How to Write a Perfect CV

If you want to succeed in your job hunting, you will certainly need a good CV. However, writing one is not necessarily the easiest thing to do. In fact, it can be rather challenging.

In this day and age where the employers receive hundreds of CVs for every position they open thanks to the wonders of the Internet, it is, more than ever, important to have the perfect CV. Most employers simply cannot take the time to thoroughly look through your CV and are most probably just going to give it a dozen or so seconds before they decide if it goes to the discard pile or not.

This can lead to people exaggerating to make themselves look better or, alternatively, simply overcrowding the CV with unneeded information. What you need to create is a precise CV that is easy to read and will get you hired.

Sounds difficult? It is. That is why we are here to try and assist you on your journey with some of the tips and tricks we figured out through our lives.

 Stay on point

Do not let your CV go on and on. We understand if you feel the need to list every single accomplishment to make yourself look better. But that is not the way you want to do it. As we have said, your CV needs to convince the potential employer to hire you in less than 10 seconds. Try not to make your CV any longer than 2 A4 pages and put the most important information where it will be most visible.

 Customize it

We do not mean that you tailor it for yourself. No! What we mean is tailor it for the employer. We understand that it is a lot easier just to be lazy and send out the same CV to every employer but that is not the way to do it properly. Change your CV for each job you apply for. Yes, it might take hours depending on how many companies you are applying to. But remember, you are doing this to get the job that should last you a lifetime. So just give it some time in return and only use relevant information in your CV. Do some research on the company and work out which skills will most impress them.

 Write the cover letter

CV is just a paper that contains your “stats” and, more often than not, there will be others with a wider array of former jobs and experiences. To adjust for that, you should include a personal statement to “sell yourself” to them.

 Keep it updated

Update your CV every time you do something that should find its way to it. Don’t wait to need your CV to make it current. If you stay for years in a company and change your position multiple times, you might find it difficult to remember every detail that could be important for your CV. You might have switched branches, and making sure to include that year you have spent in the marketing branch of your company might be very useful when you go job hunting again.

 Triple check for errors

As we said, the Internet made it so that employers receive hundreds upon hundreds job applications every time they open a position. This leads to them simply trying to find a reason to throw your CV away. Just imagine missing out on the opportunity of a life time just because you forgot to do a simple spell check.

 Do not lie

A bit of exaggeration is something everybody does. However, straight up lying about your work history can lead to a lot of trouble, especially if you are applying for a job in a big company. A lot of employers will check your background and references from your CV. Even if you land a job thanks to those lies, once you are caught, you will get fired, and you will have difficulties finding more work if your employer is vindictive.

 Use keywords

If you decide to upload your CV to one of the job hunting websites, you need to make it keyword friendly. Job titles and buzzwords that make you visible to the search engine will be very important.