If you want to land your dream job or switch careers, you should learn the art of customizing your CV for each great opportunity that comes your way. You need to carefully craft skills that match with what the recruiter is looking for and take note of the keywords on the job description and incorporate them in your CV.
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In this day and age, a general resume will not get you a job. Employers have become tired of reading average written CVs which have similar information as the templates on the internet. While you may be learned and have great job skills, you will need to improve your CV writing skills so that you can at least make it to the interview stage. Before you learn how to write a job targeted resume, it is critical that you first know the mistakes that you may have done in the past whether knowingly or unknowingly to warrant your application getting thrown out. Here are some common mistakes:
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Poor layout: Failure to have a clear layout would get your CV disregarded by a potential employer.
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Inflating your title: The rise in the establishment of start-ups has numerous people in their 20’s branding themselves CFO, chairman, founder, or CEO. Such executive titles are sometimes a turn-off for employers especially when you are applying for an entry-level position.
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Indicating basic skills: There are basic skills that everyone expects you to have such as computer literacy. Indicating them on your CV makes it look basic.
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Listing responsibilities instead of achievements: Failure to indicate your achievements on the job is a complete turn off for employers.
How then do you capture the attention of potential employers? You need to customize your CV to target the specific job description that the job you are applying for demands. Thus, you must edit your resume for each job that you wish to apply for. For example, if you are a nurse certified with the NCLEX-RN examination, make sure to mention it here for greater chances of getting employed in your field.
If you are sending your application online, you need to zip your files if you are sending a large document to a recruiter via email. Employers have access to software such as WinZip, which they can use to unzip files. The process of zipping files is simple and involves:
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Step 1: Select a file that you want to share on your computer
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Step 2: Right-click the file
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Step 3: Click the send to icon
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Step 4: Select the zipped folder option
Here are tips to target a particular job with your CV:
1. Develop a 'super' CV
You need to take time and write a good CV that highlights all your accomplishments and skills that you possess. Once you have created this 'super' resume, your role will be to tweak a couple of things to suit the job descriptions once an advertisement comes up. Owning a 'super' CV saves you the time that you would spend rewriting a resume.
2. Internalize the job description
Whenever a job vacancy comes up, do not rush to apply without making sense of the job description highlighted in the advertisement. Once you have understood the requirements, you need to carefully craft skills that match with what the recruiter is looking for. Ensure that you also take note of the keywords on the job description and incorporate them in your CV. Employers want you to talk to the HR language for them to deem you fit for the job. So, sell yourself!
3. Edit your professional summary
A professional summary is that paragraph that introduces you at the top of the CV. As you make changes to the other sections on your resume, do not forget to update this section. Make sure that you align your key achievements to the content on the job description. Suppose you are applying for a teaching position and you happen to have experience in similar work, ensure that you mention that you love to teach and work with students in the professional summary paragraph.
4. Handpick the skills to share
While you may be talented or have gained a lot of skills in the course of your career, you do not need to mention them all on your resume. The trick is to handpick your skills so that you present what the recruiter wants to hear. Having a CV with about 30 excellent skills is counterintuitive and will earn you scorn from the potential employer.
Conclusion
If you want to land your dream job or switch careers, you should learn the art of customizing your CV for each great opportunity that comes your way. To perfect this, you need a “super” resume that edits from time to time whenever you are making an application. Additionally, pay attention to the content on the job advertisements to understand what a recruiter is looking for in a potential candidate.
