HOW TO WRITE A CV PROFILE THAT DELIVERS

Your profile is THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of your CV!

 

Imagine you are shortlisting candidates for interview…

You have had a stressful day and now you have 100 CV’s to read through to present a shortlist to the boss in the morning.

From previous experience, you know at least 80 of the CVs will be awful but which are the 20 that will be good? You’ve no choice but to wade through them all.

If you take just 1 minute to quickly scan every CV, 100 minutes is the best part of two hours.

 

Your CV could be the first they read, it could be the last, you can’t control that but you can control how quickly you capture the readers’ attention and puts you on the shortlist.

You have less than 20 seconds to compel the reader to continue reading the rest of your CV and invite you for an interview.

This is precisely why your profile should be the first thing they read (not your address) and why it is THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of your CV.

 

How many words?

The average reading speed of most adults is 200 to 250 words per minute. 20 seconds = c.60 words. That’s your target.

 

What should I say?

With just 60 words, you have to keep the content brief. Your objective is to make sure the reader wants to invest more than 20 seconds and read more. So, keep the detail for later.

The secret is to focus on the relevant VALUE value you will add to the business. As much as you may think this is about you, as cold as it may sound, from an employer’s perspective, they are looking for how you will add value to their business.

You can read more about the values employers are looking for here.

 

Don’t be generic

Your personal profile should make you stand out from the crowd – so don’t copy others! Spend time to think about what it is that gives you an edge on your competition. It could be a love of construction because of your helping your Aunt build her home, it could be your love of technology from technical drawing at school. It really doesn’t matter as long as it is YOU and it ticks those all important value boxes.

 

Be honest

It is more than likely the interviewer will ask you about your Auntie’s house!