Date Added: 18.09.19

When it comes to finding a new job, having an impressive CV is pretty crucial to getting your foot in the door. Writing about your own job history should be a piece of cake, right? And yet somehow, it’s not as simple as it seems, this is especially true if you’ve been in the same job for some time and haven’t had to dust the cobwebs off your CV in ages.

As recruiters, we get CVs through every single day from hopeful jobseekers and we like to think we know a thing or two about what it takes to get noticed by our clients. So if you’re stuck in a rut with what to talk about on your resume, take a look through these top 5 CV writing tips:

1. Keep it short

As much as you might want to write war and peace on your impressive career history, your CV needs to be succinct and straight to the point. It’s all about making the key bits of information that the employer will want to know stand out as much as possible, and the best way to do that is to trim the fat around those stand out achievements.

If you’re now in a senior position, there’s really no need to include your GCSEs or any irrelevant part time jobs you might have had while at uni. It can be tempting to want to pad your CV out as much as possible to make it look more impressive, but take it from us – quality is more important than quantity here. Aim for no more than 2 sides of A4 and remember to be selective about what you include.

2. Keep it outcome based

All too often we see CVs come through that detail all the day to day tasks that were undertaken in a role, but not enough about the actual achievements. There’s nothing wrong with talking about BAU activity per se, but what will truly wow a hiring manager is tangible outcomes from your time in your previous jobs.

Why not talk about those impressive sales targets you managed to hit? Or the time you managed a change project that made the business some money? It’s more impactful to talk about these things than to waste your valuable page space listing all tasks you undertook to get there. It’s all about striking a balance between box ticking the skills they say they want from you, and selling yourself as someone who can bring their business goals to life.

3. Tailor it

Tailoring your CV to the job you’re applying for is one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd. Yes, that means having multiple versions of your CV to keep track of and yes this may seem like a laborious task, but we promise you it can make all the difference.

The job description for the role you’re applying for will be your best friend when it comes to pulling out the key skills that they’re looking for. You basically want to know that job description off by heart and use that understanding to bring across how your unique experience makes you the perfect fit for the role.

4. Try not to leave gaps

While we advocate for not adding in loads of unnecessary filler info on your CV, we also can’t stress enough how important it is not to have long gaps in your CV that are unaccounted for. Unfortunately, when you’ve got a large volume of job applications through, as a hiring manager it can become a bit of a process of elimination.

If there are suspiciously long gaps where you’ve not worked, even if it’s something completely normal like taking a couple of years out to raise a family or long term sick leave, make sure you explain this either in your CV or in your covering letter. That way, any red flags are immediately addressed from the get go.

5. Don’t forget the formatting

Aside from being engaging and ticking all your employer-to-be’s “perfect hire” boxes, your CV also has to be easy on the eye. There’s nothing worse than knowing that a CV is just brimming full of potential, but not being able to read it because of broken formatting.

Make sure you leave enough white space around each section to differentiate it from the rest without overcrowding the page and scaring your intended reader off. Don’t forget to also use plenty of bullet points and short, snappy sentences to make the most of the limited space you have.

Save yourself the hassle and, once you’re happy with your clean looking, well-formatted CV, be sure to save a PDF version so that all that hard work is locked in place. That way you can be sure that your CV is being read as intended.

So there you have it, some CV writing pointers straight from the people who read them the most. Hopefully now you can take our CV writing tips and use them to land yourself that new job you’ve been dreaming of.

If you’re still unsure where to start when it comes to looking for a new job in the energy & utilities sector, one of our specialist consultants would be more than happy to help. Just give us a call on 0121 633 3030, drop us a line on our contact us page or send us your CV directly.