New year, New opportunity?

CVs are an essential part of any job application — and recruiters read thousands of them every day across the world. To help you stand out from the crowd and increase your chances of an interview, here’s how to show you are the perfect new hire.

1. Read the job description carefully

Before you even begin to start tweaking your CV, you must read the job description carefully. Not only is this to make sure that you are qualified for the role, but to ensure that this is an opportunity you really want.

Too often, people apply for way too many jobs without double-checking whether they meet the requirements. This is a waste of your precious time and it can become frustrating and disheartening when it feels like you’re applying for lots of roles but getting nowhere. When it comes to looking for a job and submitting an application, it’s all about quality and quantity (of the right applications).

So, when you read through the job description, pay particular attention to the essential requirements and desirable traits to make sure that you fit the bill. Then take a look at the description of the company and the benefits on offer. If these factors seem in line with your ideal job, then you can proceed to tailoring your CV for the application.

2. Tailor your experience and skills

The simplest way to show you are perfect for the role is by tweaking your experience and skills so that they are targeted towards the job you are applying for.

Skim through the job description and identify the requirements you’ve got. Then, make sure they are displayed prominently on your CV.

As a rule of thumb, the higher up the information is on your CV, the more relevant it should be AND a Hiring Manager / Recruiter will read it first. Therefore, ensure you tailor your “professional profile” and consider adding a “key skills” section underneath showcasing your talent!

When scanning a job description, you may want to pull out any of the jargon and acronyms and sprinkle important keywords naturally through your CV. The Hiring Manager / Recruiter will be looking for keywords from the job description, and industry terms are sure to jump out, painting you as a suitable match. If you upload your CV to any job boards too, these keywords are also likely to be searched for – win, win!

3. Get ruthless with the irrelevant

Tailoring your CV to showcase your talent is important. However, so is cutting down on the irrelevant areas to ensure that your top qualities shine through. Keep it short & oh so sweet.

If your CV has large sections filled with abilities not referenced in the job spec, you can afford to reduce their detail. Not only will this make your relevant skills pop, but it will also free up some space to expand on the skills the Hiring Manager or Recruiters are looking out for.

4. Quantify your achievements with facts and figures

Now that you have highlighted your relevant skills and cut the not so important, it’s now time to refine your content. To show you are the perfect hire, your skills and achievements should be listed in sharp, snappy bullet points.

When writing these points, utilise powerful action words to demonstrate your impact. Here are a few great examples:

• Created
• Developed
• Designed
• Implemented
• Identified
• Executed
• Managed
• Established
• Collaborated
• Delivered

Then support each of your points with facts and figures where possible. Quantifying your claims and accomplishments, from your successes and growth to your qualities and skills, helps provide a metric to measuring results.

In addition, numbers jump out in a document of text (especially when you’re in Finance), therefore making your points easily digestible. Here’s an example…

Implemented a cost-saving initiative in HR, where I recommended that we move to paperless contracts, resulting in a saving of over £300K over five years, also resulting in a wider impact on our companies CSR strategy.

5. Make your CV easy to read

It’s all very well including this outstanding information, but it will get you nowhere if you have not thought about your CV’s format. You want to make the Hiring Managers life as easy as possible when it comes to reading your CV.

Start by splitting your CV into clear sections marked by bold headings. Then choose a clear font, such as Ariel or Calibri, tweaking the body font size between 10 and 12 point, and headings to size 14. The template above should help you nail it.

Your CV should fit three pages comfortably, perhaps four if you’re a seasoned professional. If the content is just over or under, tweak the font sizes and margins to make it fit and look more complete.

Then proofread your CV thoroughly to ensure it looks polished and professional to show you’re the perfect hire. Show a friend or family member and ask them to proof it – a fresh pair of eyes always helps!

Now your CV is looking on-point, you’re ready to go!

Get in touch with the team today to find out about the roles we’re recruiting for across the Finance, Accountancy and Exec space.