CVs remain the staple of job applications and, for many candidates, a source of frustration and anxiety. Curriculum Vitae, loosely translated from Latin, means “the course of your life”.

 

The definition captures the challenge of crafting an excellent CV: How do you package your professional and academic life so far? And not just package it for the purpose of summary, but to appeal to outside observers?

 

Creating a CV doesn’t need to be difficult. All it requires is some work and sticking to a few key principles.

 

With over 500 million users, LinkedIn has become the standard place to present your professional history, network, and apply for jobs. And many job and recruiting sites now allow candidates to apply directly through them via LinkedIn.

 

The old-school CV may seem antiquated and more effort by comparison. But your resume retains undisputed pulling power when it comes to job applications, and for a more high tech reason than you imagine. Many inundated businesses use applicant tracking systems (ATS) – software that screens CVs to determine which applications warrant closer inspection.

 

Estimates put the proportion of large companies using ATS software in the “high 90%” range, and according to IBM’s Ed Struzik, “It would be very rare to find a Fortune 500 company without one.”

 

 

So while LinkedIn’s ‘apply now’ button offers instantaneous convenience, your CV offers a comprehensive, customisable candidate profile. The ability to customise your CV for each job role is crucial since ATS typically screens for specific qualifications and keywords.

 

Your CV is more specific than your LinkedIn profile, and it can be targeted directly to the essential and desirable criteria for the role you’re applying for. That’s important for ATS purposes, but it’s also crucial once your CV progresses beyond the automated screening phase and reaches a human assessor.

 

Your CV is your personal marketing campaign, presenting you and your experience as a worthwhile product. It also demonstrates your ability to describe what you do and have done, accurately. So while LinkedIn (and other social media) can help you build your reach in a specialist community, your CV remains the canonical version of your experience.

So if your CV remains the critical document in landing the job you want, then how can you make sure you get it right? There’s no one size fits all, of course – but there are five steps you can follow which are pretty universal.

Remember the automated scanning we talked about? The structure of your CV is crucial in advancing through this initial screening.

 

Firstly, don’t use headers or tables in your CV because scanners can’t read them and the information that comes back gets scrambled.

 

Also, as far as information goes, it’s your standard name, title and contact information at the top (your email and phone number are essential). You can include your LinkedIn profile here, too – but make sure it’s up to date.

 

Once you get into the meat of your CV, avoid the tendency to list your experience in chronological order. That is, education first, followed by your job history and experience. A business will want to see your current skills and relevant expertise before your educational history.

 

Rank your CV sections by importance and relevance to the employer. Your most relevant work experience and qualifications should go at the top, followed by skills and achievements.

 

After you’ve structured your CV correctly, it’s time to whittle it down. Strip out redundant words and irrelevant information.

 

For example, putting ‘curriculum vitae’ at the top of the page, or ‘address:’ ahead of details about where you live is unnecessary. All of these useless words and phrases take up space and add nothing to your CV.

 

What information remains must be accurate. A recent YouGov poll found 10% of Britons admitted to lying on their CV. While we certainly advocate making the most of your experience, a straight fabrication will only come back to haunt you in the interview.

 

Check the details of your education history, qualifications and job titles, and acknowledge and explain gaps in your CV.

Spelling errors are a complete killer of any job application – and completely avoidable. There are countless free spell checkers available on the web. Run your CV through the programme, especially if you’ve tailored your CV to a particular application.

 

But automated spell checking isn’t enough. A word like ‘manager,’ for example, is easily mistyped as ‘manger.’ Or a word like ‘shift’ can quickly become an altogether more inappropriate word.

 

 

Human editing is needed, too. Don’t just rely on spell checkers. Although a spell checker is a handy tool for general use, it shouldn’t take the place of a strident edit. Read it once through in its entirety, read it again paying mind to spelling, punctuation and grammar, get friends or partners to read over it, too. It can even help to read what you’ve written aloud. However you get there, make sure the copy is error-free.

No two jobs are identical, so you shouldn’t just resend the same CV. So study every job advert closely. Although it’s fair to assume that you will be somewhat qualified for most jobs in your profession, your CV may not reflect all the requirements needed.

 

If you have an attractive skill for a certain employer, then don’t bury it deep within your CV. In journalism, there’s an expression: Don’t bury the lede. It means you should write the most important thing first. That’s a good rule for CVs, too: Who is your target audience? What do they need to know about you?

 

A good rule of thumb for CV length is about two pages. Anything longer, it could likely do with a prune. A good place to start are those weasel words we mentioned earlier: You don’t need to write ‘curriculum vitae’ or ‘address.’

 

And clichés can get the boot, too. Avoid boilerplate phrases like ‘problem-solver’ and ‘works well in a team or individually.’ Let your experience do the talking.

 

Do CVs still make or break candidates? Yes. Your CV is often the first chance you get to make a positive impression on a potential employer. By making critical, easily avoidable errors – like spelling! – you can scupper your hopes.

 

But CVs aren’t only administrative burdens. By tailoring it to the roles you apply for, working on your CV can help you intimately understand the job role you’re applying for, a crucially important part of nailing the interview.

 

LinkedIn and job sites are valuable tools. But they complement, rather than replace, your CV. All of these components fit together to create your profile. Your goal is for employers to meet the real you, the person behind the CV. By following these steps, you can make it happen.