CVs can be tough to write when you don’t have the best employment history. But inject key action words and numbers, and you’ll impress recruiters.
CVs can be daunting to write when you’re missing the right work experience. Perhaps you’re concerned that your latest role doesn’t showcase your potential, or isn’t anywhere near your desired career path?
Don’t worry: there are ways to make any job look impressive on your CV. These tips are guaranteed to paint your employment history and skill set in a positive light, and help recruiters believe you’re the best candidate for the job.
Use the active voice
One secret to making any job look impressive is to use active rather than passive words. This is because active words make your achievements the focus of the sentence, highlighting your contribution. Use active phrases such as: “I ran a social media campaign” instead of: “A social media campaign was run by me.”
Go through your CV and swap any passive sentences for active words. It’ll help show off your responsibilities and it’s also more engaging to read. Action words you could use include: developed, organised, evaluated, coordinated, allocated and performed.
Since recruiters spend less than 30 seconds scanning each CV, active words are a must to keep them reading.
Inject keywords into your CV
Another CV tip is to pepper your employment history with keywords from the job description.
Not only does this show the recruiter you’re a great match for the position, but it helps you to surpass any applicant tracking systems (ATS), which look for certain keywords in CVs to determine whether you’re a good fit for the role.
To optimise your CV, you must first sift through the job description, highlighting any skills that match your own. You should also make note of the jargon or acronyms that specific company uses – as ATSs look out for common industry terminology, too.
Once you have identified the keywords, be sure to include them naturally throughout your CV as it will be read by humans as well. By changing your CV in this way, you show you have the skills required for the role, in the recruiter’s own language.
Cut out irrelevant information
If you target your CV to the job you’re applying for and cut out and responsibilities that aren’t directly related to the role, you’re guaranteed to make any job look remarkable.
So after filling your CV with keywords, you must delete any skills and knowledge from your roles that are not mentioned in the adverts.
Don’t feel you have to remove irrelevant experience completely – after all, you don’t want to make yawning gaps in your employment history. Instead, reduce the level of detail to ensure it does not cloud the relevant, important information.
