The 10 tips to improve your Curriculum Vitae
The Curriculum vitae It will be our presentation to a company that is offering a job that we want. According to an investigation by "TheLadders", a recruiter takes approximately 6 seconds to decide if you are fit after looking at your CV.
How to improve your Curriculum Vitae?
But How to prepare a successful curriculum vitae? What information should our CV carry? In this text we have proposed to unravel the main keys that make a CV not go directly to the bin.
We are facing a very demanding labor market and, even if it seems a simple role, the curriculum vitae is our cover letter, and can lead to success ... or failure.
10 fundamental points to make a good CV
Next, from Psychology and Mind , we present all the necessary information to develop a curriculum vitae that manages to seduce the recruiter and that will take you to maximize your chances of getting a job.
Improving your CV can only bring you positive consequences . The job is much closer with a powerful resume and that highlights your professional and personal virtues.
1. Build your CV according to the position to which you aspire
You are selling yourself on a piece of paper, so you must adapt your information so that you reflect what the company is looking for. Try to research the company and visit its website to find out the objectives or values that it promotes . Try to capture the philosophy of the company and the position in your curriculum vitae. Create your personalized CV and use a format that best suits the industry in which you want to work.
For example: if you are a graphic designer, make a CV that demonstrates your domain of that field. If, on the other hand, you aspire to a job as a manager in a multinational company, stick to a more classic curriculum model.
Regarding which model of CV to use, I recommend you read this article:
"Types of Curriculum Vitae - The 4 CV models (advantages and disadvantages)"2. Highlight your qualities, but never lie
You must be honest since your CV will be used to structure the interview if you are one of the selected candidates. Do not include false information because it can bring you problems later in the process. Use your résumé to highlight your skills and your strengths .
If you lie, keep in mind that the chances of you coming to realize the deception are quite large, and your image will be permanently damaged. It's not a good idea. I recommend you to be honest, with the truth you can go much further than with lies.
3. Decide if you want to include a goal
There is some discrepancy among experts on whether or not to include an objective in your resume. A recruiter can discard your candidacy if you consider that you have very high expectations for the position. If you want to work, skip it . On the contrary, if what you want is a job that is not below your expectations, you can include it.
Everything depends on the type of job you aspire to, and the image you want to give as a professional.
4. Your CV should not be as long as your years of experience
This can be complicated if you have a lot of experience and you are proud of your professional career, but you should only include the information relevant to the position. If you're in the 20s, you should probably use just one page. Even if you have accumulated many years of experience, it is not advisable to use more than two pages (a sheet written in front and behind).
It is much better to develop a single sheet but powerful and attractive to the eye, not to use five or six pages of endless curriculum. The brief, if good, twice good.
5. Use blank spaces to direct the recruiter's gaze to specific points
Try not to include so much information that you may end up distracting the recruiter. Create a résumé that is pleasing to the eye and use the blank spaces to attract the look of the recruiter in those important aspects of your profile.
Keep in mind that human resources personnel can spend a few seconds assessing your CV, so put things easy and choose a design that highlights your most relevant skills and experiences.
6. Use bullets to highlight functions, responsibilities or achievements
Under each work done, specify the functions or achievements with no more than four or five bullets . Do not use entire sentences, you should limit yourself to writing what is just and necessary.This space will serve so that the recruiter has a fairly clear idea of the functions and tasks that you have developed in each of your previous work experiences.
Remember: the right information, do not overdo it detailing all your functions.
7. Include academic information briefly
Includes only the academic information relevant to the position : name of the center, title and year of graduation. Experienced workers should include education at the end of their resume. If you are a recent graduate, you can include end-of-degree projects or dissertations that include significant aspects for the position to which you aspire.
Academic education is important, but some companies give it a relative importance. It is your obligation to know to what extent you should highlight more aspects related to your work experience, or your training.
8. Do not include your hobbies
Recruiters only care about what you can do for the company, so If you can not connect the hobbies with the work you want to get, you better not include them in the CV. If you consider that your hobbies or hobbies that you make have to do with the position, you can include them at the end.
Improve your CV by stating only that information relevant to the company that may require your professional services.
9. You do not need to mention references
If your future employer wants to talk to your old bosses, do not worry: he will let you know so you can provide them with the contact. Do not provide this information unless requested This will give you time to notify your former manager and update them.
Do not forget to talk to your old boss and explain why they are going to call you and what you think would be a good way for him to explain your skills and competencies to the company that is interested in you. Do not force him to say what, give him a little freedom and confidence.
10. Use a chronological CV
Depending on the way information is organized, the curriculum vitae can be of several types. This is one of the keys when it comes to improving your résumé
The chronological CV, which consists of ordering the curriculum vitae data from the most recent to the oldest , is the most used format and the most accepted by recruiters. On the other hand, the functional curriculum, which consists of ordering the curriculum vitae by thematic blocks, is recommended when the experience is very dispersed or when there are large periods of time in which no work has been done. This can cause the functional CV to be understood by the most expert recruiters, as a way to make up the CV.
Other points that you must take into account to improve your Curriculum
Remember that a good curriculum can not do without some basic characteristics in its aesthetic composition:
- Clear, concrete and concise , the minimum and maximum extension must be 1 or 2 pages.
- Nice for the view of the recruiter.
- Written by computer , without errors, without mistakes and without manual corrections.
- Find a CV template that suits your needs.
- Spacing and with wide margins.
- With the headlines and most important aspects or interesting highlights.
- Without revealing all the information , only the one needed to get the recruiter's attention.
If your CV has impressed you ...
If you have followed the steps that we have indicated, you have given your CV to a company and they have called you ... Congratulations! You have passed the first test. But now you have to overcome another: the interview .
In this article of Psychology and Mind called "The 10 most frequent mistakes in job interviews" we review what are the things you should never do an interview, so you can go and show that you are the candidate they are looking for. Good luck!
