An effective CV

In today's world of too much communication, too much information or in other words too much irrelevant noise..... your CV needs to grab the readers attention in 10 seconds.

When writing your CV, put everything you want the reader know in the first half of the first page of your CV. The information you need to get across is:

1. Who are you? (Relevant concise personal information).

2. Why you are a good fit for their job? (Evidence based).

3. What you want? (short and direct).

I can't stress enough the importance of item 2. Scan the advert of the job you are applying for and pick out a couple of key requirements. Then sit down and write your achievements relevant to those requirements. Wherever possible use metrics to demonstrate your achievements.... nothing stands out like "I improved productivity by 15% through ensuring we asked the customer 5 questions before we started their production run".

The stranger reading your CV needs to know immediately who you are, what you want and why you are a potential fit for their role.... if you can demonstrate this in the first half of the first page of your CV, you will stand out from the crowd.