CV Club: some rules to follow when writing your CV / Résumé

I’ve read a lot about how to write a “good” CV or Résumé and in the last few months, and in a past life I researched a range of CV review/re-write services.

I’ve offered some of what I’ve learnt as advice on how to write a CV to friends, colleagues and even strangers looking for work. I reflect, writing a CV is an uncommon skill, so I thought it might be worth writing a pithy post about.

Because in my late teens/early 20s I was obsessed with the movie Fight Club (and because I needed an eye-catching image for this post) I’ve written this imagining myself as an inspiring and authoritative Tyler Durden-type figure as depicted by Brad Pitt reading out the his club rules. Go with me on this…

These following “rules” try to help you focus on the most important things to consider when writing your CV, as well as highlighting the worst and most common mistakes to avoid.

If you’re seeking work this might be helpful…

Rule 1:

2 pages maximum. For graduates/school-leavers or if you have less than 3 years’ work experience, aim for 1 page. More experienced professionals can go to 2 pages.

Rule 2:

Re-read Rule 1 and remember; 2 PAGES MAXIMUM!!

Rule 3:

Simple formatting. Use 10–12-point type face. No elaborate fonts/formatting: Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri all work fine. Helvetica if you need to feel like a font geek. Avoid multiple text formats, colours etc.

Rule 4:

Your CV is an advert. The main thing to consider is when writing is that this is sales document; an advertisement, if you will, for you as an employee, designed to “sell you” to a potential employer. It is NOT an exhaustive, chronology or almanac of your skills or work and education history.

Rule 5:

Focus on your “professional objective”. Some would advise writing a new CV for every job application. In practice this is impracticable; either exhausting or full of risk of errors/typos.

However, think about writing different CVs for each of your professional objectives, i.e. type of job, employer type/size, industry etc. Tailor each one to the audience you have in mind.

Focus on most the recent (or most relevant) experience. Typically, you should focus on last 5 jobs or last 5 years’ work experience. However, you may want to focus on specific role/experience if it is more relevant to your professional objective.

Rule 6:

Make it easy to scan. Nobody is going to read your CV. People scan CVs, so make it easy to scan. Even better, make sure that the best, juiciest bits of information are immediately visible on the first page. Role and employers in bold. Use 2-6 bullet points to describe each role. Put the most pertinent words and meaning at the start of each line/bullet point. Imagine if you only read the first 3-4 words per line, would you get the meaning you want to put across?

Rule 7:

Use clear and simple, relevant words and language. The only thing that might read your CV top to bottom is a computer or an ‘Applicant Tracking System’ (ATS). When jobs get 100s or even 1,000s of applications, recruiters will use this software to sort applications by those with the most relevant-looking CVs (as judged by the software). If your CV’s format is not readable or does not have relevant keywords, then it is possible (or even likely) that it will never be read by a human.

The first person to look at your CV will likely be a recruiter (not the hiring manager). Recruiters do not have the same domain knowledge about your job as you do. Make sure it is easy for them to understand your CV; write in clear, simple language and avoid jargon or obscure acronyms.

Rule 8:

Quantify your achievements:

·      Use numbers, percentages and even better £/$ symbols to quantify the value you have provided and/or the trust that the company has put in you.

·      Make this clear and simple; recruiters may not understand the precise details of your job, but they can do simple arithmetic, e.g. £100m is more than £10m.

·     Spell out the value you will bring them. It is this quantifiable value that the hiring manager is ‘buying’; think about signing a new star player for a sports team, the owner/manager wants those points per season, pass completion % for their team.

·      Not every bullet point in your experience needs to have these types of statistics but aim to have at least one for each of your past roles.