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Your CV is a representation of you before any recruiter or hiring company has even had a chance to meet you, so you want to make the very best first impression! The perfect CV is concise, tailored to each job application and focuses on quantifiable achievements. Its design should be clean and professional, with clear headings and bullet points to ensure it passes through automated screening software and holds the recruiter’s attention.
Not sure where to start? Don’t worry, we are here to help! This post outlines our best tips on crafting the perfect CV from a recruiter’s point of view.
CV Structure And Formatting Tips
A simple, visually appealing layout that is easy to scan quickly is the key to making a good first impression with your CV. You want to avoid over-cluttering and excessive wordiness, but also stay clear of anything too colourful, loud or over the top. Stay on track with these top tips.
Keep It Simple: Avoid busy formatting, fancy graphics, or tables unless you work in a creative industry. Use a clean, easy-to-read font, such as Arial in size 11 or 12.
Use A Consistent Format: Maintain a consistent style for headers, font, and spacing throughout the document. Don’t switch up the fonts unless absolutely necessary, and keep the section layout the same across the document.
Stick To The Optimal Length: Aim for two to three pages at most, keep it shorter if you can. For maximum impact, your most important information should be front and centre.
Use Bullet Points: Always break up large blocks of text with bullet points and white space to make information digestible for recruiters who only spend a few seconds scanning each CV.
Choose Your File Type Wisely: Save your CV as a PDF if preserving its formatting is a priority, or use a Word document for ease of use. (If you are sending it to a recruitment agency for editing, always use a Word Doc).
CV Content Strategy Tips
To make a CV compelling enough for the reader to pick it out of a pile, you must move beyond just listing responsibilities to show the value you added to previous roles. Keep the following in mind when building out the content for your CV, and you will be on the right track.
Tailor Your CV For Each Role: We can’t say this one enough - never use a generic CV. It will be full of irrelevant content that puts people off immediately. Spend some time and carefully adapt your CV to each job description by incorporating its keywords and highlighting the most relevant skills and experience to the role.
Write A Strong Summary First: We don’t need an old-fashioned mission statement or intro to your life story - start with a concise professional summary that acts as your “sales pitch”. This should instantly highlight your core skills, experience, and career goals (if relevant). For experienced professionals, this summary should be achievement-focused.
Quantify Your Achievements: Use numbers, metrics, and figures to demonstrate your impact. Instead of writing “managed a team,” write “led a team of 10 and increased productivity by 25%”. Use powerful action verbs like “implemented” or “streamlined”.
Prioritise Relevance: Focus on the most recent and relevant positions and be prepared to summarise or even drop older, less applicable roles that don’t carry any weight for this current role.
Address Employment Gaps: Briefly explain/fill any significant gaps in your work history to prevent recruiters from making negative assumptions.
Include Keywords: It is common practice for recruiters and larger companies to use Applicant Tracking Systems software to automatically filter CVs. This means it’s essential to incorporate the exact keywords in the job listing into your summary, skills, and work experience to get past these screening systems.
Section-Specific Details
We have talked a bit about what not to include, and how to make it look good - but what should you include in your CV and why? Let’s take a quick look.
Contact Information: An obvious one, but it can’t be left off the list - always include your full name, phone number, email, and city/town that you live in (a full address is not necessary). You could add a link to your LinkedIn profile if relevant.
Work Experience: List your employment history in reverse chronological order (newest at the top). For each role, include your job title, company name, location, and dates. Use bullet points to detail responsibilities and achievements.
Skills: Create an easily scannable section listing both your hard skills (technical abilities like machinery or software proficiency) and soft skills (transferable skills like leadership and communication).
Education And Qualifications: Include your academic background and any relevant degrees or certifications for the specific industry. There is no need to list subjects/specifics just the qualification name is enough.
Personal Statement/Interests: You could add a very brief section on hobbies and interests to show a bit about your personality, especially if this likely fits with the team culture/business products or services, and is relevant! Avoid sharing potentially contentious personal details.
References: You don’t need to add a long list of references anymore, recruiters and companies will always ask for references later on in the recruitment process. If you wish, you could add a quick note that references are available upon request, but that is kind of a given (always ask people for permission before choosing them as a referee!).
5 Common Mistakes To Avoid
While many people focus heavily on what to include in a CV, they sometimes overlook very obvious mistakes that can quickly cause a recruiter to slide their CV into the ‘no’ pile.
Typos And Errors: Always, always, always proofread your CV thoroughly (and have someone else check it) - typos, grammatical errors and mistakes can immediately undermine your credibility.
Submitting Generic Applications: Submitting the same CV for every job can come back to bite you as it shows a lack of effort and makes it difficult to pass automated screening.
Using Clichéd Language: Avoid overused, generic phrases like “team player” or “hard worker”. Instead, try to back up your statements with evidence.
Making It Too Long: Overloading your CV with information is unnecessary and annoying at times. A concise, focused document is more likely to be read and appreciated.
Being Dishonest: Always be honest about your qualifications and experience, no one wants to waste their time (and yours) interviewing someone who is not qualified to do the job (trust us, your lies will be revealed!).
4 Bonus Job Hunting Tips To Take Away
Crafting a strong CV is only one part of a successful job search. There are a number of other things you can do to improve your chances of securing your dream job, including:
1. Building Your Professional Network
Leverage Your Existing Network - contact friends, family, former colleagues, and managers. Let them know you are looking for new opportunities - personal connections are a powerful job-finding tool!
Use LinkedIn Effectively - Optimise your LinkedIn profile to reflect your personal brand and make yourself easily discoverable by recruiters. A strong profile photo, a compelling summary, and detailed achievements can significantly increase your visibility.
Attend Industry Events - Participate in webinars, conferences, and local meetups, both virtually and in person. These events are great for expanding your network and getting leads on unadvertised opportunities.
Connect With Recruiters - Build relationships with specialist recruitment agencies in your industry. They often have access to a wider range of job openings and can help position you for new roles.
2. Develop Your Personal Brand
Define Your Value - Consider what makes you unique, are you a creative problem-solver, a data-driven strategist, or a collaborative team leader? Use this to create a consistent professional identity across all your platforms.
Create A Positive Online Presence - Many hiring managers search for candidates online, so ensure your social media profiles are professional (or at least private) and align with the image you want to project. Consider creating a personal website or online portfolio to showcase your work.
Engage In Thought Leadership - Share valuable content, write articles on LinkedIn, or contribute to industry discussions. This establishes you as a knowledgeable professional and helps you build credibility.
3. Write A Compelling Cover Letter
Always include a cover letter, as this gives you one more opportunity to impress! Just like your CV, your cover letter should be customised for every application, no copy and paste here thanks. It should briefly explain why you are interested in the company and the role and directly address how your skills align with their needs.
Use the cover letter to add personality and context, aim to connect your experience and skills in a narrative that shows your motivation and cultural fit. One last tip is to avoid generic greetings like “To whom it may concern” - if possible, always take the time to find the name of the hiring manager or recruiter to address the letter personally.
4. Be Proactive And Follow Up!
One of the easiest and simplest ways to stand out from the crowd is to follow up on your applications and interviews. This could be as simple as a ‘thank you’ email or a quick phone call. Don’t get too trigger-happy though, recruiters are busy people they won’t appreciate you pestering them nonstop! But showing continued interest can help you stand out.
One last thing is to try to keep track of the roles you have applied for - there is nothing worse than a candidate not having a clue as to what job you are communicating about. This is a sure-fire way to come across as unreliable and uninterested.
Are you looking for temporary or permanent work in the trades or industrial sectors? Tradestaff are the recruitment specialists you need to talk to today! Give our friendly team a call or browse our current jobs online.
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about 20 hours ago by Tradestaff
