Your own personal brand is important, creating and maintaining this is vital when applying for a new role. At the end of the day, your resume be it your CV or LinkedIn profile is what gets you the interview in the first place. Ensure that your CV and LinkedIn profile are both up to date and accurate. That both reflect your experience, skills and enthusiasm along with identical dates.
Make sure your CV is checked for spelling and grammar errors. This may seem obvious but it is the biggest mistake we come across here and it can make you look lazy and unprofessional. Recruiters and hiring managers read hundreds of CVs a week, you want to present yourself as best you can through your profile. Get a third party to review it.
Keeping your CV clear and concise is key. Using subheadings is a great way to do this. For examples:
- Personal Statements
- Skills
- Experience
- Education
- Interest/Hobbies
- References
Having multiple CVs is a good idea if you are applying to various jobs. Tailoring each CV to the specific job description and highlighting the hard skills mentioned in each job description will make your CV stand out.
There are many different opinions out there, on having multiple pages CVs or a one page CVs. In my personal opinion, no one has the time or is interested in reading what you did 14 years ago, so keep it concise. If you have enough professional experience to fill out 8 pages, do so but also have a shorter version that highlights your key skills. I think a 2/3 page CV is a perfect length to showcase you and your experience. However if you are choosing to do multiple pages – fill them. Excess white space can make your CV look weak and incomplete.
And my final point – Adding a photo to your CV is a NO!
Although photos on CVs are accepted in other countries, the UK’s best practice is not to have your photo present.