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Imagine a CV as a marketing brochure about you, with its primary purpose being to stimulate the interest of a hirer enough to want to meet you.
When I say marketing brochure, I don’t necessarily mean make it colourful with striking graphics, what I am alluding to is that you need to show an employer what benefits you have to bring and what value you have to offer. Just like a great marketing brochure.
To create an effective CV (still thinking of it as a marketing brochure), consider the following;
Talk directly to the reader, make it relevant to them.
Motivate your reader to want to find out more.
Enable the reader to see the main points clearly and quickly. Hirer’s are great at skim- reading, they won’t read every word.
Add atmosphere. Let your words entice them and show them how you will make a difference. Provide examples.
Address your readers needs or pain points.
Avoid clichés, you will sound like everyone else. i.e. team player value-add, passionate, flexible, dynamic, etc.
Provide context around the companies you’ve worked at (their industry, award winning, staff headcount, etc), this could then make your experience more relatable.
You also don’t want to make it too long. As I mentioned earlier, it should whet the appetite of a prospective employer enough to want to meet with you. A ‘war and peace’ CV will put the reader off if they can’t get to what they want to read quick enough. It must always be tailored to suit the role and succinct enough to get your key messages across quickly to create a 'call to action' (just like a marketing brochure).
60 seconds up! :-)
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