While looking for the perfect CV -design-tools for OXENDO (
www.oxendo.com) I found this interesting article in Spotlight magazine about things to consider when creating a CV. The article does not only feature tips on format and style, but also what HR managers may read between the lines...
You are looking for a job, but so is everyone else. You might be the best candidate, but will your next employer know that? Before you are invited to a job interview, your CV will have to make a good first impression. Many large companies in Europe now use English as a working language, so its important to have your CV ready in English. This is also an opportunity to show that you have intercultural skills that may be critical to getting the joy you want.
As much as your CV says in black and white, it says just much between the lines. It offers clues about the kind of person you are, what your priorities are and how conscientiously you work.
Probably the most important thing to bear in mind when writing your CV is that it will be read by another person. This could be someone with whom you`ll be working closely; your boss at a small to medium-sized company; or it could be someone in a position of power, such as the head of the personnel department. Whoever that person is, he or she will decide whether or not you get invited to a job interview.
For that person, time is money: you may have only 15 seconds to make an impression. Here is how to do it.
1. Do your homework: Find out about the company you are contacting and write your CV specifically for the job you want at that company. One tailored CV sent to five companies will get you further than a generic sounding CV sent to a hundred-
2. Make your CV readable: Choose a font that is large enough, wired enough and not too decorative. Use generous margins. Put enough space between different elements. Fit everything on one or, at most, two pages.
3. Remember that less is more: The reader must be able to find key information immediately. Choose the three things that best qualify you for the job, and emphasize them in your personal profile. (This point refers to the CV-options on Oxendo. Oxendo gives you the opportunity to create 3 keywords, so that you can be found by them on our system, as well as on all search engines)
4. Avoid clichés: and vague language. Everyone claims to be highly motivated and hard-working. So don`t just say you are; prove you are. Your achievements, as listed in your CV and supporting documents, should leave no doubt.
5. Write for you reader, not for yourself. John F. Kennedy said: “ask not what your company can do for you; ask what you can do for your company”. Employers don’t care that you are seeking new challenges, they want to know whether you can communicate, are good with figures and have ideas.
6. Make the reader curious and eager to get to know you. What hidden skills do you have, whether relevant to the job or not, that will make you stand out from all the candidates? When the 100 applicants are reduced to five, you will be remembered as the man who cooks for homeless people or the woman who is lived in China. Such qualities show that you take the initiative, are a team player and finish what you start. Are you a worker or an asset? That’s the question that’s answered between the lines.
