Deepti Mishra

How to avoid indicating that you might just be a waste of space

A great CV is a crisp, clear, concise and relevant document that compels the reader to pick up the phone and insist that you attend an interview. That’s what a great CV would do but most CVs have been written without due regard to content and editing.

A CV should ideally be two to three pages long, well laid-out and correctly formatted. All of the content should actually do something positive: it should strengthen the chance of the candidate being interviewed. Unfortunately, many people who choose to write their own CV understandably lack the skills to complete this task effectively. After all, it’s not an everyday task and this drives candidates to employ a CV writing style that is either “conversational” or slightly better, to use a “report writing” style.

The conversational style drives the writer to produce a CV that reads as though it’s a transcript from an interview. “I spent 10 years at Pratco and during that time my duties meant that I was responsible for ensuring that all of the office report procedures were……….” The reader has probably dozed off at this point or more probably, is selecting the next CV to read. Your CV needs to be relevant and prove successes. Recruiters do not want to read a list of duties: select a few successes and include these in the relevant sector of your CV, telling the reader in as few words as possible what benefit it delivered to your employer.

How about “Hobbies and Interests”? A great opportunity to ensure rejection. “I’m an avid Untied fan”. Excellent: the recruiter’s a City season ticket holder – so “bye bye”. “I love reading, photography, and model making” – this may send a message that you enjoy your own company far too much and will never fit into the dynamic environment that the recruiter has.

If there is a simple way to summarise what a great CV should include it may look something like this. Only include relevant and supportable information that offers proof of success and achievement and ensure that its inclusion enhances your prospects of securing interviews. Anything other than this should be excluded or subject to a re-think and re-write.