Does Your CV Bring You Success?

You’ve found a job that seems perfect for you, you send off your CV and keep fingers crossed you get short listed. You wait, and after a week or so you get the letter, but it’s the regret to inform you letter, so what’s gone wrong?

It may be nothing to do with you! Sometimes it could be nothing to do with you. It may be outside of your control. You may not get short listed because the job is already filled but the company policy is such that they have to go through the motions of an advert. The ad has been placed by an agency or head hunters to get people on their books. Sometimes organisational changes may mean there is no longer a need for the job to be filled and of course other candidates more closely match the employers’ requirements.

Review your CV However, you may also like to review your CV and see if it could be improved. Ask yourself:

* Does every word help to make the pitch? * Does it grab attention in the first 10 seconds? * Are you providing specific examples and not just vague descriptions? Be sure to give details on what you have achieved and include quantifiable results where you can. Don’t just write “I have excellent communication skills” but instead write: “Wrote jargon free user guide for 10,000 readers and got excellent feedback”. Your CV will only get a minutes attention, so you must make it stand out!

So let’s take a few steps back. Are you a good match? When you first saw the job advert, were you clear as to why this would be a great job for you? Could you clearly see the link between what you have to offer and what the company is looking for?

Do you market yourself well? Whilst you can have a generic CV you also want to review it for the specific job, can you provide examples that closely match the position or industry? Have you prioritised your bullet points to put the most relevant first? Were you specific or vague?

What was your covering letter like, really? Your letter is 50% of your marketing material, but you wouldn’t realise that looking at many of the CVs I read? Consider the one you sent – was it specifically targeted to stress your strengths and link these to the job you applied for? Did it highlight some relevant achievements? Did you include some of the terminology from the advert?

Does Your CV Bring You Success?