Month: July 2021

Tips and guidelines on how to write a strong CVTips and guidelines on how to write a strong CV

Landing the right jobs can give an important boost to your career. A good job can be defined by different aspects. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to get a position with a good salary, possibilities for self-development, and a healthy work-life balance.

But there are different ways to get here. Some works may be ad honorem or offer low remunerations. In this case, the employer is rewarded in some other way like getting free training, qualifications, or good references.

Other jobs may offer higher payment but heavy workloads. When taken at an early stage these are good for achieving specific goals. These include saving an amount of money, financing a project, or paying for further education.

All in all, the type of work you go after is the one that best suits you at a particular moment. But one may ask ‘How to land my dream job’? There’s not a unique answer, but the CV is an important factor. Even if you are referred by a trusted person, the recruiter will probably ask you for your CV. This is the first point of contact between you and your potential employer. So how to write a strong resume? This article presents some useful guidelines to create a CV that won’t go unnoticed.

Hard and soft skills

Your CV must convey a message. Recruiters need to understand your most powerful skills at a glance. It helps if this is done with a clear and elegant layout. If you don’t have designing skills, you can find templates online. Popular software like Microsoft Word also offers CV templates. The next step is to list your skills.

When creating your resume, you must understand the difference between hard and soft skills. Hard skills (or technical skills) are those related to your job specifically. On the other hand, soft skills are associated with a person’s character. This includes flexibility, communication, and trouble-solving. We have covered the five main soft skills to boost your career in a previous blog entry.

Hard skills examples

These are abilities that can be measured. For example, you can say that you have three years of experience in sales or working with JavaScript. These are some examples:

• Budget management
• Complaint handling
• Programming
• Sales
• WordPress editing

Soft skills examples

These are general abilities that work for any type of job. These are not tangible and are hard to measure. Some examples are:

• Teamwork
• Attention to detail
• Stress management
• Decision making

What soft skills to include in your CV?

This will depend on the job requirements and, of course, your actual attributes. However, some skills apply to all industries and job positions. This section presents some of the capabilities that recruiters mostly look for.

Organisation

Employers look for people that can effectively organise their workflow. Keeping the office neat and meeting deadlines is key.

Planning and time management

Nothing wears down a working relationship like bad planning. Good time management leads to effectiveness and punctuality. Your manager won’t enjoy chasing you around for uncompleted tasks.

Communication

Don’t forget to add your communication skills to your resume. All forms of communication are important. This includes projects presentations, and the ability to convey a message verbally and in written form. Project managers look for people who are not afraid to ask questions or report issues that can affect the workflow.

Motivation and proactiveness

Make sure your CV reflects this important aspect. Recruiters love ambitious professionals who are willing to take the initiative and not wait till they are told what to do.

Diplomacy

This is especially important if you are applying for a management position. When issues arise, managers must stay calm and try to get the best in people. This helps create a healthy work environment and hence attract talent.

What hard skills to include in your CV?

Applicants must include all their skills. Let’s suppose you have finance, IT, and sales skills. If you want to land a sales management position, you may be tempted to leave out those skills that don’t relate directly to the job description.

This is a mistake. Today’s job market is highly demanding and usually, employees need to perform a variety of tasks. If you run a sales department, you may need to take care of payments and invoicing. If you have IT knowledge it might come in handy too.

Therefore, don’t underestimate any type of hard skills and include them on your CV.

Where and how to include your skills in a CV

Imagine that the editor of a newspaper is looking for a journalist. Which one of the two sets of instructions will he/she give?

1. I need a journalist specialising in politics and economy with at least two years of experience working for a newspaper, must speak at least two languages and have proofreading skills.
2. I need a writer with high attention to detail, the ability to meet strict deadlines and teamwork skills.

Option ‘A’ is the most likely one. Applicants must keep in mind that recruiters are looking for specific and measurable abilities. While everyone needs an employer with option ‘B’ characteristics, option ‘A’ reflects a clearer profile of the person needed to fill the position.

Recruiters will scan your CV looking for these specifics. Hence, your hard skills must be prominent and easy to find. They must be placed at the top quarter of the page. Thus, they can be seen at a glance without having to scroll down.

Soft skills, on the other hand, can be trickier. They can’t be measured, and recruiters are not actively looking for them. Hence, implying these abilities is more effective. For example, instead of writing ‘highly organised’, write something like ‘5-year experience leading the news section of newspaper x releasing a weekly report, supervising the editing processes and distributing tasks across journalists.‘

This description already conveys an idea of your organisation skills without stating it specifically.

Final thoughts on writing a strong CV

When you apply for a job, your CV is probably one of many. Recruiters will be scanning resumes to find talent as fast as possible. Hence, it’s important to skillfully highlight one’s abilities so they can be grasped at a glance. Use any of these guidelines to write a solid resume but there is a golden rule: Never Lie. Preserving your reputation gives you credibility and trustworthiness to help you land your dream job.