Not another Interviews’ article: Applying — CV
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For the hundreds of CV screenings and interviews I’ve done, one thing that keeps surprising me: how little effort people tend to put into the job application.
Most candidates seem to apply the trawling technic: reply to 5 to 10 jobs openings, always send the same CV and the same motivation text.
Normally that is done without the notion that it’s not the best way to approach it. There isn’t much thought about if there is a better way to tackle it… well, I tend to think there is.
So let’s focus on why I think that and how to do it better… and remember that if you apply with a nice drafted CV your chances to get called for the next phase increase…
Curriculum vitae
It’s easy to show the type of CVs that I mostly see versus those I was expecting to see:
Template
Most people tend to start from a text editor, the Europass or others to draft a CV..
What happens with each?
- Europass
When you are applying to a company remember that they possible receive hundreds or thousands of CVs.
The Europass is an attempt to make the CV layout uniform and help recruiters read them through fast (because they already know where the info is) and avoid really bad layouts.
While the attempt is useful it has a really strong side effect… all CVs look the same. So if you have 10 CVs and 9 are Europass and 1 is a good different layout… well let’s say that one is going to cause a nice sensation.
- Your own CV template
If you have a design sharp eye (from my experience I tend to think that most people don’t), you end up creating a nice CV. Beware that will take you a while to make and perfect.
Having your own CV template tends to help you getting noticed.. but it can either be on the good way (if the layout is nice and clean) or in a bad way…
If you have the skills, time and will to do it, go ahead. If you don’t have one or several of the three.. well, jump down to the suggestions.
- Auto-magic tools
“There is an app for that” — that’s something that you maybe hear for almost everything.
Well, CV aren’t different. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel with your own template… there are very nice tools for that (some free, others paid). They provide a simple setup to add info… and dozens or hundreds of CV templates…
The good thing? You can add the info and try out that info mapped into different templates to see which one suits better… you can even use different templates for different jobs applications.
Actually, unless you have your own rockstar template I don’t see any reason to not use something like this.
Two examples that I have used:
Zety
Canva
Information
Another thing that I see often is the CV being an extensive recollection of everything the candidate has ever done in their life.
A simple example: Why do I need to know that you have a driving licence if you’re applying for a developer role? Or the elementary school or even kindergarten they attended? That’s just visual spam.
Well, the best way to look at it is to do a CV per appliance. For the role that you are applying, what is the most relevant information about your experience or studies?
Add that extensively. Everything else, really think if it makes sense or not.
Review it several times to avoid typos.
The best trick to succeed is trying to put yourself at your recruiter and interviewers shoes.
More about this:
Want to read more about this?
Let’s proceed to the next chapter the interview itself…
