The point of a CV is to get you a conversation. It won't ever get you the job itself, no matter how impressive. The CV succeeds when they call you and say "pop-in for a chat".

So, whilst it is true that the job-hunting process is about selling yourself, the CV is only about getting you the first meeting or interview. If you (like the rest of humanity) struggle to get across the subtle essence of your identity on two pages, then don't worry - all you actually need to do is tick the boxes of their requirements and intrigue them enough to talk to you.

There are four major components of a CV: the structure, the content, the impact and the presentation. What the process does is to take these steps and separate them out, each one building on the other. As you write the content, you will worry that it is too long and won't fit on to two pages, but that is why the process separates the stages - so that you only worry about one thing at once (e.g. getting the right content into your CV). If you try and worry about it all at once you'll end up with compromises and stress.

So here's the CV process you're going to follow:

1. Structure - get it all set-out with the basic information so that you can then fill in the detailed content like a form
2. Content - get all the important points in
3. Impact - phrase the points so that they have impact
4. Presentation - get it all to fit and look nice, re-phrasing to make it shorter if you need to

As with the other parts of the process, the CV writing process is sequential - we will do one thing at a time and do them in a specific order. This is useful because it is how we break down this long and complex process into something manageable and more effective than trying to do it all at once.

This does take time. It is very likely that you'll feel frustrated and want to push through this faster, but take the time it needs. The process works because you go through the CV multiple times - each iteration makes it better. It takes longer than doing it all at once, but the benefit is that you get a far better result.

Because you'll go through it at least four times (for the four stages of the CV writing process), and because you'll benefit from breaks and taking some time away from it to get perspective, you can easily take two or three weeks over this if you're fitting it around you other responsibilities in life.

When you feel frustrated and like it will never end, come back here and remember why you are doing this. You are doing this for your own personal reason, to get out, to move up, etc - you are also doing this so that you save a lot of time and hassle later because more people are going to read your CV and as a result you're going to get more interviews. Simple. Put in the time now, reap the rewards later...

The 15 second rule
You will work hard over your CV - most readers will not. It might shock you, but most people will not read your CV at all - they will skim it to see if it worth looking at in any depth - and even if they do decide its worth a second look they will most likely just look for keywords. You have around 15-30 seconds to make an impression with the first skim. This is why the structure, and later the content and presentation of this CV is going to be simple, clear and bash them over the head with how great you are.

Your mantra
The CV should only include information because it is relevant to the prospective employer, never just because you want to tell them about it; so the mantra is:

does this demonstrate that I could do something useful in the organisation I'm sending it to? If it doesn't - leave it out!


Next: Step 1: the structure
to main CV page

Got a suggestion?, email Dave

Can't find what you want? - use the search!

WWW www.arrod.co.uk