Tips For Writing a Great CV That Will Get You Noticed

Top tips to get your CV  and looking clean and professional

Some people think that writing a CV is easy.  However, for a lot of us that aren't seasoned recruiters we can finding compiling a concise, professional CV extremely taxing. Why? They take a long time to get right, but with these handy tips and embracing the notion that you need to be confident in articulating your skills, you're sure to have the jobs lining up.

Tips and Ideas that will greatly improve the transparency of your CV:

• Your CV is a Marketing Tool.  Your CV is your marketing tool and key to securing that interview; you’ll need a strong one in order to sell your experience to the recruiting gate keepers, and because of this you need to make it clear, concise and devoid of your current pet's names and their hobbies (I've seen this on more occasions than I'd like to admit!)
  

• Recruiters actively source candidates online. Having a CV that clearly articulates your work experience, areas of expertise, accomplishments and strengths, technical and work-related skills, and anything else that makes you awesome will better your chances of being found via resume databases, LinkedIn or Boolean searches. If you're not on all the big job boards - get involved and see the jobs roll in.
  

• An Online Profile is Expected.  These days it's naive to ignore the social media opportunities that are out there, particularly LinkedIn. Having a professional online presence adds another layer of transparency to your professional career (as well as a platform for people to reccommend you and rant about your mad skills!). I can guarantee that I am more weary of a candidate who doesn't have a LinkedIn, so if you're not on there, get it sorted and get people reccommending!
• Keep it short and sweet. Don't rant on for 15 pages. No-one who has been looking at CV's all day wants to read an epic CV. Keep it short and simple, and assigning yourself a page limit (mine's 2) will keep you on track and ensure you're only including relevant information.
• Consider your layout. Again, think about the fact that the recruiter/HR department or director may have been looking at CV's all day. Consider the aesthetics of your CV, eg. is it visually pleasing, can you say the information is easily accessible? If you write paragraph after paragraph,  you'll find your skill sets and competencies get lost amongst all the waffle.
  
• Last but not least......Be INDIVIDUAL. It drives me mad when I see CV after CV with the same template. Add your own personal touch or flair to it, even if you just have some interesting facts in your hobbies or personal profile, it's  going to make you stand out and make me more likely to remember you
  
  

CV writing can be a challenge, but if you stick to these key ideas, you're going to have a professional CV on your hands this is surely to get you noticed.

Written by Ashley Sinclair, Recruitment Consultant at Agile Talent Management