De-clutter Your CV - It's Not Rocket Science

By Martin Ellis

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I know I witter on endlessly about de-cluttering CV's. It makes my life easier (selfish I know) and gets people more interviews. Many of you clearly remain unconvinced as I still see far too many CV's where it's clear the author can't decided what to leave out, so leaves everything in, including the kitchen sink. It ends up a dogs breakfast.

And they wonder why they don't get interviews?

If you won't take it from me, take it from Richard W. He wrote me an email yesterday:

"Martin, A quick thank you for your blog of 19/7/2013 about how to write a CV. I hacked all the superfluous bits out of my daughter’s CV, changed some of the terminology, and within a very short time she found work for a private equity company in Mayfair! After starting work she was told that she got the job on the strength of her CV and the interviews were just to make sure she would fit in. Thanks again, Richard".

 

Here's why brevity in your CV is a good idea (not all the reasons are good - but they are real...)

  1. Some recruiters have the attention span of a tropical fish. They only read the start, nod off, and assume the rest
  2. Your CV is only there to get you an interview. Nothing else.
  3. Your CV will be read on a screen. It's no longer a paper document.
  4. You'll never get everything in your CV, so don't try. Just get the big stuff in. Get ready to discuss the detail when you get the interview.
  5. Show that you can tell the difference between what's important and what's not - by leaving what's not OUT!
  6. Write your CV for your audience and no one else.

If you need a CV format, just email me.  

That's it. No preaching. Just listen to Richard.

Richard knows best.

 

 

(Image courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/)

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