How to make your CV stand out
In a competitive jobs market in South Africa, it’s essential that you stand out. But in a sea of candidates with similar backgrounds and experience, how are you meant to show that you’re unique?
Answer: your CV.
At its core, your CV is a personal marketing document, designed to sell your skills and experience to prospective employers. When written well, it can show an HR Manager or recruiter that you’re the exact candidate they are looking for to fill their position. To create the best CV, start with these tips.
1. Include all the necessary components:
A CV is only as good as the information it contains. If an HR Manager goes looking for certain details they expect to find, only to come up short, it will reflect badly on you. So, be sure to include each essential element of a CV:
Name and contact information
Your name, email address, and phone number should always be at the top of your CV. Including your full address on your CV is no longer compulsory, but you should include your town and postcode so the HR Manager knows where you are based.
Your LinkedIn profile link should be added here too, so your page can be accessed easily.
Personal statement
Also known as a professional profile, the personal statement is your chance to introduce yourself to an HR Manager. It is a short, punchy paragraph that explains who you are, your relevant skills, and a key selling point or two. Your goal is to give a brief overview of who you are as a professional ‒ especially as it pertains to the job opening at hand ‒ and to persuade the reader to continue reading.
Core competencies
A core ocmpetencies or key skills section is your chance to show clearly why you’re qualified for the job. It should include both hard skills and soft skills and should always be tailored to emphasise the requirements for each different role you apply for.
Work experience
Your employment history should be listed in reverse-chronological order. For each position, detail your employment dates, your job titles, and the companies you’ve worked for. Then, write a brief summary of the role, followed by bullet points that highlight your key achievements.
Education and professional development
If you are established in your career, your education should be listed towards the end of your CV, as your work experience is more important. Include the name of the institutions you studied at and degree earned. If you have completed any courses or received supplemental certifications, include those too.
2. Tailor your CV to every application:
HR Managers receive generic, buzzword-strewn CVs every day. They are monotonous and, quite frankly, do not sell skills or experiences effectively. Plus, you want to show that you’re the best candidate for their position, not a position.
To write the best CV and stand out from the crowd, target the document to the role you are applying for. Take the job listing, identify the key requirements you fulfil, and ensure your CV highlights these abilities to show that you’re the perfect fit for the position.
3. Leverage keywords:
In this digital age, computer software has entered the hiring process. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are employed by most large organisations to expedite hiring, by scanning submitted CVs. Because of this, you have to craft a CV that not only stands out to HR Managers but also satisfies the ATS.
One of the most important things an ATS looks for in CVs is keywords; if yours contains the terms and phrases it’s been programmed to seek out, you are more likely to get your CV seen by human eyes. You can identify these keywords by carefully reading the job listing ‒ any terms that are repeated or seem to carry particular emphasis are likely going to be essential to your application.
4. Highlight quantifiable achievements:
It’s one thing to tell a recruiter or HR Manager that you’re impressive; it’s another to make them see it for themselves. The best CVs use concrete, quantifiable achievements that objectively show employers the positive impact that professionals have made in their previous roles. Numbers, money amounts, and other data points will help them see the value you could contribute to their own company.
As you write, describe your statements using powerful action verbs like “increased,” “managed,” and “led.”
5. Design a clean, clear layout:
There is no universally correct CV layout, but there are rules that should always be followed. Start by ensuring that your CV is the correct page length based on where you are in your career. Then, keep your document clean, polished, and void of any flourishes that could distract from the important things.
Avoid fancy graphics or images as well.
6. Keep your CV updated:
Always make sure that your CV is kept up to date with your current work situation. HR managers want to know your professional and current work experience in order to determine if you are the person to shortlist.
7. Limit CV pages:
Make sure that your CV has a minimum of 1 to 2 pages
More CV pages don’t score points, instead focus on highlighting the most important information that is relevant to the position you are applying for.
8. Make sure your references are contactable:
It’s most important to list at least 3 contactable references from the last place of work you have worked at. Don’t list random people you know, please list people like your previous and current workplace superior’s like supervisor, Manager and other applicable people.