Keeping proactive: update your CV

BBC news have predicted that thousands of people are likely to be working from home for the first time this week due to the coronavirus outbreak. If you are a job seeker and planning your next career move, you may be concerned about the job market and how you can be making the best use of your time over the next few weeks. Whilst you can’t control the job market, you have complete control over ensuring when that next opportunity comes up, you are fully equipped to apply for it.

Here at Renovo we would like to share our tips on what you can control over the coming weeks.

Update your CV

Start off by creating a master copy CV with everything on. This will be your initial go-to document, so it doesn’t matter how long it is– include everything you have ever done on it. Include the name of the company, job title and date range and work your way back.  If you are struggling to think that far back, it can be useful to Google job titles you have held to ensure you are including skills and responsibilities required for those types of roles

Formatting

When it comes to formatting, even with a master copy CV, keep it simple and easy to read. Use bullet points and bold text for subheadings so it is easy to follow.  Choose a professional font. Use fonts such as ‘Arial’ or ‘Calibri’. Ensure your CV is compatible for applicant tracking systems, so remove text boxes and imagery.

Tense

In today’s job market hiring managers and recruiters expect to see achievements in a CV in order to demonstrate where value has been. Write in the past tense and your responsibilities and achievements will immediately appear more results focussed and less like a job description. Think about your successes, have you saved the company money, have you improved a process?

Tailoring

When you use your CV to apply for a role it needs to include relevant information the recruiter or hiring manager is looking for. So at this point, go through your master copy CV with a highlighter pen and either highlight or tick off what the employer / recruiter is asking for. The focus will be on the first page of your CV. Anything you have included that isn’t as relevant you can either remove or change the order so the reader can see the information as quickly as possible.

Length

After you have tailored your master copy CV, the CV you will then submit for an application should be between 2-3 A4 sides. This ensures your relevant skills are highlighted and the information can be accessed easily. Each time you make an application, save a copy of the CV and rename the file. Then when you see similar roles, you can refer back to the tailored CV rather than the master copy.

If there aren’t many opportunities you want to apply for right now, look at archived vacancies. If you have an idea of what type of role you are looking for, by customising CVs now, when that opportunity arises, you will have a strong CV ready to send.