How to write a persuasive and compelling CV

This is the last in the series – The Basics of Writing a CV.

Your CV must impress a potential hiring manager in a short period of time. Your aim is not only to show you can do the job, but also that you will be an asset to the organisation.

As well as good content and appropriate format, the wording of your CV is crucial.

1. Speak to the hiring manager’s needs.
Research the organisation and the challenges of the role so you can put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes. What problems do they need you to solve? Where will you be expected to make a difference? Then work out what career accomplishments, skills and talents you’ll need to demonstrate to perform well in the role.

It must be clear to the person reading your CV what benefits you offer, so make sure that what you write is as relevant as possible to their specific needs. Relevance is much more appealing than generic.

Write a strong career summary or professional profile highlighting your talents. You can make a great initial impact in a few sentences which summarise your unique value: your greatest achievement, how you contributed to a company, or any special skills that are vital to the role.

If you’re replying to a job ad, make sure you address each key requirement in your CV. Be careful with your choice of words.

- Use keywords that are specific to your industry. It’s especially important if you are changing career that you use terminology that’s suitable to the industry you’re applying to.

- Choose keywords that reflect the seniority of the role. For example, if applying for high-level positions, make sure you describe your leadership or management skills over lower-level skill sets.

- Review other job ads for similar positions to find out what companies typically ask for, and how they word their requirements. This will help you decide which skills to prioritise if you’re writing speculatively.

- Use the keywords in strategic places in your CV: in your career summary, key strengths and career highlights sections.

2. Be credible
Rather than just making claims for yourself, give the context of selected work history events and achievements.

Where possible, quantify your achievements. @LindaNoland says that there are three categories you can use to quantify your achievements: revenue, personal or staff productivity, and process efficiency. Use £ and % to quantify the impact of what you did; for example, increasing revenue or productivity, cutting costs or delivery times, improving processes, etc

Provide some background to your key successes. One way to do this is to use a “CAR” framework (challenge – action – result) to give the context. Briefly describe the problem / challenge; the action you took to solve it; and finally the result of what you did.

Choose success stories which are relevant to the role you’re applying for. You can organise your stories into different themed groups, such as by skill-set, or by the key requirements mentioned in the job ad.

3. Overcome any doubts
If some of your experience or skills come from a different sector, you’ll need to demonstrate how they apply to the role and are relevant.

In the case of transferable skills, give specific instances of what it is you can do, and quantify these examples. If your skills are technical or role-specific, identify what it is about the skill which makes it transferable or applicable. For example, if you’ve customised Wordpress themes for different clients, your skill lies in being able to bend technology to make custom applications / sites.

To find the real impact of your skills, consider what they mean to the company. How does applying your skills improve efficiency, productivity or customer retention, for example?

4. Keep it concise
In most cases, CVs beyond two pages in length will not get read. Keep your CV concise and focussed on the job you’re applying for. Trim excess information and delete all irrelevancies, such as experience dating back more than 15 years, unimportant or obsolete skills, and puff – meaningless cliche phrases such as “team player”. (See How to avoid the red flag words for examples of this.)

Instead of a “I was responsible for…” style of writing, use strong action verbs such as “streamlined” or “slashed costs” to give a more vivid picture of what you did.

Aim to write in small, easily digestible chunks of information, rather than in dense paragraphs. This makes it easier for your reader to find (and remember) key information.

See Make every word count for more tips on writing a concise CV.

5. Let your enthusiasm shine through
Although your covering letter is a good place to explain why you particularly want the job or to work for that company, your CV should also reflect your excitement about the opportunity. Make sure that the language you use conveys a genuine interest in the job, as well as pride in your previous accomplishments. Use a range of vocabulary to stress, rather than obscure, your unique value and past achievements.

Photo credit: XtremeXhibits