CV overload
A
CV is a 2D document made of a boring listing of duties and
responsibilities. Recruiters see hundreds of CVs and they are all the same.
And those that are noticed are not noticed for the right reasons
(fantasy font, colors, funny pictures).And even if we need to follow
certain rules, people forget that CVs are here to show skills and
demonstrate them i.e. prove your skills. They put a job description of
their current job on their CV instead of putting figures or quoting some
successful case studies.
The good old days
But
back in the days, you just needed to send a CV and it was working well…
You mail a CV and you get 2 interviews call the following week. The
number of educated people using CVs was quite low, the word to mouth
technique was widespread. So the CV was a very efficient tool.
The cut-throat situation of today
Now
it does not work so much. The number of people with degrees and strong
educational background has exploded over the past decade, and everybody
uses a CV whether you are a banker or a plumber. The consequence of that
is that recruiters are inundated with CVs.Every time a recruiter posts a
job ad, he receives hundreds of CVs from all over the world. So he has
less time to scout every CV and your possibilities of standing out are
quite reduced.
Please don’t give them a reason to delete your CV
The
recruiters love the delete button on the keypad. So the CV is no longer
an efficient tool, it is quite boring to read. It is a “normal” cow,
you won’t be remarkable just using a CV.
The key is focus
The
other lesson from this book is that you need to focus when elaborating
your CV. You can’t only put everything you have done and hope for the
best… You need to be specific and find a niche or a market to stand out.
If you put generic things without giving any life to your CV it will be
even worse. If you want your CV to look less ineffective and boring,
you need to put some life on your CV ie figures, your trademark, your
specialty, for example I specialized in coaching Sales Executives.
But
please give some life to your CV, and obviously always respecting the
basic rules. And you need to know who is going to be your target to
customize your CV accordingly. Just one word for the CV: focus, focus,
focus!
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