Why do some candidates send applications to dozens of companies and don’t receive feedback, while others apply to three companies and receive three invitations for interviews at once?
Of course, you can rely on luck, but one thing is clear: good preparation gives good results. That is why a serious approach towards the CV writing business is crucial for those willing to land a job. To do that, use our step-by-step guide. Following these simple tips, you will surely grab a recruiter’s attention and avoid some common mistakes.
Of course, not all applicants have time to complete a resume on their own. In such cases, it is better to turn to talented professionals from a CV writing service – this way, you can be sure that all your information is arranged in the best possible way. Career advice experts are great at highlighting your accomplishments and key skills. With a well thought-out CV, you will certainly stand out from the crowd of other job seekers. If you want to write it yourself you can consider checking some of the top resume builders.
Mistakes To Avoid
You don’t need to add your photo, gender, age, marital status, religious beliefs, or any other personal information that is not work-related.
Also, don’t use complicated designs and a variety of fonts for your CV – it has to be easy to read, after all. Try to find a balance between uniqueness and simplicity.
Don’t make your resume look like an epic novel. Be laconic and put all your information on one page. Just focus on your truly worthy career achievements, not irrelevant experiences.
Contacts
In this section, mention your address, phone, email and LinkedIn profile – the hiring manager is likely to google your name anyway.
Summary Statement is A Must
A resume summary is a concise and catchy paragraph that identifies your most valuable skills, successes, and character traits. These are three to five sentences that employers see right after opening your resume.
Here, you summarize your previous experience, education, and career goals. Show your strengths and the recruiters won’t miss them. See example below.
- IT manager with 8 years of experience in web development and operations management. An employee-centered leader as well as an analytical problem solver who develops talents while completing numerous profitable projects. MCSE and MCSD certified, with advanced knowledge of SQL, Python and Java.
Work Experience
Here, mention your jobs in reverse chronological order. Start with the last place of work and finish with the first one. Describe your responsibilities and the heights you have achieved. Use powerful action words to show your results, for example:
- If you were responsible for a project: сoordinated, executed, headed, organized;
- You introduced something new to the company: developed, founded, launched;
- You helped a team operate more cost-efficiently: reduced, decreased, conserved;
- You increased the sales, revenue, etc: maximized, generated, gained, enhanced;
- You were a team manager: trained, supervised, mobilized, directed.
Be as specific as possible and use numbers.
- Achieved a 7% reduction in the cost of materials, which enabled the company to decrease the cost of production by 5%.
- Raised sales by 50%, increased the client base from 70 to 300 partners, saved the company $100,000 on profitable deals.
Voluntary work counts as well – many employers take it into account. Why? Voluntary activities can mean that you’ve got particular traits (leadership and community spirit, for instance) and are devoted to the values the company wants in their employees.
Education and Qualifications
If you have been working for a long time, then it is recommended to indicate information about education briefly. Here is the formula: the names of institutions, degrees (Ph.D., Masters, Undergraduate) and dates in reverse order.
Recent graduates or students can mention such details as GPA, thesis topic and internships if they are related to the job description.
Have you taken any courses or seminars that correspond to the job opening? Write about them, too, or attach a certificate to your resume.
In case your job is connected to creativity, be sure to include a link to your portfolio or album with examples of works.
Skills
This section lists all your skills and abilities. As you work on it, keep three things in mind.
First, avoid commonplace things such as responsibility, high performance, stress resistance, or striving for career growth. Almost every candidate mentions them on their resume, trying to look like some kind of a superhuman.
Second, carefully review the job description and include some of the required skills in your resume. Third, keep away from lying and embellishing details. Everything you write about yourself is easy to verify during the interview.
Also, list the languages you mastered in a separate section, mentioning your level of knowledge (B2, C1, etc).
References
Recommendations from previous employers should be attached to the resume for two reasons. A lack of references can signify that:
- The applicant didn’t really work anywhere;
- No employer can provide positive feedback on a former employee.
Of course, a potential employer can check all the specified information. Therefore, letters of recommendation must contain the names and contacts of the people on whose behalf they are drawn up.
Interests
Specifying hobbies on your resume significantly increases the chances of landing a job. Why? Interests tell a lot about an applicant: how reliable they are, whether they prefer stability or are willing to take risks, whether they have predispositions to the occupation they aim to engage in.
For example, it would be a plus for a manager to list team sports as a hobby. It confirms that the candidate enjoys communicating with people and can easily reach an understanding with them. In turn, it would be great for a salesman to mention psychology which is necessary to understand customers and their needs.
Final Thoughts
CV is the employer’s first acquaintance with a potential employee. However, before getting in recruiters’ hands, resumes often go through an applicant tracking process. Companies turn to ATS bots that scan CVs, searching for keywords (those are presented in a job description). In addition to key optimization, a clear simple structure and appropriate format (traditionally, PDF is the most common one) are necessary to get a more bot-beating resume.
Before applying, check the document for grammar mistakes and typos. Besides, make sure that all the information provided is current and correct. Good luck!
