an engaging and persuasive cv increases your chances of being invited to an interview so
how do you know if your cv fits into that category well in this video i will share four simple tips
that will make a dramatic difference to your cv so keep watching if you're building your cv for
the first time or you're finding that your current cv is not getting you job interviews if you're new
to my channel i'm Amri Celeste an hr recruitment specialist and a career coach with over nine years
hiring experience and this channel is dedicated to helping you on your job hunting journey
so first off it's important to remember that there is no one way to prepare your cv if you're
a graphic designer your cv shouldn't look the same as a cv for a technical engineer but if you want
to be selected in a pile of many there are a few things that you absolutely must pay attention to
first thing to be aware of is that the person looking at your cv is almost very likely looking
at hundreds of other cvs most recruiters look at anywhere between 50 to several hundred cvs every
single day so you want to make it easy for them to pick yours first up is layout seems like a
small thing but i'll explain why it's so important so you've probably heard that recruiters spend 3
7 10 seconds looking at your cv and i can confirm that this is fairly accurate recruiters often
have hundreds to look through so if your cv is structured in the way that i'm about to show you
then you'll be making sure that those important things that will get you shortlisted are in the
place where the recruiter will be looking for those seven seconds you want to make it easy
for the recruiter to see your career history so those key areas need to be easy to find i'll show
you using a made up cv the style and format of your cv doesn't need to look like this it's just
an example to show you which order things need to be in so at the top should be your name and
contact details then your professional summary also called a personal profile
next you have your key skills which are relevant or role specific skill sets that
you have that can include certain types of systems experience then career history then your education
hobbies if you choose to include them then references on request i don't recommend including
your references here because unfortunately some agencies can actually use them as sales leads
which means that they will contact your references to try and get more business or contact them
prematurely i want to be clear that this is not all agencies as someone who's worked in hr for
a long time i've worked with some absolutely brilliant agencies but unfortunately there
are a few bad apples so i recommend only giving references at the point of a job offer or beyond
that step regarding skills and hobbies feel free to include a few honest hobbies don't say you like
mountain climbing if you don't the manager may ask you more about it if it's something that they like
and then you'll be stuck also don't go into too much detail or include anything inappropriate
and make sure that you familiarize yourself with whatever you include in your cv
i talk about the importance of knowing your cv in an interview in my video on the top three reasons
that candidates don't get hired i've included a link to that video in the description below
so pretty simple right five main sections in that order means that your key points are at
the top and the things that are not as immediately important such as your hobbies reference statement
etc are at the bottom quick bonus tip on your career history and personal summary
keep them relevant to the role you're looking for this means you need to be clear on the job
you want and then make sure that your cv reflects that i can't tell you how many cvs i've seen for
something like a marketing exec position where the profile or personal summary says that they are a
dedicated researcher or a cv for an hr assistant that says that they're a motivated sales exec
so get clear on what you want and then it's 10 times easier to know what to include in your
personal profile that being said you don't want to go overboard trying to match every single point of
the job you want remember you're not going to meet 100 of the job description so don't worry
about trying to force your cv to meet every single area because it's very rare that a candidate would
meet every single requirement and lastly include your achievements on your cv make sure they're
related to the job you're going for and include examples so what type of achievements should you
be including what key skills should you include and what do you do if you don't have experience
i've created a winning cv guide which is a walkthrough guide of how to build your cv
it includes examples of key skills what to do if you don't have experience and important detail
regarding cv structure it even includes an example cv and you can download that in the link below
this video career history always make sure that your cv is in chronological order this means that
your most current or recent role is at the top i don't recommend using unconventional cv structures
so don't put anything like your hobbies or your education or why you think you're the perfect
candidate at the top where your career history should be stick to chronological order because
this is what the recruiter or hiring manager will be looking for length keep it to two pages any
recruiter being brutally honest will admit that sometimes when you open a cv your heart can sink
when it's 6 10 15 pages long you want to assess that person fairly but it's a lot to read in the
midst of hundreds of others if you don't have a lot of experience or a longer career history
it's easy to keep it short if you do it's a little bit harder so if you have a longer career history
sometimes it can be tempting to give detail on things that you're particularly proud of
or that you want to share but are not relevant to the position i myself have a 17-year career
history but when i applied for jobs in hr i didn't go into detail about my sales career
or the three years that i spent as a nursery nurse the recruiter doesn't want to know about this in
any extensive detail they want to know what's relevant to the job they're assessing you for
so here's what to do if you have a longer career history abbreviate the key points of
your most relevant positions cut down anything irrelevant to two comprehensive bullet points
maybe three if it doesn't take up too much space then for the relevant positions you can go into
more detail because the person shortlisting will want to know more about your relevant experience
are you finding this helpful so far let me know your best takeaway in the comments below or if
you're building a cv let me know what you're finding the most challenging quick bonus tip
regarding gaps in employment i know there is some apprehension around what to do if you have a gap
in your employment but many recruiters know that people are human beings and take time away from
work to have children for mental health or for a host of other reasons however unexplained gaps can
hurt your chances so do include an explanation it doesn't need to be long just a line or two
explaining what you were doing really helps in order not to make this topic overwhelming
i've split it into two parts so next week i'll be covering four common mistakes that you absolutely
need to avoid on your cv so to recap make sure you follow the recommended layout to make sure
that your key areas aren't missed in the seven second window include relevant achievements so
potential employers can see what you bring and examples of how you've done this in the past keep
your career history in chronological order keep it to two pages and if you have a longer history
shorten irrelevant roles to two or three points explain any gaps in your employment thank you so
much for watching i hope this was helpful tap like if it was subscribe for more and i will see you
soon