7 Tips On How to Write a Successful CV

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CV writing is not an easy process for the majority of job seekers. You need to know how to craft a CV that will grab the attention of recruiters within the first 15 seconds.

In fact, most people get this wrong. They write long CVs that go on for multiple pages, hoping that their elaborate work experience will impress the recruiter. However, this isn’t always the case.

Instead of descriptive work histories, employers are looking to see your accomplishments and outcomes that will be relevant to your new role. Of course, it’s easier said than done. So, here we have a few tips on how you can write a CV that can land an interview.

1. Get Professional Help

As we already established, CV writing can be one of the most stressful aspects of a job search. However, thanks to the professional help you can receive today, writing your CV does not have to be an overwhelming task.

That is if you can find one of the best online CV writing specialists to work with. Showcasing your skills is easy with the right pro CV writing services crafting your winning resume for you. A majority of these platforms have an expert team of professional writers, industry experts, and recruiters who can help increase your chances of acceptance in a job application and get more interviews.

2. Pick the Right Format

Recruiters and employers typically spend 5 to 30 seconds going through your CV. As such, clarity is the key to ensuring that your resume can be easily reviewed by someone reading in a hurry.

This is why you need to choose the right format with clear headings and appropriate fonts.

Here are some points you need to note when working on your CV format.

• Keep the font size of about 11 points.
• Use bullet points to organize and break up your content.
• Ensure that there is a decent amount of white space to avoid overcrowding.
• Try a reverse chronological style, starting from most recent jobs and going backward.
• Find out the standard CV size preferred in your country. Nevertheless, it is best to limit your CV to one or two pages maximum.

3. Coming up with the Right Order

As a general rule, the main sections to focus on in your CV are — your content details, your education, work experience, and skills.

That said, which sections should be prioritized will depend on the position you are applying for and your specific industry. If you think your educational qualifications are most relevant for the job, then you should highlight this. On the other hand, if you think you have got some excellent examples of work experience, you might want to start your resume with that first.

Regardless, make sure that you have all the contact details upfront. You should also not include personal information such as gender, marital status, or nationality.

4. Highlight your Achievements

Today, recruiters prefer to see quantifiable data outlining your work experience rather than paragraphs of the job description. Therefore, in addition to highlighting the specific skills that are applicable to a particular role, you should also try to include specific actions that led to achievements.

This is where you can take advantage of the STAR method. Start describing your ‘situation’ and discuss what problem you had to solve. Or mention a goal that you worked towards.

The next step is to detail the ‘action’ you took in order to complete the task. And end the paragraph with ‘results’. You can also proceed to list any important lessons you learned in the process.

Whenever possible, try to quantify the results in terms of numbers and percentages in order to give a clear view to the recruiter.

5. Include a Personal Profile

Your personal profile is intended to give the hiring manager an immediate snapshot of your key skills and how they are relevant to the job you seek. Additionally, it should also match the keywords in the job description.

Remember that including a personal profile in your CV isn’t a must. But it can be valuable depending on its quality and content. A bad one can do more damage than having nothing at all.

Your personal profile should start with an introduction that details your current situation. You can then proceed to refer to your skills and experience, referring back to the job advert. Lastly, you can sum up by outlining your personal goals.

6. Tailor your CV

Once you have all details included in the CV, it is time to personalize it. Do not forget the importance of an applicant tracking system and ATS bots when it comes to job search. Such resume-scanning software will score your CV based on how well you match the specific requirements of a role.

As such, it is imperative that you tailor your application in order to prove that you can do the job. One way to do this is to have a master copy of your main CV and different versions of it — each unique and bespoken to the particular positions you are applying for.

While doing that, make sure that you have matched your applications with the right keywords in the job posting. Passing this step is crucial, as recruiters will be shortlisting applications based on the ATS system score.

7. ProofRead!

Although this comes across as an obvious tip, many applicants continue to overlook the importance of proofreading their CV and cover letter before sending it.

Spelling errors, typos, and simple mistakes are the first thing that can instantly reduce your chances of getting hired. Even if you trust online tools and editing software, it is still crucial that you manually proofread your resume.

If needed, you can also show your CV to a third person to get input on how you come across as a job candidate.

Finally, if you are not getting any results or callbacks from recruiters, you should take a second look at your resume. Start editing and improving your CV to make sure it perfectly advertises you in the best possible way.