Looking for a new job can always be a difficult task and one that is arduous but could be very rewarding if you do it right. One way to set yourself up to get a new job is by having the best CV possible. This is the first step in the job searching process so you need to nail that down as best you can.

You may have skills that you did not know would be important for example being able to speak a made-up fictional language such as Dothraki or Elvish or being able to provide a guide to betting esports or know every flag in Europe. These skills can help you stand out but what makes for a good-looking CV?

 

Length

This is the most important thing about a CV. No employer is going to look at a CV if it is too long. Submitting 4 pages is far too much and it will put your chances of getting a job at the bottom of the pile.

Getting all of your experience on one page or at a maximum of two pages then that is ideal for how long a CV should be. Any more and it becomes off-putting for the reader.

As work coach, Adam Anwar feels this is key, “When you are writing your CV you do not want to make it long and monotonous. You want to keep it short, to the point and make sure it is full of job-specific content.”

“Just imagine your CV is going to be read by the laziest person in the world”

 

Job Specific

Rather than sending out a blanket CV with jobs on there that do not fit the career path you want. Make sure you are looking at making your previous experience in work life as specific to the career path you want as much as you can.

Using technical jargon for the specific industry will help you stand out from others who may have made the mistake of just putting every single job they have ever had even if it is not relevant to what they want to do now.

It can be time-consuming to do this but it is much more effective to adapt to be job-specific rather than taking the “shotgun approach” and hoping for the best when you “fire” off CVs to jobs that might fall into different sectors.

 

Layout

Making sure the CV is aesthetically pleasing can really set you out from the tens or hundreds of other applicants.

With a CV, you want to be looking at using bold headings of your previous work and small one-line bullet points of what you did at that place of work. This ties into what Adam said about imagining the laziest person in the world is reading your CV.

Another thing to consider with your layout is to avoid too much white space. This can be more striking than anything for an employer who is looking at prospective employees.