Your CV Should Engage, Intrigue, Inform & Leave Digital Breadcrumbs

College graduation is nigh for millions of young people, and the job search is on.

I know, because the flow of résumés into my inbox is on the rise.

I've been a hiring manager since 1997 and view up to a half-dozen CVs a week when I'm not looking for job candidates and multiples more when there's an active listing. I'm not an HR expert, but I am, ultimately, the person who decides whether to keep – or bin – a résumé and work closely with HR colleagues on every hire.

I see some "bad" CVs, half-hearted, sloppy, unfocused and otherwise. But most fall into the "meh" category, largely because they fail what I call the "six-second test." That is about the amount of time I, or other hiring managers, tend to spend on a CV as we sift through a digital stack of them.

If you manage to grab our attention from the top, you are one of the lucky few who may well be on the way to beginning the interview process. The rest are, as Simon Cowell used to say on American Idol, "unmemorable" and forgotten immediately or blurred together with the other unmemorable submissions.

I've noticed several things that make a few CVs shine in every stack. Over the past couple of years, via LinkedIn and personal communication, I've worked with multiple job seekers - recent grads, journalists looking to move into PR or other mid-career people looking to refresh their CVs. The feedback I've gotten has been largely positive, even if it's just providing them with food for thought or a fresh approach. There's no one right answer on how to make your CV better, so please do seek input from others.

Here are some CV-related thoughts from me as a hiring manager:

Don't Take it Personally: These days, many companies use artificial intelligence to do initial scan of CVs for jobs. Digital applications are the norm via corporate websites, job sites and LinkedIn, so applying has never been easier, but the glut of CVs and the use of AI have given companies air cover to "ghost" you more than ever before. It's cold, maybe even rude, but it's typically not personal and may not even be a reflection of your skills or talent, unless the computer reading your CV is Skynet.

Get the Keywords Right: It may well be a reflection that your CV isn't keyword-optimized. Look at the job description, if you're applying for something. Identify some of the words used to define the skills, background and responsibilities the employer is seeking. If AI is scouring your CV and those words don't appear, you lose, because the AI assumes you're not qualified. Don't overdo it, but do pick out up to a half-dozen keywords and ensure they're in your CV.

Where to Lace Keywords? There are many schools of thought on whether to include a purpose statement on your CV or not. I'm a fan, even if the AI doesn't register it. First, HR and hiring managers EXPECT to see that on a LinkedIn profile, and your CV is, in many ways, the offline or "lite" version of your LinkedIn profile.

A strong one- or two-sentence bio or purpose statement that lists your goal and skills is a great chance to pop those keywords into your CV. As well, I don't see that many of them, so when I do, it makes me stop, read and spend more than six seconds on a CV, increasing chances that I'll read it to the bottom and move it to a stack of those I'll invite for interviews.

Stick to Bullets: If you decide against a purpose statement, you would still be well-served to work those keywords into many of your previous work experience and education entries on your CV. A word on those entries: Keep them short! Make them bullets of one or two lines. You're teasing, tantalizing and trying to engage the recruiting human and AI, not write a book.

What's in a Bullet? I view a CV as a sort of rough blueprint or outline of someone's career and professional life. A good bullet point clearly states your skill, background, experience and achievements - and if you get it right - intrigues me enough to keep reading AND makes me want to ask you more about that job or experience during an interview. If you influence me that way, you win, because you're setting at least part of the agenda for the interview through a great CV entry.

Be an Achiever, not a Doer: A recruiter many years ago told me I wasn't getting callbacks on my CV because, while I was clearly good at doing things, I wasn't clearly showing that I was achieving anything. It took awhile to unpack, but the point is to position yourself as an achiever, not a doer. What does that mean? Don't list out all the responsibilities you had on a job. Mention the one or two key ones AND how you tapped them to exceed expectations or KPI. Your CV is YOUR narrative. YOU are the protagonist and hero. Position yourself that way.

Don't Puff or Lie: Should go without saying, but as you create your narrative, don't embellish. Yes, you are the winner who beat your target. But stick to the facts, both because it's right and because any competent HR person will do a background check and will find the puffery or lie, if it doesn't already come out during your interview.

Quirk can Work: You also won't get universal agreement on this, but a bit of quirk, levity or an entry that is somewhat unusual always catches my attention. Not gratuitous stuff or BS, but something that raises a talking point in the interview, be it something the person shares with me, like love of baseball or that you have a collection of 25,000 Marvel hero comic books. Maybe it's something unusual, like spelunking or parcour, which makes me want to know a bit more. Or perhaps you were a Division-I athlete in college, which requires good skill and a ton of discipline, or you started up a foundation or formally helped a cause or group achieve its aims.

I like interesting people. Everyone is on his/her/their best behavior in a CV and during an interview, but you need to peel the onion a bit and let the reader of your CV and interviewer see some of what's inside you or what makes you unique.

I have other observations about what can make your CV stand out. I'll share them in a future post.