6 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR CV STAND OUT

In a highly competitive job market, with hundreds of people applying for one job, it is essential that your CV stands out. No matter what industry you’re looking to enter a CV is your chance to prove to an employer that you’re suitable for a role and create a great first impression. A long, unstructured and badly formatted CV will make it much harder for an employer to read and likely lose you the job. Here are 6 ways to make your CV stand out and improve your employment prospects!

Check for Mistakes

Proof reading your CV and getting a friend or family member to look it over will ensure that you don’t have any silly spelling mistakes. Good spelling and grammar will show attention to detail and make you a more attractive candidate.

Personalisation

Personalising your CV to a specific job and industry will help you to stand out. A generic CV will likely come across as boring and won’t necessarily show an employer why you’d be suitable for the job you’re applying for.

Prioritise

Structuring your CV to show the most relevant skills and experiences first will help you to stand out from other applicants and demonstrate your suitability for a role more effectively. Read the job description thoroughly before applying, as it will give you an idea of the types of skills and experiences the company values most, so you can structure your CV accordingly.

Keywords

Try to use industry and job specific wording. An employer will, generally, spend less than 10 seconds reading through a CV.  An employer will be looking for specific attributes from candidates; keywords will help to highlight exactly why you’re suitable for a role and make it much easier for a hiring manager to find relevant skills and experiences.

Format

It’s important that you don’t overdo your formatting! Keep in mind the type of role you’re applying for when creating your CV. Big fancy lettering and lots of colour may look good when applying for creative roles but for other positions it may make you appear unprofessional. Use a suitable template that is easy to read and well-structured to demonstrate your professionalism and help you stand out in all the right ways!

Get to the point!

Keeping your CV short and sweet will help you to stand out from other applicants. Make sure that everything that you include in your CV is completely relevant! Try using bullet points, as they can help you to cover a lot of information but help you to keep your CV to the point. Your CV shouldn’t be over 2 pages, anything longer and your CV will look unappealing and will be harder to read.

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