Have you written a Curriculum Vitae recently? Did you ask yourself the infamous existential questions such as whether you should prioritise certain job experiences so that it would fit on one A4 page? Well, at Professional Technical, we read thousands of CVs a week, so, like any repetitive action, our homo sapiens brains have adapted to filter relevant information within the blink of an eye. So, we thought we would share what we look for in CVs on a daily basis and what we’d like to see, but most importantly, what our clients wish to see in a CV. On top of that, we thought that we would also share some suggestions on what to leave or take out of your CV. There is a lot of CV writing advice out there and a lot of it is contradicting, so we thought we would give you a complete guide based on our experience and insights.
Length
A big CV killer is simply its length. Like any document or piece of writing, if it drags on or is just too long compared to its ‘normal average’, people tend to either start skimming or might outright not read it as the extensive length might be daunting. Look at it this way; chances are that most of us would take on a condensed version of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace as opposed to its original interminable 1,200+ pages counterpart. A good rule of thumb to avoid having your reader question their own existence is to aim to keep your CV on 2 pages if possible, 3 pages is acceptable if you have some extensive professional experience but more than that is definitely questionable.
Personal Information
A good way to avoid creating a lengthy CV is to keep your personal information to a reasonable amount. After all, a CV is a professional document aimed at compiling your professional experiences, skills and qualifications. Personal and reflective information towards previous experiences and how you would be right for the role has its place within a cover letter. Realistically, all you need in a CV relating to personal information is your contact details such as your name, professional email (no HaloMonster360@unprofessional.com), and phone number. We have seen some advice out there stating you should not include your postal address and we respectfully disagree. The reason for this is because we believe having your postal address listed allows for the recruiter to consider your commute time should the role be based on-site. In terms of your digital footprint, you can add a link to your LinkedIn profile as long as its being kept up to date and matches the information on your CV. Think of LinkedIn as your extended CV when your normal CV is more selective as to the information in it.
However, it is always a good idea to add some hobbies or interests in your CV if they are genuine. Don’t include things such as walking or eating nice food. These hobbies should be a window into your interests outside of your professional life which could translate into transferable skills. For instance, if you have been playing an instrument for years, this could show dedication to a craft, creativity, discipline, and potentially self-starter qualities. Team sports can be another example of transferable skills as it shows that you are capable of working as part of a team to achieve a common objective and can show your competitive nature. Do try to keep this section concise though as it should only be a snippet into your personal interests. Overall, the aim is to keep your CV as professional as possible and not to add any irrelevant sections which could be a distraction to the main information you are trying communicate.
Format and Layout
A CV should be a clear, concise, and easy to read. Formatting it correctly can set you apart from your competition. Now there is always good practice but some industries or roles can require different types of formatting which we will cover. In good practice, the sections to include are fairly simple.
First, make sure to list your contact details at the top so that the reader instantly knows who you are even before they find out what you do. Now, in this section we do not recommend including a picture of yourself as there unfortunately are such a thing as biases. When including a photo, you open yourself to these biases as old as time such as beauty bias, ageism, racism, and sexism. Keeping your face, gender, age, and ethnicity out of the equation ensures that you are much more likely to be viewed for your professional qualifications and achievements as opposed to what you look like.
Secondly, we recommend formatting your CV in a bullet point format for two reasons; it looks cleaner and structured, and it prevents you from waffling and including potentially irrelevant information. Furthermore, this layout allows you to seamlessly add a list of quantifiable achievements as opposed to just your experience, education, and responsibilities within previous roles. Consider the font you’re using as well, make sure that it is easily readable and that you are using the same font throughout.
Now in terms of structuring your content, make sure that you add dates for each listed item and that they are listed from most recent to oldest. If there are gaps between certain dates you have listed, do try to clearly explain the reason behind these gaps. In addition, try to tailor the content of your CV to the role you’re applying for by filtering out irrelevant information and thinking about what you have done in the past which could meet the job posting’s requirements. When doing this, avoid including clichés; everyone says they are a team worker that also works well on their own, they are motivated, punctual, hardworking, there are lots of enthusiastic people around so us this opportunity to stand out from the masses and really give the reader an insight into what makes you who you are!
Lastly we’ll tackle the finer details. First of all, name your CV file professionally such as ‘John Smith – CV’ or ‘Jane Doe – Mechanical Engineer’ for instance. In the same vein, do not title your document ‘Curriculum Vitae’ or ‘CV’ as the recruiter knows what it is already. Instead, title it with your name and potentially your profession. This instantly gives the reader a chance to remember you and what you do as opposed to being another generic CV, after all, there is only one of you! Finally, and this is probably the most important tip we can give you; take your time! When searching for a new role, your CV is one of the most important documents, it gets your foot into the door, so don’t rush it. Make sure each section is relevant to the role you’re applying for, and proof read your entire document once completed, especially for spelling mistakes. Don’t forget to get someone else to proof read your CV too as staring at the same piece of writing for prolonged periods of time can become tedious for yourself and you could miss important mistakes or grammatical inaccuracies.
How recruiters read your CV
Now that you’ve got all of the information to write up a fantastic CV, we want to share how recruiters typically read CVs. Since they receive CVs in abundance daily, they read through them extremely quickly. In fact, studies found that on average a recruiter spends less than 11 seconds reading a CV (Workopolis, 2014; The Ladders, 2018). This means that you don’t have an extensive amount of time to make an impression so make those first moments count!
Let’s talk about how recruiters read your CV within these 11 seconds. First, they go straight to your most recent or current job as this will give them an insight into your current qualifications, experience. Furthermore, this gives them a idea of your longevity and consistency within jobs. So make sure that your most recent professional experience is detailed and puts you in the spotlight! Secondly, they’ll move on to you qualifications or education in which they will assess which certifications are relevant to role and job specification. Lastly, they will check your CV for any gaps between employment and search for a provided explanation behind those gaps, so make sure you do explain why you’ve been out of employment during that time if you have.
Key takeaways
In essence, a CV is one of the few documents most of us will ever have which is entirely about ourselves, it’s completely about you. So, take your time; make it about you, focus on what experiences and skills are the most relevant to the job you wish to apply to. A CV is your way to get your foot in the door. Most of the time, if you get offered an interview off the back of your CV, it means your skills and experience match the job description on paper, all the hiring committee wats to figure out at this point is whether your personality would be a good fit. Remember, keep it short, sweet, and clear. Make sure all of the important information is available to the reader at a glance as most recruiters read CVs quickly… extremely quickly. All in all, just make this document yours as best as you can. If it accurately conveys your experience and skills alongside your personality then you’ve already won half the battle!
