You might not believe it, given the ups and down in the weather temperatures over the past week, but it is actually spring!
Traditionally this is the time to spring cleaning your house but I would suggest that it is also a good time to spring clean your CV.
In my experience, most CVs always benefit from a really good good clean out.
Whether you are employed or in the middle of a job search I would always recommend that you keep an up-to-date CV on your system and updated regularly.
You never know the day nor the hour when you will need it and this brings me back to the spring cleaning.
CVs usually start life being written in a hurry. I would be prepared to bet that at some time in the past you may have been asked for a CV or maybe you saw a really good job advertised. Then, what did you do? “Quick” you said to whoever was near to you. “I’ve gotta do my CV fast!” and so between your morning coffee break and your lunch, your CV was born.
And from that day onwards, every time you get a promotion or move job you added a new bit on to the top of your CV which pushed the older stuff down a bit. Over the years your CV gets longer and longer and more and more woolly; full of old unimportant information from a time gone by.
It’s time to spring clean!
Number one Golden Rule. When you are up-dating your CV, for every new line you add, you delete an old one. Better still, start again from scratch, giving it lots of time.
Think through your current job, from the time you joined that company and list achievements or tasks you were involved in. Then go over the list and reduce it. Carefully remove anything that is not necessary.
I once had a client who wrote;
• I take over the running of the company when the Managing Director is away on business or on holidays.
This could easily be replaced with;
• Deputised for the MD in his absence.
The very same meaning but just six words.
Treat every line the same way allowing six or seven points to the current or last job, three to four lines for the job before that and maybe two or just one line for jobs going further back.
Where it’s possible put size on the statement or achievement. You didn’t just increase sales; you increased sales by 30%
Add your skills, keep them short and very relevant. No old worn out clichés like:
‘Works well alone or within a team’
As you work down through it, remove old stuff and replace with new and interesting information.
When done read every line and then ask yourself, very honestly, would an employer really want to read this?
Give it time, bring it together, keep it interesting and your spring clean will yield results.
Colm Cavey has over 24 years’ experience in helping people change careers and find the kind of job they want. Colm can review your CV, help you organise your job hunt and provide one to one interview and presentation coaching or all of those elements together in a full Career Change programme. To find out more about Colm you can contact him directly on 086-3017207 or via his company Professional Career Consulting