Writing a CV, regardless of what stage of your career you are at, is always about a few vital things. Apart from the obvious aim of ultimately getting employed, the first and most important target is to get yourself noticed. We offer more career advice and CV tips through our Candidate Resource Centre, but in general, it’s important to remember two things about the tech and digital market.
1) It’s highly competitive and
2) It’s a candidate-driven market.
Bearing that in mind, it’s essential that the person reviewing your CV – who will almost certainly look at many others on a day to day basis – notices you. That means, having a CV that’s a little different can make all the difference. We’re not necessarily talking about reinventing the wheel and changing the tried-and-tested format of a CV. However, this is something you’ll need to consider in some creative jobs. After all a CV is a useful opportunity to show off your skills through eye-catching multimedia. Not only will it demonstrate your aptitude, it’ll get you noticed for your positivity and creativity – killing two birds with one stone.
Personality on the page
But, for most people, the traditional Word/PDF format will be enough. It’s really about what goes on the page and how you put yourself across. Alongside some of the baseline rules like: making sure you’ve checked your spelling, the document is nicely formatted and not a pain to read, and that you use bullet points rather than wild, rambling paragraphs, there are a few extra cv tips worth considering.
That doesn’t mean giving them your life story, or telling them in detail about your away trips supporting your favourite non-league football team. But we do suggest offering a few key details about the type of person you are: your attributes, your passions and what these personal characteristics allow you to achieve in your job.
Your CV profile
There are a few things that you’ll want to have at the top of your CV. Particularly important when you’re considering how to get your personality across is the personal profile – of course – because it tells the hiring manager what sort of person you are.
One of our resources is a guide on how to write the perfect CV. As we mention there, a personal profile should be:
“clear and concise, no more than 200-250 words. Let the employer know the sort of person you are, what you are looking for/direction you are looking to move your career in, what you have to offer and what makes you stand out. This is a short, sharp piece of text to engage with the employer and make them want to read further”.
Taking it further
But it’s not just in the personal profile section that your personality can shine through. In the crucial “key achievements” section, show the type of employee that you are. Here is where you can show, with figures and examples, a highlight reel. It will illustrate that you’re hardworking and get results, which in itself infers a certain type of personality. Not only that, it will also help you stand out from the crowd.
Your interests
A final personality-led section of your CV is the part where you talk about your interests. As our CV guide says, this is a chance to “provide a little insight into who you are and how you’ll you fit the company culturally”. This is important if you’re going for a senior role and are writing an executive CV – given that you’ll be managing people.
Use this as a chance to show your passion for your sector or your job. Beyond saying you’re passionate. If you are genuinely interested and care about your work and try to improve in your spare time, or even if you are working towards extra qualifications, then say so. Show that you genuinely care and are likely to keep improving and adding value.
Confidence is key
To reiterate, the most important of our CV tips to remember, is get yourself noticed. Show your personality – because it’s you and your personality that will produce the work that the hiring company wants.
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