This question is one that any job seeker should ask themselves before sending out their resume to potential employers. Knowing what the recruiter or employer will look for when reviewing your resume is essential to get a callback. Many things can make an application stand out, but some could keep them from getting called in for an interview if not appropriately addressed. A CV is your first chance to make a good impression, and you mustn’t let this opportunity go to waste. Recruiters will judge you based on your CV information, so it needs to be error-free.

Curriculum Vitae or CV contains relevant information about you that recruiters or HR managers use to decide whether to send you an interview invitation. Your CV plays the role of your “ambassador”, your spokesperson, and your promotional material yourself. As such, your CV must represent you well.

A recruiter will look for many things in your resume before getting in touch with you, but the most important ones are:

1. Experience and skills

2. Education

3. References and testimonials

4. Honors, awards, and accolades

5. Personal qualities and attributes

How to Write a Professional Summary That Will Get You Noticed And Land The Job?

A professional summary is your first opportunity to make an excellent impression on employers. Get it right, and you can be the most qualified candidate for the job.

A summary needs to be clear, concise, and memorable. It should be easy to read and follow. A hiring manager is busy and doesn’t want to spend time reading paragraphs of text since they are too busy looking for the perfect candidate to hire!

Summaries should tell employers what you will bring to their company in 2–3 sentences or 150 words. This includes your skills, experience, achievements, education, and desire for the position.

What Recruiters Want From Your Resume

Recruiters are busy people. They are looking for specific skills to fill their openings and want to know if you have those skills. The best way to show them what you do is by highlighting your qualifications with concrete examples of your achievements.

While it’s essential to keep your resume brief, recruiters still want to know what you’re good at, what you can bring, and why they should work with you. That means that including the complex numbers about your performance is also vital. One way of doing this is by quantifying qualitative data.

Is there a formula for writing a CV?

There is no magic guideline in writing a CV that you can follow to get a job offer. However, specific guidelines will help make your CV stand out:

1. Write it for the job you’re applying

Unless you are just job prospecting, you must tailor your CV to the company’s requirements. This means you put specific skills, experience, and knowledge into the right fit for the job. However, do not use the exact wording in the job post in your CV. In a study conducted among employers, 41% said they reject applications simply because the CV copied many wordings in the job post.

Use words that are appropriate to the job you are applying to. For example, using jargon or industry-specific terms shows your field knowledge.

2. Make it presentable

This doesn’t mean that you decorate your CV with flowers and balloons. Instead, make your CV look professional and easy to read. Employers receive hundreds of applications for open job positions, and how you present your CV can decide whether the recruiter will read it.

As most CVs are now sent electronically, use fonts that are monitor-friendly. Use sans-serif fonts like Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, and others. Serif fonts like Times New Roman are hard to read on computer screens.

As much as possible, have all information in just two pages. 22% of surveyed employers say they reject applications because the CV is more than two pages. To maximise space, set your margin to about 1.27 cm, the font size in the body at 10 points, the sub-headers like Educational Background, Job Experience, etc., to 14 points, and your name at 18 points.

If you are going to send a printed copy of your CV, avoid using decorative paper. This causes 20% of applications to be rejected.

3. Information-packed but Concise

Why use a sentence when you can explain it in three words? Being concise will help recruiters read through all the content in your CV while giving them the necessary information. Use bullet points as much as possible. For example, rather than explain the tasks you performed in your previous work, use bullet points to enumerate each one using the most appropriate and relevant wordings to deliver the message.

Regarding information, include only what is relevant to the position you are applying for. If they do not create a positive impact, you don’t need to list all your experiences, achievements, and roles. However, if you believe that certain information must be included to make you stand above the rest, then place it in a separate sub-header with a brief explanation of why you had it and how it is relevant to your application.

4. Proofread and Edit Your CV

Don’t ever commit the mistake of sending a CV with grammar, punctuation, and typographical errors. The primary reason why employers reject applications is because of this. However, according to the same survey, error-free CVs are 61% more likely to get a reply from the recruiter, and the chance of being interviewed is 26% higher.

Use your software’s spellchecker to catch any spelling mistakes. Ask someone to read your CV to ensure that words spelt correctly, incorrectly, or out of place are corrected.

How to Write a Proper Resume for Any Industry

Most importantly, as a resume writer, you must highlight the essential qualifications for the position you’re applying for. Of course, you need to know the qualifications for each industry to do this. For example, if you’re applying for a medical or engineering position, experience with labs and math skills will be necessary. Likewise, customer service skills will be necessary if you’re applying for a retail or customer service position. But no matter what industry you’re applying for, three universal skills are necessary: your writing, analytical, and interpersonal skills.

There are three types of resumes: Chronological, Functional, and Combination. A chronological resume starts with your most recent job and goes backwards. It is the most accessible type to read because it is easy for employers to see where you have worked about when you have worked at that company or position. The functional resume starts with qualifications relevant to the position they are applying for and then lists previous work experience related to those qualifications. Finally, the combination resume does both things- listing their most relevant qualifications first, followed by their work experience related to those qualifications.

List Of Keyword Adjectives That Will Make You Stand Out In A Stack Of CVs

The cover letter is one of the essential parts of your job application. It is your opportunity to explain why you are the best candidate for the vacancy.

Here’s an adjective checklist that you can use to ensure that your CV makes an excellent first impression.

Ambitious: This quality means that you are willing to take on more responsibility and work extra hours if necessary to go above and beyond what is required.

– Confident: This quality means that you can communicate with confidence in a variety of environments, including one on one discussions, public speaking engagements or presentations.

– Creative: This quality means that any tasks or projects given to you will be done with creativity and flair, without following a boring template or repeatable pattern

Following are some of the other popular adjectives that can help you do just that-

1) Innovative 2) Energetic 3) Motivated 4) Creative.

Other Important Features to Consider

* Present your work experience in reverse chronological order, as most employers prefer to see the latest information first.

* Include a cover letter with your CV. Your chance of getting a reply increases by 10 per cent. Of course, don’t forget to include a reply address (physical or email address) in your CV.

· Never include personal information like your marital status, parents or passport details. Specific relevant details will be asked if needed, later

* Speaking of email address, ensure your email address is professional. The safest bet is to use [email protected]. Ridiculous email addresses like [email protected] are 76% more likely to be ignored.

* The upper middle portion of your CV’s first page is called the recruiter’s sweet spot. That’s the area in the CV that employers always set their eyes on unconsciously. So make sure that the information contained on that spot catches their attention.

* Do not sound amusing in your CV; this turns off recruiters. Also, make sure you spell the employer’s name and the company correctly.

• Most importantly, be honest about the information you include in your CV. You can omit or not include information you believe might jeopardise your chance. However, do not exaggerate, misrepresent, or lie about your CV’s experience, education, achievement, and other information.

HR Managers and recruiters want to see all your relevant work experience, skill sets, and educational background. They also want to know about any other projects you have worked on outside the office. Ensure that this information is accessible for people in a CV by including it in front or at the beginning of each paragraph (and use bullet points). It’s best not to have irrelevant personal details, such as hobbies, unless they are directly related to the position. It would help if you keep your resume brief — it shouldn’t be more than three sentences per line so readers can skim through quickly without getting bogged down in dense paragraphs. It will help them get an idea of what kind of person you are

Conclusion: If you’re one of the many looking for a new job, you must know what HR managers and recruiters want from your CV. They have quirks that can make or break an application process. Here are just some of those things: -They like to get all the information in front of them at once, so don’t send attachments unless they ask for it specifically -They also want good grammar — so if English isn’t your first language, be sure to use spellcheck! And finally, while not everyone will say this outright, try going back through your resume and crossing out any words with too much jargon (like “utilise” or “synergy”). If it’s appropriate in the company culture for you to include a picture on your CV, then do so; otherwise, don’t bother having photos because some employers could see this as unprofessional and distracting from focusing on the most critical aspects of your work history: experience and skill set. Keep in mind that all HR managers are different.