As a talent acquisition expert, your CV is the most important document I look at when recruiting. Below are five things to consider for an effective CV.
- Design: A CV needs to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. A CV should be plain and on white paper detailing your work history and achievements. A CV that is not engaging in the recruiter’s eyes will cost you a chance of getting interviewed. The best part is that there are several templates available to create an ideal CV. Research, and you will find one.
- One Page: The subtitle says it all; a CV should be one page. Before I continue, I know this is an issue because one will ask, I have ten years of experience and multiple roles; how does it fit in one page? Detail the most relevant experience and add that to your CV. You are guaranteed to catch a hiring manager’s attention if your relevant accomplishments are concisely put on a single page.
- Accomplishments: On a CV, what I look for are your accomplishments and not your job responsibilities. I say this because your achievements can speak more about you than your daily tasks in your current role. List three to five actual accomplishments on your CV, and make sure to use keywords and numbers to highlight this.
- Tailor Your CV: This is crucial for this avoids the “spray and pray” option. Once you set yourself up for this, you are likely not going to get called. Once you see a role you are interested in applying to, look at the job requirements and match the keywords on it to reflect on your CV, which the recruiter then picks up on.
- Format and Send In PDF: There are different CV formats, but the standard way I recommend writing your CV is Arial 12pt font. Once a CV is uploaded, the ideal application for attaching the document is an Adobe PDF file.
This article was written by Noni Acholonu. Noni Acholonu is a talent acquisition professional working at Northrop Grumman Corporation.