By Barbara Patrick at Compelling CVs
There is an abundance of free CV templates (aka Resume Templates) available online and many companies who sell templated CVs.
We never use CV templates because every client is unique and "one size" CV templates aren't suitable.
Rather like the story of Cinderella, where all the ladies were trying to force their foot into the tiny glass slipper so that the prince would choose them, it simply doesn't work. It's far better that the slipper is designed to fit the foot!
We firmly believe that it is the CONTENT of a CV that is important. Whilst a CV template may provide some useful headings, you are still left with the problem of creating the content.
Whereas "Education" may feature highly on one client's CV, it may hardly feature at all on another's. This is because a client may have many years' experience where their education is totally irrelevant to the role or industry they are applying to.
Likewise, "Hobbies and Interests" may be totally irrelevant and omitted from one client's CV but included in another where they bring transferable skills such as leadership.
After content, keywords (to match Applicant Tracking Software Systems) and relevance are important too. CV templates can't assist with these either, except by suggesting useful headings.
Because our clients all have different experiences, achievements, skills and personalities, we build their CVs from scratch, focussing on their individual strengths. This is much easier to achieve through avoiding the use of CV templates.
Ultimately, our CVs are beautifully formatted and you would be forgiven for thinking that we use CV templates; we do not. What we do use is a particular "style" and "layout" that works extremely well for our clients, as our client testimonials bear out.
We never use CV templates because every client is unique and "one size" CV templates aren't suitable.
Rather like the story of Cinderella, where all the ladies were trying to force their foot into the tiny glass slipper so that the prince would choose them, it simply doesn't work. It's far better that the slipper is designed to fit the foot!
We firmly believe that it is the CONTENT of a CV that is important. Whilst a CV template may provide some useful headings, you are still left with the problem of creating the content.
Whereas "Education" may feature highly on one client's CV, it may hardly feature at all on another's. This is because a client may have many years' experience where their education is totally irrelevant to the role or industry they are applying to.
Likewise, "Hobbies and Interests" may be totally irrelevant and omitted from one client's CV but included in another where they bring transferable skills such as leadership.
After content, keywords (to match Applicant Tracking Software Systems) and relevance are important too. CV templates can't assist with these either, except by suggesting useful headings.
Because our clients all have different experiences, achievements, skills and personalities, we build their CVs from scratch, focussing on their individual strengths. This is much easier to achieve through avoiding the use of CV templates.
Ultimately, our CVs are beautifully formatted and you would be forgiven for thinking that we use CV templates; we do not. What we do use is a particular "style" and "layout" that works extremely well for our clients, as our client testimonials bear out.
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