Interview. Heather Salter

or stained CVs.

       No accompanying letter.

       A letter which is clearly a template and not even signed.

       No effort made to show how you meet the job description.

      I could go on but I think you get the picture. What does all this conjure up in your mind – someone who just doesn’t take the care or attention that they need to and that’s the best way to get filed in the wastepaper bin.

      Have a look at the CV you have now, show it to some of your friends and colleagues and get some feedback. Have a look at what other people do and then see your own reactions to their CVs – what did you like, what did you hate?

      It is time well spent putting together a professional CV targeted at the job that you are applying for. Don’t just have the one CV that you photocopy and send to every job you apply for – this is what I would call a ‘scattergun’ approach, and you are just hoping that one of them will land on the right desk at the right time for the right job. You are really hoping that the recruiter will do your job for you and find the information they are looking for.

      Sometimes you may be one of 50 or more CVs landing on a recruiter’s desk. How much time do you think they will spend looking through a CV? It can be as little as 30 seconds. You only have one chance to make a good impression, so start as you mean to go on, with an easy-to-read, well structured and targeted CV.

      If you know that you aren’t very good at writing a CV and you really want to make a good impression, then invest in getting several versions of your CV written by a professional. If this is the key to the shortlist, then it’s worth spending some money.

       Make sure your CV stands out for the right reasons and not the wrong ones.

       2.2 Get the right things in

      Having discussed how important the CV is to make that right impression, let’s take a look at what are the essential elements that go into most CVs. You could ask a number of people and you may get a different response from each of them, depending on their personal preferences, but there are four common points that feature in them all.

      1 Contact details. Make sure that you put your up-to-date contact details in where the recruiter can find them easily – centred on the top of page one is usually the best place. Only give the telephone and email addresses that you are happy for them to contact you on. For example, avoid work email if it is not private to you.

       Name

       Address

       Contact telephone number

       Personal email address

      2 Personal profile. This profile is designed to give the recruiter a snapshot of your skills and abilities so that they will want to read further. Section 2.3 goes into this further as it’s often the key to capturing the reader’s interest.

      3 Employment history. Start with your current position and work backwards. List the company name with the relevant dates you worked for that business and then add your job title and responsibilities. If you have some achievements you are proud of, put them in. For example: ABC Services Limited, Sept 2003-present; Administration Manager, responsible for company purchases with a budget of £650k pa; Reduced stationery expenditure by 15% by centralizing purchasing. If you have worked for a long time consider just covering the last 10 years or so and then do a précis paragraph about previous history. We want to fit the CV on two pages if at all possible.

      4 Qualifications and professional education & training. List your qualifications with the title of the qualification, the institute that awarded it and the date that you qualified. If you have good grades then by all means mention them. Start with the most important qualifications first, and finish with any relevant training courses that you have completed. The key word here is ‘relevant’ as the recruiter is only looking for those things that make you a good match for their job.

       A well-targeted CV of two pages is far better than one of five pages irrelevant to the job you’re applying for.

       2.3 Make your profile precise

      The personal profile section of the CV is something that has become more common over the past 15 years and can be a real asset to your CV, designed to stimulate the recruiter to want to read further.

      The whole idea of the personal profile is to be able to read a short paragraph which gives a précis that is factual, not a subjective opinion. One of the best tips I was ever given by one of the leading recruitment companies in London was to address the following points:

       What level have you worked at?

       What industries have you worked in?

       What specialist skills do you have?

      “I have worked at divisional board level in the hospitality, entertainment and logistics sectors. I have 25 years’ experience in interviewing and in designing and running Assessment Centres, delivering training courses on HR related topics to middle and senior management, and advising directors and managers on employee relations issues up to and including attendance at employment tribunals.”

      “True eloquence consists in saying all that should be said and that only”

       François de la Rochefoucauld, French writer of maxims