CVs and Christmas Carole
We need to talk about your CV because there’s been so much hype about what it should and shouldn’t say about you. Christmas isn’t Christmas without a reference to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843), so just like the ghost of Marley taking Ebenezer Scrooge by surprise on Christmas Eve, I have a few predictions for you.
The ghost of formats and layout
From time to time on LinkedIn I read that it’s what you’ve done that matters and the difference you made, rather than how many spaces you’ve left, or which bullet points you’ve chosen. I want to remind you that your contribution always matters, although if the pages are crammed with tiny type, or the text is repetitive and bullet points are three lines long (isn’t that a paragraph?) your CV may confuse its reader (human or not).
The ghost of ancient history
To prove you’re a good fit for a vacancy doesn’t mean regurgitating every single job you’ve ever had with every single element from your job description (you know who you are). Let’s get real, it’s all about balance and relevance. If you’re new to the jobs market potential employers are seeking evidence that you’ll be a success. It’s likely they’ll want to read about education successes and any work experience but not your Beaver badges! And if you’re a senior executive, then please leave your rugby colours in the changing room.
The ghost of Chat GPT and other automatons
I get it; you need help and it’s readily available, but please use help wisely. Just like asking a human for help, the advice needs to make sense to you as well as your audience. For example, the heading I’ve used. Am I writing about the Charles Dickens’ tale or my friend Carole? This is a silly but easy mistake to make. Being a little more serious, many organisations (search firms included) are looking to tech to eliminate applications and tailored CVs by bots. Remember to add yourself into the mix!
Waking up on Christmas morning
It’s unlikely you’ll be getting up on Christmas morning to rewrite your CV (like Ebenezer) but please remember your CV is your shopwindow to getting a new role. It needs to be positively enticing as well as exciting. Please don’t scrimp on the detail and remember to leave some white space on the page – it’ll help what’s written to stand out. Just like holly berries against the snow. Yes, I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. If you want to chat abut CVs I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat.
