Stop with the clichés in a CV

In my role, I can confidently say I see around 100 to 150 CVs a day, almost all of them full of clichés. I’m not saying that mine is perfect. In fact writing your own CV is harder than writing a candidate’s, it just appears that everyone is doing a marathon or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

These activities have now become the new clichés.

The real problem with writing CVs is no one is ever taught professionally how to write a CV. Most of the time our parents teach us how to write a CV in our teens, and they teach us how they were taught.

Over the past few years, in particular with the growing popularity of social media, the way in which we portray ourselves has evolved. Additionally, our economic climate has changed and this is why recruiting businesses are adopting new methods to assess candidates. Once upon a time, reading and Italian cuisine as a hobby were perfectly normal now you can easily jump out of an airplane 13,000 ft above ground and freefall for a period of time.

Although I am talking about hobbies, CVs are always full of other clichés too. I can almost guarantee every CV has either ‘hardworking’, ‘organised’, ‘articulate’ or ‘excellent communication skills’ in there at least once. Because we aren’t taught what is needed, Recruiters end up with a multitude of pages with scrawled of information that simply is irrelevant and does an injustice to your application.

So what does a good CV look like? Firstly, start by remembering why you are writing the CV in the first place. It’s there to get you a job interview. Done correctly, you should be able to secure and interview based upon your professional experience alone.

1. Don’t be boring. Too often do I see CVs with ‘text book’ responsibilities and nothing more to add to them. If we look at some of the things I see on a daily basis, such as:

• Worked to KPIs and targets to achieve results.
• Managed a team of 12 employees.
• Canvassing for new business.

They’re OK and I guess are fit for purpose. If you really want to make your CV stand out, prove what impact you had. By doing this, we can transform these dull phrases to be:

• Worked to KPIs and targets to deliver 33% additional profit in Q1, ending on ￡127M ahead of year target.
• Managed a team of 12 employees who were awarded the ‘Customer Service Team of the Year’.
• Canvassing for new business, increasing my portfolio of landlords by 82%.

2. Keep it short but informative. In the past, a ‘1 page CV’ was all that was needed but employers now will often discard these as they don’t know how your skills transfer into the role. On the other hand, you don’t want War and Peace. I once had the misfortune of having to read through a 36 page CV for a medical role I had, even when I took everything out I could, it was still 11 pages long. I would say a three page CV is the absolute maximum, but don’t worry if it’s only 2.

3. We love a Power Verb. It’s strong as it shows you’ve achieved something in your role.

Drove the completion of projects

Targeted new clients

Identified new opportunities

4. Don’t use jargon! As you would with Google, Recruiters search for keywords to find your CVs on job boards. Using jargon will lower your chances of us finding your CV. If you’re seeking a sales job, include ‘sales’ as many times as you can as this will bump your CV on our results.

5. For the love of god, include your achievements. Yes we want to see that you have experience of doing the job, but you should be proud of what you’ve accomplished. No employer wants to hire someone who hasn’t made the company money, saved the company money, improved a process or bettered the company in some way. Use numbers to make it tangible.

6. Don’t send the same CV for every job. Yes you maybe looking for a change in career and obviously if you’re looking to stay in one sector then you want to make a few tweaks to make it bespoke to the company but you must make it personal every time.

7. Consider changing your job title to maximise the potential of an interview. If I take my job title, I have about 10 different names for it ranging from In-House Recruiter, Talent Acquisition Consultant, Internal Recruitment Consultant, Resourcing Advisor etc. Companies use so many names for the same job so adapt it to suit your needs.

8. F7. The magical button given to you by the Lords of Microsoft and Option + L is a combination in which Apple has given to ensure your CV doesn’t get rejected. Both are a spellchecker. There is no excuse to not have a spellchecked CV. None. Ever.

Spending your time on your CV is so very important. First impressions, although we should never judge a book by its cover, are important. If you cannot write a CV, how are you going to email a client articulately to represent your future employer?