3 unusual ways to nail your CV

I know what you are thinking... "surely, not more advice on how to write a CV".

Well, getting your CV right to start with is crucial if you are looking to land your next career. With the UK jobs market sliding into reverse it is important to do everything you can to stack the deck in your favour.

First of all, let's be clear on what a CV is.

Your CV is a peice of marketing. And it is marketing the most important product in the world... you. Any piece of marketing that you consume is aimed to capture your interest, make you pause and to make you think.

Your CV is no different. It is a tool to land you an interview - that is it

When you view your CV from a marketing perspective it changes the way you write it. So, with that in mind, here are 3 unusual ways to nail your CV and land that dream job.

1. Think benefits NOT features. What I mean is, think about the impact that you have had in your job and NOT the bland tasks you complete on a daily basis. More importantly "sell" the impact that you could have on a prespective hiring company. Think about the things that you have achieved and weave that into your CV. To help, ask yourself what would make a prospective hiring manager say "wow". What is going to stop them in their tracks and make them say "i gotta meet this person".
2. Data, Data and More Data. Once you have noted down the benefits and impact you have had in your current and previosu roles it is time to put in some data. People love numbers. They have meaning and they can excite emotions in the person reading your CV. Example, for an SRE "reduced site downtime" is not as exciting or meantingful as "reduced site downtime by 37% in 3 weeks". For an Engineering Manager, "improved velocity by 19%" sounds better than "improved velocity". Bonus points for going a step further to say how you did it and the positive impact that it had.
3. Have a core / change the edges. Once you have written your CV, have a core version of it that (mostly) does not change. However, be ready to change, ammend and go deeper on bits around the edge. If you read job advert A that needs experince of something you can quickly alter the edges of your CV to bring out and showcase your expereince. I am not advocating writing a new CV for every application (far from it) but being willing and able to quickly tailor your CV to suit an application will make an impact.

So, there you have it. 3 Unusual ways to Nail your CV.

Remember, your CV is a marketing tool to land you an interview. That is it.

Once you have the interview booked, its down to you to shine.

But don't worry - we have some helpful interview tips coming soon.

We hope this article has been useful and would love to hear your thoughts on it. Was it helpful? Was it a load of bull?

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