How to prepare an effective CV? Learn 5 tips!
Remember the logical structure
A CV should be a well-thought-out document with a logical structure that will allow you to convey information in an orderly way. A professionally prepared document should certainly include information such as: personal and contact details, professional experience, achievements, skills, education, knowledge of languages, interests and a clause with consent to the processing of personal data. It is best to separate the indicated information as separate parts so that the recruiter can easily find the information they are looking for. When describing your experience, it is worth using the principle of the so-called “reverse chronology”, because a potential employer will be much more interested in your recent professional experience than the one from a few years ago. It is also important to take care of the selection of information. The recruiter does not necessarily have to be interested in the candidate’s marital status, but information about the period of time in which he worked in a given company will be very important to him.
Match the content of your CV to the advertisement
There is no such thing as a universal CV, so sending the same application for every position can bring unsatisfactory results. You should always consider which of your competences and professional experience will be crucial for the position you are applying for. For example, if you want to develop as an HR specialist and work in a financial company, include in your CV only those experiences and skills that will be the basis for the recruiter to conclude that you will find yourself in the role. Emphasizing the qualities desired for a given position, or indicating experience in the implementation of specific projects, is the best proof for the recruiter that you are not a random person and that you know the content of the advertisement well.
Define your career goal
One job advertisement sometimes receives up to several hundred CVs. No wonder that recruiters do not have time to carefully analyze each application. In this situation, it is worth taking care to distinguish your application from other candidates by placing your professional goal at the beginning of the document. If the CV is prepared for a specific offer, it is important that the professional goal is consistent with the position offered. Include it especially if the employer does not require a cover letter. This way you can tell them why you are applying here and in what direction you want to develop. Ideally, the professional goal should be consistent with experience, competences, skills and interests. You can focus on describing a short-term goal, such as developing your skills in a specific position, or a long-term goal, such as professional development in a given industry.
Keep your document clear
The impression our application makes on the recruiter can determine whether they will read it at all, so the CV should be refined both from the substantive and visual side. The aesthetics and clarity of a document are determined not only by its logical division into parts, but also by the appropriate display of important information. It is also important to have the right page layout, maintain margins and align the text to the left, which makes the document easier to read. Consistency in text formatting is also important. The font type and size, line spacing, bullet type, and highlighting in the text should be consistent throughout the document. Also remember about the appropriate length of the document – if you don’t want to bore the recruiter, it’s best to fit everything on two pages.
When describing your successes, refer to numbers
General declarations about competences, skills or preparation for the performance of given duties are never as convincing as showing measurable results of one’s work. Usually, employers expect a newly hired person to increase the efficiency of the department’s work or project implementation, so when describing experience in a CV, it is best to support it with numerical data. For example, if you are applying for the position of a sales specialist, provide information on how many customers and in what time you managed to acquire for your previous employer. If you are applying for a job in organizing an event, provide the return on investment that was achieved by implementing a similar project.
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