How to get your CV noticed

Brushing the dust off your CV and adding a few bullet points describing your most recent employment just doesn’t cut the mustard these days. Like everything in our tech-forward society, applying for jobs has become quicker and easier, however, on average a CV is given a shocking six seconds of consideration – therefore your application needs to be near perfection to merit the hiring manager’s attention.

Beating the bots

The initial gatekeeper is an ATS – Applicant Tracking System, used by most companies these days. Given the ease of an online submission, recruiters and hiring managers can receive hundreds, if not thousands, of applications for one position. An ATS works like Google, in filtering the applications and presenting the most relevant CVs to the hiring manager for further consideration.

Firstly, make sure your CV is in Word or Rich Text format, and remove any logos, images or tables/columns, as these can distort the data intake to the ATS and if your CV is not parsed correctly you have very little chance of making an impression.

These systems work by scanning CVs for contextual keywords and scoring them for relevance. Only the top-scoring profiles are shortlisted and highlighted for the hiring manager’s review.

Therefore, you should assess the job description and your potential future employer’s writing style and adapt your CV to reflect the keywords used. The more relevant keywords that appear, the higher your application moves up the list.

Also, ensure your job title reflects a generic title rather than an internal title, for example “People Operations Manager” or “Happiness Manager” should be replaced by “Human Resources Manager”. There is no problem in changing your job title if it clearly and honestly reflects your responsibilities.

Social platforms

Include a link to your online professional profile on your CV. Use websites like TinyURL.com and Bitly. com">Bitly.com to customise and shorten your URL. Just like an ATS, professional networking platforms use SEO, so ensure repetition of keywords. As the "Professional Headline" is the highest-ranked SEO field on a LinkedIn profile page, input a descriptive summary here, instead of a traditional job title. You have 120 characters, so be creative and sell yourself.

Safeguard all non-professional platform profiles by changing the privacy settings, as more than 90 per cent of employers search a candidate’s social media pages before setting up interviews.

Your employee branding proposition

Most inexperienced hires struggle in marketing themselves, and frequently submit a five-page CV detailing every experience and skill they have gained. To overcome the potential “so what?” reaction, it is essential you consider your audience to command their attention. What are they looking for on a CV? How can you align your value to the employer’s requirements?

List your core skills or competencies at the top of your CV, targeting the most relevant skills required. Applying unique personal selling points will ensure these few lines pop off the page and keep the reader interested.

In the main body, ensure every bullet point has the “wow” factor and uses positive progressive language that uniquely describes you and your work experience. Any generic statements should be left aside. These five-six bullet points per experience should impress the reader and create a desire to hear more and generate an interview.

You undoubtedly have a list of career accomplishments, so highlight the most relevant achievements to the opportunity you are applying for. Career highlights can be displayed on the top of your CV or in one-two lines under each position. Quantify your successes to gain credibility by adding stats and metrics showing your measurable impact on revenue, operations, regions or individuals.

Short and sweet

Two pages are ample. Not every aspect of your work history needs to be detailed. Employment history that isn’t relevant can be listed under “Prior Experience”, with just one bullet point per position at the end of your CV. Make it clear that you will happily provide further information on any of these areas, on request.

Kate McGuinness is a manager at Sigmar Recruitment Consultants