CV Writing: worst ever?

As a Recruiter and Professional CV Writer, I am often asked what is the worst CV you have ever seen?

I think before answering this question, as anyone who approaches me with the need for CV Help clearly recognises that it is bad, and hence they ask for help. Hence some of the technically “worst” I have ever seen can not be publicly disclosed, as the owning job seeker recognise that it wasn’t working, and hence found some help from us.

However, the following examples all come form my day job of being a recruiter. These people either didn’t recognise how bad their CV was, or just didn’t care. In either case, they failed to get our advertised job, and probably many more afterwards!

CV Writing: measurement

Which brings me to the main point of this post: measure your job search success, or lack of it. Whether you decide to write your own CV or seek the help of a professional, the key to success is measurement.

The key tipping point measure for me when chatting to job seekers is that of job application to telephone interview ratio:

• If its less than 1 in 20, then there is a clear problem and hence cure
• If its better than 1 in 5, then there is probably not a lot I or any other Professional CV Writer can help you with
• In between, and its either structural or tactical.

But if you do not measure your job search success, then expect to end up in the pile of “thank you for your application,” or in the Worst CV history books.

Worst Ever CV?

Graham, a job search coach, asks: As a hiring manager or recruiter, what was the worst CV that you ever laid eyes on and why? The worst I have ever seen and this was years ago, was hand written in pencil. Through shear pity, I was compelled to read on. It was pitiful, needless to say, but it for some reason humbled me and I felt momentarily compassionate for this person who seemed to be trying. I know you are asking, “did you hire this person”…no of course not, I didn’t. But it was certainly an unforgettable CV.

In answer:
I’ve seen the pencil one – and yes they are humbling.

A friend had a copycat, who copied his (ie: the hiring manager’s) career history and achievements.They had worked together at a previous company, and this job applicant had simply “copied” the hiring manager’s CV! My friend thought about calling him, but in the end wrote a quick note to HR to ask them to deal, and in return himself stole the best of the phrases from his reworked CV.

But the best as I would consider worst was from a lady. I knew it was bad because a researcher started laughing, and just couldn’t stop laughing. She beckoned me over with a red face, still laughing, and handed me the CV.

Line3 was the answer. It took us about 15mins before we read past line3, and her skills were excellent, but on line3 was her eMail address. I won’t detail what her email address was, but lets they say she must have thought of sex constantly with more than one person!

Some times, things which you may place in a draft CV, you miss when they are placed in the final version. Always have it read through by at least three people, or use a CV review service.

Good Luck!

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Many job interviews, no job offers

Mary asks: I am a teacher, and am having no luck in landing a job. I am getting a good ratio of job interviews, but in 10 so far have not been offered one job. What am I doing wrong, what could I do to improve my performance?

In answer:
Firstly, congratulations. Getting interviews in this economy is tough, and it means you have past the first three tests of getting a job:

1. Knowing yourself
2. Finding and applying for the right jobs
3. Getting through the telephone interview

There is a different measure in success in job interviews, in that after three you should be hitting job offers. But I am guessing that you have attended more than three interviews, and hence the concern.

Job Interview

The problem normally is nerves related, with too many leading to over verbalisation. Candidates tend to speak too much, and about that situation, not relating it eventually to the job on offer.

Like any conversation, an interview is a two way process: you are not expected to do 90% of the talking. When any question is posed, make sure you understand the question and its objective: always seek clarification “did you mean, what are you trying to find out” etc. Speak with gaps between your sentences/key points, allowing the interviewer to ask points of clarification. Never speak, unless you are presenting, for more than a minute, two minutes absolutely maximum. Try also to make three points in piece of speech – certainly no more than five. And finally, always come back to closing the circle, by showing how that experience relates to answering that question.

All of these tactics break down the conversation allowing the interviewer to seek clarification, and direct the interview. The fact you can then pick up the though train after allowing intervention shows to the interviewer that the claimed experience os real and strong.

One point as a trained interviewer I am always told to mark down on, is candidates who have done little research on the organisation I am employing for, and secondly have no questions of their own about the organisation/position. You need to have done and show your research (place it on the table when you first go it), and have at least 10 questions about the organisation/position that couldn’t be answered by reading their own literature/website. You want to be able to ask three questions at the end of an interview, and a few will be answered through the process, so 10 is always the number I recommend.

Job Interview questions and answers

My tips points Job Interview questions and answers:

• Keep answers to the point, say what you need to cover it. Initially, you shouldn’t speak for more than one minute in any answer. If you find yourself going over that then think hard about why – and don’t be afraid to ask the interviewer if they need more detail.
• Be honest. If you don’t know something or haven’t got a specific example of something then say so, don’t try to make it up!
• Answer the question as asked. Don’t do the politician trick of answering a different question you wish had been asked.
• Always always always have a good set of questions to ask about the job & company – too many people prepare one, so if it’s already been covered they have nothing.
• Find out as much as you can about the company beforehand. In these days of the web there’s no excuse not to know.
• Take a small but effective portfolio in with you, papers that you can produce to prove and illustrate major achievements. Rarely will you have to show one in detail, but just opening it to show you’ve got these ready is a big demonstration of professionalism.

Job interview tips

If you can afford it, get a professional to do mock interviews with you and give feedback. Many finds major gaps, improvements or tweaks to make themselves better. If you can’t afford this what about a friend who does recruitment and is willing to do this for you – anything they can suggest might be the one thing that makes a difference.

One last point: if you do get rejected, always phone in for feedback. Make it clear when you make the call that you know the job has gone to someone else, but that you would like feedback on how you could improve your job interview performance could be improved. You will hence always improve your job interview performance, and possibly even get that job: 1 in 10 successful job seekers are not at the organisation that employed them 30days after starting there, and the first candidates you always seek as an alternate are the ones who showed greatest interest.

Good Luck!

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More than one job offer

It is quite typical in a job search, that having made multiple job applications that you will receive more than one interview, followed by more than one job offer. The question of the job seeker then becomes not how do I get more job interviews but how to handle multiple job offers?

The answer to the question is actually in the tactics of handling communication, but the answer for every job seeker is always lies in that personal goal you have outlined in the medium term in your career plan. However, accept that not all job offers follow through to employment, so manage the process to maximise your chances of employment.

More than one job offer: communication

Firstly, remember that recruiters and employers are not daft, and recognise that good candidates will be applying for more than one job, and hence will probably have more than one job offer. Therefore expect all recruiters and most employers to ask you early in the job application process, probably in the telephone interview, if you have applied for other jobs? They expect you to say yes, so there is no need to lie. Secondly, when you do answer, don’t be specific about which employers, but do be consistent about which types of jobs in which markets. Desperate job seekers spray job applications around, and make themselves look less employable.

Secondly, if you are feeling the fear as the job applicant when you have more than one job offer, then the recruiter or employer is feeling it more. They do not want to miss out on a great employee. The only difference between the two of you is that recruiters and employers are used to this situation, and will hence press you for a decision.

Point number three therefore is, expect the pressure in this situation. Having probably not got a job offer for a while, you suddenly have two or more job offers from what now appear pushy employers. In all probability, the time scales of the job application processes will not be running in parallel or on the same process/duration, so make use of the employers anxious pushyness by being clear in all communication, and setting clear “I will get back to you on” dates.

Finally, once you make a decision, don’t play employerA off against employerB. Make a decision, ring the preferred employer, and tell them that you prefer their job. Now wait, let them speak, and you now have one point in which to adjust the terms of your employment contract. Think about more than pay, consider the whole process from this point forward, including:

• Agreeing the terms
• Signing contracts
• Giving notice to your existing employer, and serving notice
• Take-up training (which you could start today!)
• Future career development

More than one job offer: recruiters

As a recruiter, knowing that people can flip-flop around emotions and packages to make career choices, like many I will ring you knowing you probably have more than one job offer, and ask what will flip you our way? I will actively use your emotions to get you to sign for my client.

Now, unlike some, if I honestly don’t think that during that conversation that you want my job but you are leaning towards the other employers job, then I won’t press you as hard as if I believe you prefer my job. Simply, our contracts include a full refund if employees we place walk away in the first 90days, and there is a high probability of that if you make the wrong decision. Hence, knowing this, if a recruiter approaches you about a job, always check their client side terms and conditions – it makes a big difference in your job search success!

More than one job offer: employment

James, a job seeker, asks: I have a job interview on Thursday, but I’m looking forward to another job. what should I do? A friend passed my Professional CV on to his companies HR department, and they have offered me an interview for an undefined position in their IT department. But, I really want to be an Air Traffic Controller, and am scheduled for the key exam towards the end of the month – just over three weeks away. I want that job and I’m going to do review/research everything to pass that exam! What do you think I should do? Should I still go on the interview? What if they hire me immediately, what should i say? I don’t want to make excuses which would make me look awful. Thank You!

In answer:
You have in every employment situation to keep your options open.

Your first question is which job do you want? You know the answer to that one, but as always keep your options open to maximise your chances of employment. Your second question should be: accept the pressure! It is honestly good to be wanted. The third question therefore, is do the time scales clash? In this case, no:

• You go to the interview on Thursday
• They probably won’t get back to you until next week. You explain to them then that you have had a series of interviews, and are awaiting the outcomes. Ask them to put their offer in writing in the post, as you have found in the past that employers make offers on the phone and then don’t follow through, hence why you need to cover your bases
• You take the exam. Pass or fail, you make your decision at that point

Good Luck!

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Social media job rejection

Have you ever been rejected for a job, through what your social media profile says about you?

Think not, then think again. Media research shows that 70% of employers now deploy social media searches on post-CV skimmed job applicants.

Social media recruitment

Finding your Google CV is normally done after the paper CV sift (making sure you have the right Skills, Qualifications and Experiences combination for that job), but before the telephone interview (therefore generating more background and possible questions). Background checks, which cost from £30 to £500, are now only done just before/after a successful job interview.

Social Media mistakes

One of the reasons I wrote a guide on this for our Professional CV clients was because of the number of social media mistakes many job applicants are making. Here are some examples from actual job applicants to real jobs.

The simplest examples of mistakes can often be found in Yahoo! Answers, where many sub25 years olds ask free questions of the community. The most common questions are about CV structure, and what to write in the sections. This is where “what should I invent to put in” questions are often asked, and the answers are almost literally copied in to their CV. The worst example I have seen was a young lady who claimed to be a gym-bunny on her CV. But her open Bebo profile stated she was the local chip eating champion, with a link to a local newspaper article where she extolled the virtues of regular pub food.

The next step is factual inaccuracy, most commonly mistakes in not having consistent employed from/to dates in all of your profiles. Aside from regular slight quarterly mistakes, the best case I have ever seen was a chap who offset his technology experience by seven years, just to claim it was more recent than it actually was. Not quite sure how we would have got a reference, as the company had gone bust and someone had knocked down the building he claimed to work in.

The third example is being too open with regards choices in your personal life. I am a middle aged male Christian, but I am neither a prude or unaware that other life style choices are available: smoking was never my thing, and I hate needles, but as a DJ I took the occasional tablet in the booth, and there is still not a lot that can keep me from a pint of real ale. But no employer wants to hire a drug addict or an alcoholic. For an HGV job we had advertised, I checked a profile of an applicant to find his online name was spliffboy. To get an HGV license, you need to pass a compulsory DVLA drugs test. We had him in for interview, got him to confirm he was clean of drugs for a second time, and then showed him his social media profile. Sensibly, he withdrew his application for the job.

Rejection now from a job application may not be because you didn’t have the right combination of skills, qualifications and experiences, but simply that you self incriminated yourself in your social media profile.

Good Luck!

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If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

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Job Application: always think Job Interview

If there is one mistake that the majority of job applications make, it is focusing serially on their job application, over success in the final aim: the job interview

Why is focusing on the job interview a more successful strategy over focusing serially on:

• Finding jobs
• Job Application
• Telephone Interview
• Job Interview

The tendency to focus serially on the task of getting a job is brought about by a lack of experience. Probably, the last time you applied for a job, was at least 18months ago,  if not most commonly at present over ten years. Hence, thinking about the end game, and thinking about being dressed up in a suit as you will see it, being grilled by two former members of the Spanish inquisition will seem – daunting!

Therefore, just take it step by step.

Now, in most tasks, when in doubt or in fear this strategy would work. So why does it not work in job search or job application, or at least bring far less success?

Job Application

Simply because in a job application, you need to keep the story consistent and building along the employers job application process. Taking several serial steps means there is most often a disjointed story, resulting in the employer finding out no more about you than being a desperate job seeker. As I have said before, desperation = unemployment

Now, you could expect the employers process to build the picture for you. But the reality is, until you are in the interview room, the majority of employers recruitment processes are built around rejection over inclusion. Secondly, all employers processes will be built around assessment to a set of standards, over people interaction. One of the key concerns for executives applying for positions with large corporates, is that the Human Resources team will most often use the same basic level of entry employment tests and procedures for a school leavers as they will for a Chief Executive – if not initially, then at least at some point. If that is the mentality of the HR department, where only the fittest of job applicants will succeed, why believe they have your best interests at heart and will extract unknown skills from you for their benefit?

To build a consistent story and momentum through your job application, the only choice is to focus on the job interview. The key to a good job interview, and why most employers will engage a job applicant as a new member of staff, is answering the question “why should I employ you?”

Think Job Interview

In other entries on this website and blog, you will find the key solution to employment success for candidates is being able to tick three employer issues:

• Functional fit – do you have the right skills for the job?
• Social fit – will you fit in with our team?
• Magnetic fit – do we share the same medium term vision, and hence will you stick around for more than 5minutes?

Magnetic fit is where the definitive answer is found to the employers question “why should I employ you?” If you can answer that question, then an employer will know you are their person, and want to employ you. The sooner in the job application process you answer that for them – perhaps in a subtle way in your Cover Letter – then the more likely your are to be employed.

Hence, if you are just staring out on your job search, think job interview and how to answer the question “why should I employ you,” and not how to complete their forms.

Good Luck!

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Job Application: reference check

Tracy, a Life Coach, asks: What do recruiters and HR Professionals use to check references of job applicants? I am trying to determine how to best advise my clients when listing references and am curious to know the opinions of those doing the checking. What do you look for and is there any particular thing that would stand out

In answer:

Most today will follow this simple outline procedure, or variations on it:

1. Having sifted the candidates, take the “look qualified” pile and simply start, like 80% of organisations do now, with a name check on Google. It is still quite amazing what that brings up….
2. Post telephone interview, pre-call the records departments of the Universities, and see what they say. Most will want a co-signed submission request which you ask to be provided during the telephone call – also removes the dodgy candidates
3. Then post initial face-to-face interview, get on the phone having asked for three references and call all three. Chat to them for 15/20mins, ask for their summaries in eMail
4. If its a regulated job, do checks at appropriate regulatory bodies: financial, teaching, etc. Outside of that, I am not into credit record checks unless its part of a regulatory, but we operate under UK/EU HR law for which there has to be due need for such information

Good Luck!

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If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

If you have any questions about our services, please call 0844 884 2825

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Elevator Pitch

You may not have heard of it before, but I know from the results we see through our Professional CV service, that creating an Elevator Pitch is the most important step you can take in CV Writing or winning your Job Search. Why? What if you had a statement – known as an Elevator Pitch, or a Lift Pitch – that communicated to your target prospective employer what your skills and capabilities are, and why you are suitable for that position? It would be an instant answer to the Job Interview questions of “Tell me about yourself?” It would also allow you to quickly:

• Write your CV Personal Statement
• How to write a Cover Letter
• What to say in opening a conversation in a Telephone Interview

The second benefit is that the exercise of coming up with a succinct Elevator Pitch, would help you focus on your own strengths, and understand just what market you’re in, as well as how to sell yourself. If you had a statement like that, then you have an engaging piece of conversation you could expand on, which kept you and your capabilities (ie: personal brand) consistent throughout your entire job application. Hence simply, if you don’t have an elevator pitch, you won’t get hired: because you couldn’t sell yourself, or keep your brand consistent through the job application process.

What is an Elevator Pitch?

The term Elevator Pitch originally comes from the home of US advertising, New York. The idea is to be able to communicate to another “knowledgeable but not knowing of your product” person, in the time it takes to go up a one floor flight of elevators (aka Lift Pitch – three floors in a lift), the product or service and its features or benefits, so that at the end of the elevator pitch they know what the product or service does, the key benefits to them, and have enough interest to take action to learn more.

My offer to you…

As a result of seeing on a daily basis, too may people with too foggy and imprecise view of themselves, writing about “great team worker” or being “self motivated,” I wrote out a book that we use in the process for our clients to create a Professional CV for them. Together with a few other tactics we use, the book has proved very effective in turning job seekers into employees, simply through them understanding what they bring to a prospective employer.

So, we have decided to offer the book out to the general public. We are quite happy to sell you the book, short though it is, for £9.97. But you could alternatively get it for free by signing into our Newsletter, where you will also get weekly tips on a better Job Search and hence get employed quicker.
The only reason I have agreed to give this away, is that this simple book seems to quickly change peoples lives. I hope you also find it useful.

Good Luck!

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If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service

If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

If you have any questions about our service, please call us on 0844 884 2825

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Telephone Interview: salary question

Mike asks: I just completed a telephone interview, my first interview with that company. I was asked what my salary was in my previous position. I explained that I did not wish to disclose that at this time, but would be willing to discuss compensation should we move further along in the process. He explained that he wished to know up front in order to avoid issues later: “If you are looking for something much more than we are willing to offer . . . ” I replied that the position I’m seeking is similar enough to my previous position (it is) to where we would not end up too far off from one another, and that I consider my comp to be a negotiating point for later. I haven’t interviewed in over 5 years, so I’m not up on what is considered a “reasonable” information request during the first interview. Should I have complied with his request, or is it important for me to hold that close until salary negotiations have begun? I should add that the title, position, and duties of my previous job and the one he is trying to fill are nearly the same, and that the industry standard as well as the regional standard for compensation for that position doesn’t vary that greatly. Still, I’d like to avoid the situation where their proposal is based off of my previous comp rather than a number I propose once I get a better idea of the full scope of the position.

In answer:
I come at this with two hats on – a recruiter who also writes CV’s – and I have the two sides of the answer for you.

Telephone Interview: salary

Here’s the real question: why ask you at the Telephone Interview in the first place? The purpose of the Telephone Interview is to continue the vetting in/out process, and ensure that the skills, qualifications and experiences you claim are actually real and relevant to the position being advertised. Hence, the sole reason the recruiter or employer should be asking this question at the Telephone Interview stage is to ensure that you are within budget at that stage, and they can afford you. They don’t want to waste your time or theirs.

Telephone Interview: negotiation

Secondly, rule number 1 in negotiation is NEVER be the first party to state a numbered price! So, task1 is to get them to state a range: either in the advert or by calling them before applying – you don’t want to be wasting your time either. If they stated a salary range in the advert, or you now have one confirmed before submitting your application, all you need to do when asked is to state is that: “The indicated package seems within the range I would expect for the defined position, and am happy with (their number X) for the defined role. As they are a company that I would really like to work for, I will be flexible and hope they will to, but from their stated number, I am wholly confident an agreement can be struck if I am the right person for the job.”

You have now:

1. Stated their number back to them
2. Tied it to the defined role scope, so if that changes so does the package
3. That you are happy with the scoped role/package combination.

Now some – and I am recruiter, so I will press – will go around the houses trying to get you to state a number. If they chuck you out of the process because you focus on fit and they focus on salary, then just be happy to conclude that you didn’t get employed by a company or boss who is TOTALLY driven by numbers and probably wrong for you. They probably have a high staff turnover, low base wages and high bonus racked compensation. Further, if they are basing their offer on your previous salary, then why would you move to a role which probably is a promotion with more responsibility? Simply, they are trying to get you on the cheap! Again, be happy to walk away from such an employer with a probability of high staff turnover.

Telephone Interview: answer

There is a point when you will need to negotiate to a number, and its the package word you use over the salary word to defer these “what were you paid” questions until that point. Your package should consist of a base salary, probably a bonus, some holiday, a car, health benefits, etc. Never as the candidate focus on salary, always focus on total package. The moment you focus on the number as a candidate, you dismiss all the other points of negotiation, which are normally easy give a ways in the HR budget. So once you have got to a number, before agreeing the final contract add in the extras you want in the package and close the deal.

Hope that helps – Good Luck!

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If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

If you have any questions about our services, call us on 0844 884 2825

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Telephone Interview Help!

James asks: I need some guidance on what to say when I receive a phone call from a recruiter company or employment agency. Is there any specific guide for excellent telephone conversations from recruiters or employment agents? How do I handle the initial phone call that recruiter companies or agents make to you when they receive your CV and application for a role. Also, should I when asked tell them the names of companies that I have interviewed with? I usually say no because of confidentiality issues even if I already know that I was unsuccessful on some of the interviews.

In answer:
You could always buy a copy of our Telephone Interview book, which would answer all your questions on Telephone Interviews. A couple of quick Telephone Interview Help guidelines……

1. Have a business focused eMail address, and buy a new PAYG mobile – cost around £20, just for taking incoming calls. You then know phone calls coming in on that phone are from recruitment companies/employers. Record a business focused voicemail message, that says something along the lines of: “Hello, this is X, I am sorry I can not take your phone call, but I will call you back today.”
2. Keep a Job Search Toolkit with you, consisting of: a copy of your CV, a notepad and 2xpens, a list of all the jobs you have applied for. When they call, you are then prepared
3. Before you answer the ringing phone, know how long you can take the call for? As the caller in any conversation always has the power, I always suggest that you answer, get introduced and know which company you are talking to about which position, and then advise that you have just been caught before you get into a meeting/lecture, so only have 5mins to chat. This means they get focused, check the basics, and you have less time to make mistakes!
4. Have a “why me” statement that focuses on them and not you. You could use your cover letter as a basis
5. Your goal should always be to get a physical interview – nothing more, nothing less. If you think the job sounds interesting, say so and ask if you can meet?

Our Telephone Interview book covers all of the questions you may need to answer in a Telephone Interview, but simply: keep answering that question the way you have. Make yourself seem wanted over desperate.

Good Luck!

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If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

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CV Writing: short stories

This is part of our series on How To Write A CV

Many people when trying CV Writing for themselves, get confused about how to create an effective piece of what is personal marketing. They often worry or concern themselves primarily with CV Layout, CV Structure, or Spelling and English Grammar in creating a Professional CV. This focus results in them missing or neglecting the meaty bit that the employer really wants – the combination of Skills, Qualifications and Experiences you have, and how you have deployed them for (business/market/people etc) results. However, once they get past all that other stuff – which is rightly highlighted by many Professional CV Writers as it allows the reader to easier access and consume the content – I often find that in CV Writing, the biggest problem is that many people do not know what they want to do, let alone what they have achieved. The cure actually is quite simple, and it involves writing a series of short stories.

CV Writing outcome?

The outcome of good CV Writing is eventually a new job. But the stage after submitting a well written CV is the Telephone Interview, followed by the Physical Interview which is most often in a Behavioural Interview form. Understanding this, what are the keys and underlying principles of the Behavioural Interview form? For those who don’t yet know, Behavioural Interviews put the candidate in a situation, and probe around the edges of what they saw, how they reacted, and why they choose to do what they did. They show the in deployment action of your combination of Skills, Qualifications and Experiences. Hence, placing stories in your CV achieves two objectives:

1. It shows your SQE combination in action, and hence gives you a stronger platform to support your claims
2. It gives the interviewer a series of leads towards areas of your work experience which they can quickly probe. It hence focuses them on your strengths, and gently guides them away from weaknesses

CV Writing Help

When I start with a Professional CV client who is unsure of what they want to do, or who has what on reading is a weak CV, I ask them to write six short stories about highlights in their career. These should focus on STAR deployment, supplemented by a bit of good historian based Who, Where, What, When, Why. We have a useful aide memoir prompt sheet for this, which you can download by joining our weekly Newsletter:
Often, the story writing scenario takes at least two rounds. Why? Because once they complete one set of stories, they will have either remembered or mentioned a situation where they deployed a skill which is a highly needed requirement in the current employment market: that’s a key side benefit of employing a recruiter to create your CV for you! Secondly, we want to create a broad set of stories which not only pose your SQE combination in context, but also answer some of the key questions you will be posed in interview stage, such as: resolving conflict with a college/customer; managing a team; creating a solution; spotting a market opportunity; cutting a budget. The breadth of stories varies with skill set, and the job that is being sought: the people interaction, and business/people management could be considered universal; technical or specialist skills sets and hence resulting stories vary greatly. But before starting CV Writing, you want a set of around six to ten stories, which now serve two uses:

1. They become the base information for writing your Professional CV
2. They form part of your Job Search Toolkit, and hence aide memoirs to be read before an interview

Professional CV Writing

CV Writing need not be complex or tiresome, but it does need to communicate you, your uniqueness, and your combination of applied Skills, Qualifications and Experiences. If you start like many with the structure in the form of a template and then fill it with content – many just replace what the CV Templates have inserted in them, some foolishly yes use what the templates already have inserted – then you will most likely end up with something non-engaging and rejected. If you have a job application to interview ratio of less than 1 in 10, then positive SQE communication is probably at least half of the problem.

If you start with the raw material first – you and your applied experiences, mentally written down in a positive form – then CV Writing becomes much, much easier. This approach also leads through to positivity in the whole job application process, which results in getting a job far quicker.

Good Luck!

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