The 5 Things Your CV Needs In EQUAL Measure ......
Judy Bullimore
Career Empowerment Coach. The creator of #Career Jewels for primary schools #Package Your Potential for secondary schools and #The Interview Story Impression Technique
The standards for what your CV, cover letter or application form needs to include are set so high at the moment. Simply having the skills and experience isn’t enough to stand out from everyone else who also has similar skills and experience. That’s why ALL your application documents need to have these 5 points in EQUAL measure to truly stand out and increase your chances of being shortlisted;
1. PASSION
A lot of applicants make the mistake on keeping their CV and application documents strictly factual listing mainly their skills and experience to do the job.
The thing is, recruiters/ employers are sifting through application documents from candidates with very similar skills and experience, and ultimately they need to decipher which ones seem like the closest 'fit' or most deserving of the role. A way to convey this, is to show your passion.
Passion can be demonstrated in various ways;
- Passion for the job.
- Passion for the employer.
- Passion for the organisational vision.
It might only need to be a sentence or a paragraph that packs a punch of passion, but it helps to provide more insight into your unique contribution to the role.
2. PERSONALITY
The strongest and most memorable application documents have a strong injection of PERSONALITY. With so much competition for job roles right now, a crucial thing to avoid is to appear the same as everyone else.What's the one thing you have that know one else has? Your unique and one of a kind PERSONALITY!
A CV, application form or cover letter lacking in personality reads as generic and flat. By injecting your unique personality traits this naturally changes the tone and the overall feel of the document which in turn makes it more striking and engaging to read.
The strongest CV’s and applications leave a memorable positive impression leaving the recruiter intrigued to find out more.
3. EXPERT STATUS
A major reason why candidates aren’t shortlisted for positions, is because they’re unclear of their “Expert Status” and their CV and application documents do not package and position them as an authority in their sector.
Expert Status is something that you’re not just good at, you’re KNOWN FOR doing exceptionally well. It’s the thing that you have a NATURAL flare for, something that uses the gifts that you were born with. It’s the thing that you can talk with true authority in and that you have developed your own unique structure or approach to.
4. EVIDENCE
The art of a strong application is to make it appear to the employer that you have everything they need; the passion, personality, expertise and tangible PROOF that you can do the job. This takes the form of impressively strong examples.
Time and time again applications underplay achievements because they simply bullet point tasks and generic duties that would be likely any person who held a similar role could list. The most impressive application documents have examples of successes that STAND OUT and create a enough intrigue to make the person shortlisting intrigued and confident to put forward for interview.
5. PRESENTATION
First impressions count just as much at application as at interview.It's all well and good having the impressive examples to showcase, but this can be all undermined by poor presentation. Common mistakes in the design include;
- Appearing too wordy.
- Too busy.
- Too long.
- Reading generic, overly factual and dull.
- Relevant experience and achievements featured too far down the page, or not on the first page.
- Amateur looking CV's.
- Not suiting the sector or level of position.
On the flip-side, CV's could be perfectly presented, but have no substance upon reading, also, it's important to watch out for ATS tracking systems. Simpler can be effective but word placement, tone and layout must be balanced.
By incorporating these 5 things in EQUAL measure within each job application or CV that you amend, you will have the STRONGEST chance of getting shortlisted for the jobs that you deserve.
If you would benefit from finding out more about this approach to CV editing and the application process, FOLLOW or DM me. I also run The CV Success Academy on Facebook.