Your CV is your personal sales brochure designed to gain interviews
How to make your CV stand out above others If you keep sending off the same CV for every job advertisement, you're unlikely to meet with success.
Read and analyse the job advertisement, see what key skills and experience they are seeking, and make sure that your CV is a good match - not just through interpretation but in exact words and phrases.
Although your CV still needs to make sense and read well, it needs to be specifically targetted to match each job vacancy advertisement.
If the job ad specifies Advanced Excel, make sure you include those exact words in your CV - remember you need to actually be advanced in Excel - no BS please...
If the advertisement specifies that they want someone with excellent organisational skills, then include those skills on your CV.
Prioritise your skills on your CV to match the priorities of the job advertisement.
Start off with one good CV. Save this as the Master. Then copy, edit and save each adaptation under a new file name. This takes a little time but it really pays dividends.
The same applies to cover letters. These should "match" the job advertisement. Don't just rehash your CV, address the advertisement - identify with their requirements - be the perfect match. Tell them what excites you about the role, why you're interested, what you could bring to the role but make sure you're letter isn't all "me, me, me". Talk about the company and how you think you would fit in and contribute to their goals. It helps to check out their website and to read the advertisement fully before responding.
Good luck with your job search! Get in touch if you need help.
Read and analyse the job advertisement, see what key skills and experience they are seeking, and make sure that your CV is a good match - not just through interpretation but in exact words and phrases.
Although your CV still needs to make sense and read well, it needs to be specifically targetted to match each job vacancy advertisement.
If the job ad specifies Advanced Excel, make sure you include those exact words in your CV - remember you need to actually be advanced in Excel - no BS please...
If the advertisement specifies that they want someone with excellent organisational skills, then include those skills on your CV.
Prioritise your skills on your CV to match the priorities of the job advertisement.
Start off with one good CV. Save this as the Master. Then copy, edit and save each adaptation under a new file name. This takes a little time but it really pays dividends.
The same applies to cover letters. These should "match" the job advertisement. Don't just rehash your CV, address the advertisement - identify with their requirements - be the perfect match. Tell them what excites you about the role, why you're interested, what you could bring to the role but make sure you're letter isn't all "me, me, me". Talk about the company and how you think you would fit in and contribute to their goals. It helps to check out their website and to read the advertisement fully before responding.
Good luck with your job search! Get in touch if you need help.
by Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer and Career Coach
Compelling CVs, Reading, Berkshire
Professional CV writing, LinkedIn Profiles, Cover Letters, Job Search Skills, Interview Skills, Outplacement and more...
Our success is built on yours...
Our success is built on yours...
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