SWORDS
01 8404075
SWORDS
Were not saying that you shouldnt try to spruce up the appearance of your CV, but there is something to be said for the old saying less is more. There are an array of excellent CV templates out there that will help you to display the information in an attractive and eye catching way without being an all singing, all dancing advert for clipart!
Let the information on the CV do the impressing, the more dressed up a CV appears the more the employer will wonder what its trying to make up for.
Much like with the presentation, if the CV is littered with business speak and fancy jargon then the recruiter will wonder if you actually know your stuff or are just trying to sound clever.
Let your knowledge and experience, qualifications and personality do the selling for you; save the business speak for when its actually appropriate!
As mentioned, these employers are looking over hundreds of CVs on a daily basis, so they dont have time to read pages upon pages on one person unless its really important information!
Keep your CV information short, sweet and to the point. It often helps to prioritise the sections of your CV based on their importance to the role. Once you have your sections, tailor the information within to the role you are applying for.
For example, if its a secretarial role then go into detail about experience and qualifications/training you have that directly affect the work you would do as part of the role. Other experience can be left in if needed to pad out the work experience section, but dont go into detail if the roles arent relevant to the job you are applying for.
Its becoming a wide spread trend among employers to Google applicants to learn more about them as people. This can bring up LinkedIn profiles, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and more!
If you have a LinkedIn account, then it is best to include a link to this on your CV as it saves the employer having to take to Google and potentially stumbling upon other social accounts. But that doesnt mean they wont do it anyway...
Employers look to your Facebook and Twitter accounts to see a representation of you as a person, so take a look at your Facebook/Twitter now and consider how it would look to an outsider. Is it something you would want a potential employer to see?
There are two things you can do; you can either clean up your social media footprint by taking off all those drunk photos and opinionated/potentially damaging posts, or you can choose to change the name you go by on the account to something like a nickname or just your first and middle names.
When competing with hundreds of people for roles in todays job market, standing out isnt easily done. But what does stand out to employers is personality and skill. If you let your experience and qualifications do the talking, and keep the tone and presentation a simple reflection of your character, then you are in with a much better chance of getting that second glance!
To find out more about how career training qualifications could vastly improve your chances getting that job, chat to one of our friendly career advisors by calling 01 8404075 or dropping by our Training Centre on North Street, Swords, Co Dublin.
