Seize Your 7 Seconds

As far as advice goes, this may all seem a little underwhelming at first because it seems so obvious, but we’re still surprised with the number of people who struggle to write an impactful first page on their CV.

The average Hiring Manager spends 7 seconds looking at your CV before deciding whether to progress it. As shocking as this sounds, this has been studied and assessed since the 1980s and the stats have never changed. The first page of your CV is your first door hence needs to clearly identify who you are professionally, your key skills, strengths and the business benefits you can deliver. Use project case studies of your career and achievements where possible to substantiate your skill set and show the value you have added.

Being immersed in the staffing industry we review our fair share of CVs, sometimes a couple of hundred in a single day. We regularly get approached by Jobseekers asking for advice on their CV because they have been struggling to secure interviews. This is the most important door to unlock and often the hardest. When we review their CVs, it often becomes very clear as to why they may have struggled – the first page is either too disorganised and quite often chaotic, or there is little relevant information to be found on the first page. 

Just for a moment, put yourself in the shoes of a Hiring Manager and imagine you have 50 CVs to review and you’ve set aside 20 minutes over your lunch break to complete this. Then consider what you would want to see on the first page of a CV to get you interested and move that CV onto the “yes” pile. Also think about what may put you off.

A first page needs to be:

• Very easy on the eye
• Well organised and structured
• Clear and concise
• Grammatically perfect (absolutely perfect, no excuses)
• Full of easy-to-spot information specific to the job you are applying to

If a Hiring Manager sees a CV covered with pictures, boxes, side-banners, percentages or skills matrixes, then they won’t be able to quickly identify the information they need to find because there are too many distractions pulling their eyes away from the actual relevant content. They will feel that you either couldn’t be bothered to tailor your CV or you don’t have the relevant skills. 

What is the Hiring Manager looking for? Ask yourself…

“If I had 7 seconds to stand in front of a Hiring Manager and pitch my CV to get them interested in me, what information would I want to tell them?” Time it – it’s a really challenging but very powerful exercise that forces you to be incredibly concise. 

The CV

Personal Information

Always put this at the top. Some people include it at the bottom of the CV which may get missed hence the Hiring Manager may assume you forgot to include them. Remember you have 7 seconds – make it easy for them! Include your name, current location, contact details and a link to your LinkedIn profile which will entice them to click on it hence extend your 7-second window.

Profile

Write a punchy and concise profile regardless of the position you are applying for. This should be one, maximum two, paragraphs introducing you, your experience and why you applied. Think about your 7-second pitch. If it’s too long Hiring Manager’s won’t read it.

Key Skills

Always include 6 to 8 key skills in an organised, concise and uniform manner under your profile. Refer to the job specification for the position you are applying for and pick out the “essential skills” or “ideal criteria” for the role. There is normally a handful of both technical and softer skills that the business is looking for. Whatever relevant skills you have, ensure they are highlighted here. If you don’t have many of their essential criteria, list the next best skills you have, or the more “desirable” not “essential” skills are listed on the job specification.

What to include next?

This depends on the type of job you are applying to and your experience.

You may just feel it necessary to go straight into your career history but if possible this is a great place to include some relevant project work you may have done, key achievements that you feel are worth highlighting and / or any relevant qualifications you may have if you haven’t already highlighted these in the key skills section.

If you’re a Graduate hence lack any relevant commercial experience, you will want to list your degree at this point highlighting any key modules and coursework that relate to the job. Always include your grade – if you’re not happy with it and you leave it off, a Hiring Manager will assume you didn’t get one or you failed.

A Note on Achievements

Achievements don’t necessarily have to be tangible financial or process-type achievements i.e. saved ￡xxx money, improved a certain process, increased efficiency by 30% etc. They’re all great but feel free to include more people-based achievements as well especially if you are looking to move into management or if you are already a leader.

Businesses are always on the look-out for mentors and leaders so if you previously turned around an under-performing member of staff or mentored your colleague through a rough couple of months then that’s great to include as well.

Just ensure what you include are actually achievements and not regular day-to-day duties such as liaising with Stakeholders or processing paperwork.

To summarise:

Key Project Work and / or….

Key Achievements and / or….

Key Qualifications

First Page Tips:

• Don’t write a CV in third person or use “I” at the start of every sentence.
• No excessive boxes, no side banners, no skills matrixes. We often see CVs where the person has given themselves 7 out of 10 or 73% for “team player skills” – the Hiring Manager will start to think negatively about you before even meeting you if you only give yourself 73%. If you put anything over 90% then they will think that you think you’re perfect. You can’t win so leave it out!
• Don’t include a picture on your CV. While this may be a point of contention, it doesn’t add any value and will act as distraction. If the Hiring Manager is desperate to see your face, then they will click onto your LinkedIn profile or Facebook page.
• Don’t make any grammatical mistakes – over 80% of CVs we read have grammatical errors. It demonstrates poor attention to detail for which there are absolutely no excuses. Triple check with a spellchecker and then ask a friend or family member to scrutinise it. 
• Do include your personal details including where you live. If you don’t the Hiring Manager will assume you live in another part of the country and will discount you. (Stress you’re willing to relocate if you do live in another part of the country and ideally follow-on with a genuine reason as to why you would want to move to that location) 
• Do address any gaps longer than 3 months. Detail builds trust so if you haven’t worked for the past 5 months then the Hiring Manager may use it a reason to move your CV to the “maybe pile.”