Content is everything with your CV, it's the substance behind your achievements and proves that you can deliver what you say you can do. Ensuring no SPG (that's spelling, punctuation and grammar) errors should be a given, and if you can't be sure of it yourself, then it's not cheating to ask someone else to check, it's smart. Whether or not a company uses an automatic filter to check SPG, it doesn't take more than a few seconds for a recruiter to spot errors. In fact, I'll let you in on a secret, scanning for SPG errors is in fact a very easy way for a recruiter to scan a CV and rule it out, before even reading the content. Your attention to detail on a CV speaks volumes about your commitment to quality control and effort, and these are skills and strengths that recruiters look for.
So, on this note, get all your SPG correct, and focus on your content. Lay it out efficiently, to make it a dream to read for your recruiter. It might sound surprising, but recruiters hate reading CVs as much as you hate writing them. I recently reviewed a CV for a friend, and she could tell immediately when I stopped reading and started scanning it - and I wasn't bored, she had an impressive line up of achievements and qualifications - but humans have a short attention span, especially when there are plenty of other CVs to read. So, let's talk content.
The only paragraph on your CV should be a short profile, the purpose being if the hiring manager doesn't read any further, they've got your highlights summed up in a few lines. Bullet point everything else - and when it comes to your achievements and responsibilities, context is key. If someone doesn't understand context, they won't appreciate how amazing an achievement it is. So link your achievements into your career history, consider putting the highlights in bold print - the recruiter's eyes will pick up on this. Work you skills and key words (that you've identified and matched from the job spec) into your career history too. If you do have achievements that don't fit into career history, which is typical for a student CV, then highlight skills and strengths amongst the achievements, so the recruiter can see how those achievements will benefit their business and department.
A typical CV query I get is whether it should be one or two pages - résumés for the US should be one page. If you're applying to a US company here in the UK such as Goldman Sachs, they will specify this, but watch out, it's in the small print - and yes you guessed it, they are looking to check your eye for detail, to pick up on this. British CVs are typically two pages. But if your CV is one full page and only fills part of the second page, consider getting it onto one page. A part filled page looks like you haven't got enough achievements to fill it. References are a good way to 'fill' a CV - but if you don't have space, don't sacrifice skills or achievements for the references, employers don't follow them up until they offer you the job, so 'References available on request' is acceptable and only takes one line.
There should be no paragraphs in your CV. Managers scan CVs before actually deciding to read them. Time is of the essence for any hiring manager – they don’t want to trawl through a CV where the career history looks like the world’s most underwhelming autobiography. They want the information quick and fast. So don’t write an eight line paragraph about your job – instead break up it up into bullet points, with each one being no more than two lines long. Separate responsibilities and achievement headings in career history Remember managers hate reading CVs just as much as you hate writing them. So now imagine a manager scanning through your résumé – if they see the achievements section their eyes are automatically going to be drawn to it.
