understand the skills required for the job and provide a good balance of highlighting these skills such as work-related skills, communication skills, leadership skills, etc.
- Proofread for any spelling mistakes or errors in dates that might be there. Such errors can tarnish your image and indicate a lack of seriousness to the recruiter.
- Make different CVs for different roles that you apply for to highlight points related to that job profile.
- Don’t include incorrect facts as you might be asked about them in the interview and with their experience it is easy for them to catch lies.
- Lastly, tweak each CV based on keywords mentioned in the job description. Add keywords wherever possible so that the company ATS picks it up. ATS is a software used by most companies that matches keywords from the job description and the CV to find relevant matches for the recruiter.
