A good Curriculum Vitae, CV can make you land that Dream Job! Here are detailed instructions on how to make your CV stand out from thousands applying for the same Job.
Your CV like you already know, is what markets you before your potential employers.
Making your CV Stand Out
As such, must be well structured, if you really want to get an interview.
Aside from ensuring that your CV is well structured, the content you choose to include and how it’s written are equally important.
This is the aim of this article, to guide you on how to make your CV speak volumes that no employer can reject your application.
To make this guide very simple and direct, we shall see it in two different perspectives.
Things to avoid to make your CV more attractive, and Things to include to make an awesome CV.
Things To Avoid When Writing your CV
In order to make your CV speak, Here are some things to totally avoid from your CV;
- Typos and Grammatical errors:
As much as possible, you have to ensure your CV is grammatically perfect.
Most employers will not be patient enough to continue going through a CV with too many errors and mistakes.
To avoid this, you have to go through your CV and make adequate corrections where need be, if possible you can engage your career coach to help proofread.
- Lies
This might sound crazy, but 75% of job seekers lie on their CV.
But hyping your achievements such as fictitious work experience and certifications is not advised.
Avoid unrealistic accomplishments, never include things you can’t do or skills you can’t offer in your CV, some recruiter will investigate every details on your cv.
- Too Much or Unnecessary Information
Among other things, you have to avoid too many details on your CV.
Most employers has a lot of CV to attend to, so if your CV is crammed too many and unnecessary details of your career or qualifications, it will not be appealing to read.
Make sure you write your CV in the present tense, get to the point, and always include lots of action words.
- Personal unrelated activities
Avoid things like hobbies, short-term employment history or why you left your last job, explanation of why you want the job, your grade, or salary information.
- Irrelevant work Experience
You don’t have to include work experiences that not relevant to the position you are applying for.
You can only include this experience if it really showcases additional skills that can translate to the position you’re applying for.
- Highlighting duties and objectives
Always try to avoid highlighting duties instead of accomplishments.
Make sure you don’t bore your employer with the job objectives, the fact that you applied means you want the job, why remind them of the job objectives.
Just as there are things to avoid in order to make your CV speak better before your employers, there are also a good number of things to add to your cv just to spice things up for you.
Things to Include in Your CV
Below are some simple but very important things to include in your CV if you want it to be really attractive that no employer can resist it.
- Skills listed in the Job Advertisement
Your CV should contain those skills highlighted in the job advert.
If you have the skills outlined for the job, the employer will be more interested in you.
Make sure you present those skills if possible, explaining how you’ve used suck skills.
Note: Your skills should cover both employability skills, Transferable skills and specialist skill that relate to the specific job opening.
- Things you can deliver
Show what you can deliver in your cv, Mentioning your past performance is a good indicator of future potential, Most employers loves this.
As short as possible highlight relevant examples from your work history which illustrate your ability to solve problems or bring value to a company.
- Power words
Learn to include power words and Industry-specific phrases that will capture your employers mind.
Words like Responsible, Loyal, Enthusiastic, Negotiate, Improved, Trained/Mentored, Managed, Created, Resolved, Volunteered, Influenced etc.
Finally, Always have in mind that the aim of a CV is to get your an interview and ultimately a Job.
So CV writing is time to tell the story of your life, ensure your CV is short and catchy, not more than two A4 pages.
Highlighting all the necessary skills set needed while avoiding typos and irrelevant information.
Above are all you need to make your CV stand out from the crowd. Have any questions pertaining to your CV? Drop us a comment below.
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