Your CV is a marketing document

Everyone in their career will need a CV, regardless of what stage you are at in your career.

A CV is a living, breathing document that will be updated many times over the course of your career.

Therefore, you would think that producing one was simple enough, but the truth is people are terrible at writing CVs.

This is a real shame as it is such a key document and very often your success or failure is based on this simple document.

Five mistakes people make when writing a CV

1. They write it from their own point of view, rather than from the point of view of the person reading it.
2. They think the purpose of a CV is to reflect their work experience rather than it being a marketing document.
3. They don’t try and differentiate themselves enough.
4.  They focus on their tasks and responsibilities and not on their achievements.
5. They don’t use the right keywords.

So, what are we trying to achieve?

Understand that a CV is a MARKETING document – you want the reader to think you are awesome.

Recognise that you are being hired to SOLVE A PROBLEM for the employer.

• Show what you can do for the employer.
• Show how you will benefit him/her and the organisation.
• Show how you can help improve profits (a Superstar) and/or reduce costs and just make things run better (a Hero).

Put yourself in the shoes of the reader – whoever is reading your CV is probably going to skim over it, so KEEP IT SIMPLE. No need to write an autobiography with lots of long paragraphs.

Focus on your achievements and benefits

What did you succeed in doing in your prior roles and how did those achievements benefit the organisation?

Understand that firms now use A.I. tools to screen CV’s, so you must have the right KEYWORDS.

75% of CVs are rejected because they don’t have certain keywords

Think accomplishments

Plan your CV

Drafting a high-quality CV takes time and thought, so don’t try and crank it out in 30 mins.

Instead, plan each section.

Go through your past roles and think about what you achieved.

Identify your specific talents and how these skills can benefit the new employer based on your past experiences, accomplishments and/or training.

Choose the most compelling reasons someone should hire you in preference to someone else and how your past accomplishments (and how you accomplished them) would make you stand head and shoulders above someone else.

Use the exercise guide below to help with your thought process.

How do you create a killer CV?

Keep it brief – 2 pages max.

Summarise your career history-show the facts.

State your accomplishments – try and quantify them as much as possible.

Highlight the benefits of your accomplishments.

Make it applicable to the role you are applying for – to coin a phrase, keywords are key.

Accomplishments and benefits are the Holy Grail

Your CV needs to capture all significant accomplishments you have had.

Try to quantify them with specific accomplishments using numerical percentages and/or volumes wherever possible.

Employers are concerned with two things: first, what you accomplished; and second, but just as important, how you accomplished them.

Questions to ask yourself

• What special problems were you hired to solve?
• Were there any areas where you were unusually creative?
• Did you receive a promotion?
• Did you help to increase sales, productivity, efficiency, or another achievement?
• Did you save money for the company?
• Did you suggest any new or additional programs?
• Did you establish new systems or changes?
• Did you recognise any problem that had been overlooked?
• Did you train anyone?
• Did you redefine the nature or scope of your job?
• Did you undertake a project that was not part of your original responsibility because you wanted to solve the problem?
• Did you do anything to make your job easier?