Whenever you apply for a job, the first thing impression you give employers depends on what is on your curriculum vitae (CV) or as others prefer to call it, resume. As such, much work needs to go into your CV when you are applying for a job because it is what will make or break your chances of getting the job.
It is therefore advisable to optimize your cv when applying for a job to increase your chances of being shortlisted for an interview. Follow these simple tips to make your CV stand out when applying for a job.
1. Start with a summary
Before you begin to list the places you have worked, the accolades you have, the degrees you have, and whatnot, begin with a simple summary of some of the things you have achieved so far, your skills, and how they will help you in the role you are applying for.
Without going through the list, the HR/recruiter or whoever reviews your CV will know everything about you and if you are able to impress him/her here you are highly going to be shortlisted for the next stage of the application process.
2. Make sure your CV is in plain English and can be easily read
Recruiters read through tons of CVs every day and if yours cannot be easily read, it will just be thrown somewhere and the next one will be picked up. This is not the place for you to prove that you can speak BIG English, just stick to the basic professional vocabulary.
Make your CV beautiful by using short sentences that are precise and concise. Do not talk much. If you talk much you cannot convey your message very well.
3. Highlight your accomplishments and not the responsibilities
We all feel like telling the recruiter the responsibilities we had in our previous roles but instead what we need to show them is the accomplishments we had from these responsibilities.
For example, use “grew the social media followers from 10 to 100” instead of saying, I was managing the social media page for Company X. This shows the person reading your CV that you are both goal and result oriented and that is the spirit every employer need in their team.
4. Use power words
Using powerful words gives your CV some level of authority and recruiters will see that you really know what you are talking about. These words also become an advantage when the company you are applying to has filtering software.
What this software does is that they filter the CVs based on certain power words used by the recruiter during the selection. Some of the words include adaptable, innovative, implemented, and achieved.
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