With applying for a job made possible in a simple click and increased competition from overseas candidates in our modern globalised world recruiters have never had so many applications to look through. With so many of these applications being made recruiters are spending less time than ever looking at the, a recent study careers firm The Ladders found the average time just 6 seconds. So how do you make sure your application is noticed? Here are 3 suggested tweaks to your CV to get the recruiters attention.
Make your CV scan friendly
Remembering that the recruiter will probably spend around 6 seconds reading your CV. This is no time to read the details and so if your CV isn’t easy to scan then it will be immediately dismissed. Make key use of formatting, font and bullet points to make your CV easy to skim the key points. Use a serif font, the font type with lines on the bottom of each letter. Serif fonts are claimed to be easier to read as the lines on the feet of each letter guide your eyes along the page. A good font to use would be to improve the texts readability. Try font ‘Freight Font’, ‘FF Tisa’ or the Noon Elite Recruitment favourite ‘Kokila’ which look great in a professional setting with clear, well spaced and easy to read characters. The easier your CV is to read, the more of it your recruiter will take in and the more likely you are to get through to interview.
Focus on your recent role
Your recruiter isn’t going to care what grade you got at GCSE Art, being pushed for time and eager to match the qualities of the position on offer, she is primarily focussed on your last role as this will be an indication to what you have done with your skillset and what you are interested in. Make this the key topic of your CV, allowing space to clearly name the job title, employer and bullet point key responsibilities and skills developed. this leads nicely onto point 3.
Quote key facts and figures
“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please” Mark Twain.
A document without references to solid facts and figures is just conjecture. But once you have the facts you can use them to present an image favourable to your argument of your suitability for the position. Take the time to find the key points that hit home your arguments. For example, if you are applying for the position of Sales manager and you have experience in this role quote your conversion rate, state your achievements factually and provide specific details on who you are and what makes you special. Remember that recruiters read a lot of CV’s and thus your recruiter is likely to have a much higher sensitivity to hype and spin. Facts help convince her that your are the perfect match for this position.