When the time comes to update your CV for you next role the task can seem daunting. What you once thought of as a great CV, might now look tired and irrelevant. If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your CV, it’s likely to be outdated and will fail to get the attention of a hiring manager or recruiter. Don’t fear though, here’s three ways you can quickly and easily transform your CV into a powerful marketing tool.
Step One - Highlight your value and relevance
Include your most relevant key skills and experience in a summary or key skills section. You can identify these skills and experience in the job advertisement and job description. For example, if an IT Service Desk role calls for candidates who possess a minimum of 5 years’ 1st line technical IT Support experience along with expertise in AutoCAD, be sure to highlight this at the very top of your CV.
Carefully go over the job details identifying any of the skills and experience you have and include them in your CV. This not only makes it easier for the recruiter or hiring manager to quickly see if you’re a good fit for the role, but also helps you match application tracking systems (ATS) searches. ATS are recruitment software used by recruiters to manage candidate CVs and applications. ATS will scan these documents looking for key words that have been selected by the recruiter. It could be a specific software program (Excel or Tableau), certification (like Prince2 or ITIL) or sector experience (e.g. oil and gas or FMCG).
Step Two - Update your skills and experience
Make sure all your roles, responsibilities and achievements are up to date. Check for any obsolete terminology, replacing it where necessary with current equivalents. This includes technologies, ways of working and key skills used. You can find out the latest jargon being used by exploring job advertisements, reading industry blogs or journals and by looking at the profiles of people in your target role.
If you discover any terminology you’re not familiar with, take the time to do some research until you are. The last thing you want is to get to an interview and be asked about something you’re unfamiliar with.
Step Three - Include your professional development
Ongoing professional development is something that’s often overlooked when updating your CV. Think about all the training and professional development you’ve done in the past 5 years or so ensuring this is included under a heading of Further Education or Ongoing Professional Development.
If you’ve done a lot of development activities, include the most relevant and recent, leaving the rest for the ‘Courses’ section of your LinkedIn profile. When including any professional development activities, give enough of a description for the reader to understand what you’ve done, when and where. This will also help with the key-word richness of your CV for ATS and human eyes.
So there’s three quick and impactful ways to update your CV. Follow these steps to freshen your CV and boost your chances of getting an interview!
If you have any questions about updating your CV, ask them in the comments box below.
Lisa LaRue, MCareerDev, RCDP, MAC
Career Coach, EMCC-Accredited Master Practitioner Coach and CDI-Registered Career Development Professional with more than 20 years’ experience helping achieve successful and fulfilling careers.
