3 Reasons Your CV is Getting You Ghosted ?? - And What You Can Do about It!

If you're reading this, chances are you're a brilliant grad struggling to get yourself noticed.

I get it!

In 2022's overcrowded jobs market, a degree simply isn't enough to turn the heads of the most desirable grad employers. We need something more!

Here's 3 major reasons your CV is getting you ghosted - and what you can do from today to turn it around!

1. You're sending the exact same CV out to every employer.

Picture this:

It's your 21st birthday. You're looking to hire a DJ - and are willing to pay good money for one that will DELIVER the tunes. ????????????

You send out a brief, detailing what this birthday party means to you and what's the ideal vibe - you even give the desired genre of music for your special night.

You hear back from dozens of DJ - brilliant!

Until... you see their sample playlists.

1. Macarena - Los Del Rio
2. Agadoo - Black Lace
3. 5, 6, 7, 8 - Steps

????????????

"Did they even READ my brief?!"

... is exactly what employers think every time they read your generic CV. Ouch!

What do you need to do about it?

• Tailor your CV to the specific role, company and industry
• Exhaust the job spec - it is your road map to getting hired. Give it love, attention and respect it deserves.
• Highlight desired qualities, skills and attitudes then summarise your experience and achievements around this, nothing else.

Make yourself relevant to their needs ? Get yourself noticed.

2. You're not using ATS-friendly design.

What's ATS?

It stands for Applicant Tracking System - and it's used by an increasing number of companies to streamline their hiring processes.

?? Did you know that just 6% of alternatively-designed CVs get the candidate to interview?

Yep. They perform 3 times worse than the standard CV design. Don't spend hours creating a beautiful CV that no-one will ever get to read!

Caveat - if you're applying to a small company (e.g. 50 employees or less) who specialise in the creative sector, an alternatively-designed CV may be a great strategy. But it also can't scrimp on substance.

What do you need to do about this?

• Stick with a standard CV design, easy to read and allows your relevant skills, strengths and achievements to do the talking!
• Label your CV sections correctly. Put: Work Experience, Skills, Education, not "Where I've worked", "My greatest strengths" and "Where I studied" to ensure ATS detection.
• Use the exact language of the job spec. You need to be recorded as a strong match by a computer - no synonyms or paraphrasing to seem original here.

3. You're not writing precisely enough.

If you knew the employer had only 20 seconds to read your CV and decide if they'd like to progress your application, how would you write?

Because sometimes, that's all the time they have. And as human beings, that's how long our brain needs to think it's decided what you're all about.

First impressions matter! Let's make them punchy, direct and an immediate indicator of your potential.

Now if your CV is spilling over 2 pages, using 10 words in the place of 1 and reads vague and unfocused - this is a recipe for candidate disaster.

"Write like every word costs ￡1,000." A business mentor of mine shared this wisdom with me, which I'm now passing down to you!

What do you need to do about this?

• commit to writing a 1 page CV
• use 1 word to communicate 1 skill e.g. instead of "led and managed a team of...", pick the strongest one
• become unattached to your writing - if it sounds good but isn't relevant to specific role, company and industry, delete it.
• edit it until nothing more can be taken away - read it across days to give yourself fresh perspectives on your writing

Final Thoughts

A CV is a self-marketing tool, not a diary!

If you don't want to be ghosted, remember who you are writing this CV for.

The employer!

They need to feel heard and their problems & needs understood.

Do this in a tailored, well-formatted and precise way - and watch your chances of getting noticed skyrocket! ??

_______________________

Hey I'm Farrah - AKA The Grad Coach ??

I help ambitious grads getting noticed, hired and promoted - so they can launch their well-paid, inspiring careers!

Time to talk careers? Learn about my 1:1 Career Accelerator programme ?? in a no-charge consultation call - book yours today ??