3 Steps to Successful Submission of CV for Publication & Applying for a position.
Step One – Prepare CV for Publication
This is the essential stage of the process, to quote a famous phrase:
“Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail!”
Have you chosen the most appropriate CV style for the position you are applying for, which supports your career objectives?
CV Style Brief Summary
- Chronological: this is the most standard type, detailing your experience in date order, normally beginning with the most recent/current experience. It works well for most demonstrating a good all-round mixture of work experience and education.
- Skills-based/functional CV: highly-focused on your transferable skills. The factual, chronological details of your education and work history are of lessor relevance.
- Academic –based: this type will highlight supporting information and related research linked to the qualifications obtained and will be more in depth, on average 5 pages.
There is no single “correct” way to draft and present a CV, however the following general rules apply:
- It should focus on the specific position or career area for which you are applying and highlight positively the relevant skills you have to offer.
- It is carefully and clearly drafted – laid out: logically ordered, easy to read and not overloaded with irrelevant details.
- It is informative and spelling and grammar accurate. If you mention attention to detail as a skill, make sure your spelling and grammar is perfect!
Top Seven Tips To Avoid – at all cost!
- Excessive length of CV (more than 3 pages on average) and lack of use of bullet points.
- Work experience not listed in full chronological order, including missing/incorrect dates being listed.
- Spelling and grammatical mistakes.
- Limited detail linked to previous employment e.g. listing Assistant Accountant for 5 years at XXX company does not state much at all. It is important to give some more information to enable some evaluation by the reader.
- Font size – impact where too large or too small and inappropriate colours used e.g. red/green – to be avoided.
- Inappropriate candidate picture, i.e. photo taken at the beach, at the club, etc.
- CVs that copied substantial amount of wording from the job advertisement being applied for.
Step Two – CV Publication
Where to publish your CV?
Possible options:
- Recruitment websites.
- Social media: Facebook/LinkedIn.
- Job boards.
- Recruiter databases in the relevant country (ies) (which you which to secure employment).
Each of the options above, like options to any solution will have advantages and disadvantages, so you are required to firmly establish what is your overall objective, if gaining the maximum online publicity on the job market, then all of the above will certainly achieve that.
Take a moment and reflect, one of the key points linked to CV drafting, featured in our Week One Recruitment Education Programme, tailor your CV to the position which you are interested in, making it stand out from the crowd.
How will this be achieved with some of these methods above?
Each individual within the recruitment business industry will have their own opinions and beliefs on these methods, for example some think that publishing your CV on job boards are for the desperate in need of employment and most probably not the ‘cream of the crop’ in that particular industry. This obviously is not necessarily the case.
Bringing our attention to Social Media – LinkedIn for example, to try and avoid any negative perception linked to uploading of CV, focus on making your profile as captivating as possible to attract positive attention from authentic recruitment companies and potential new employers. And make the most out of your contracts.
It is also worth noting that HR Functions utilise social media more and more to assess preliminary candidates, so even if your Facebook profile is not intended to entice prospective employers – consider the type of material/information you post.
You should be aware of the increasing trend in using ATS (Applicant Tracking System) by potential employers. This is a system which electronically handles the recruitment tracking requirements of any one company. Filters will be established based on certain criteria such as keywords/education/experience etc.
Candidates are incorporating this into the drafting of their CV to enhance their raking linked to this area. Which can assist and also potentially hinder your progress made.
Assist: the frequency you use a keyword, the higher you will rank when that keyword is searched for. Haphazard use of key words not the best way forward give focus to identifying the best places to add these keywords .
Potentially Hinder: keyword stuffing. A SEO method to help with ranking; however you will most probably be penalised and will be rejected if it clearly indicates that you have haphazard filled the CV with keywords.
At the end of the day, it will be a human being that will select your CV to go forward to the interview invitation stage.
Best option to review what sources are out there for you in the location of interest and most appropriate for the business industry. Thereafter take the necessary action.
Research is our overall recommendation!
Your Personal Data Protection
This is a serious area of concern which you must consider.
How to achieve your CV publication objectives, whilst protecting against identity theft/non authorised use and control of your personal data?
Once your CV is uploaded, you no longer have full control. Think about all your contact and personal information being out there for any one person to utilise. Being clouded by the objective of attaining new career opportunities can leave you open to scam and identity theft.
Listed below are our recommended top 5 protection steps to follow:
- Do not share personal information, examples below. Be as ambiguous as possible:
- Residence address. Better to give general information e.g. the city of your location.
- Age or date of birth.
- ID &/or passport reference numbers.
- Any form of financial information.
- Limit information detailed regarding references – why open these persons to identity theft risks – they are after all doing you a good turn.
- Keep records of where you upload your CV and your reason for uploading there.
- Recommend establishing a separate email account to be used for the new employment purpose only. Again assisting in protection of personal data.
- Have an objective plan of where to publish your CV –do not post haphazardly.
- Strongly recommend that you review in detail the privacy policy of each method being utilised and ensure you understand what happens with your personal information, including how long it will remain in the public domain.
Your personal data is so precious – take very good care of it!
Step Three – Applying for a Position
Applying for a Position – By Email
This is it – the moment you have been working towards – you have found a great employment opportunity and now wish to apply for it.
How do you wish to be received and perceived?
We will focus our attention on common mistakes, areas to avoid and our recommendations when applying by email for an employment opportunity.
Most common mistakes made with email include:
- Forget to insert the attachments – insert attachments as the first step to assist in avoiding this.
- Spelling and grammar errors in the body of the email – have automatic spell check set up.
- Sending before the email is ready – insert the receivers email address as the last step to assist in avoiding this.
- Use of non professional email addresses and no signatory details. Establish an email address for your employment purposes and set a signatory as a default feature – where possible.
Email Layout
- Use bullet points to assist with layout of email content – appeasing on the eye.
- Accurate spelling & grammar – essential.
- Sending CVs by email without an email subject header must be avoided – minimum detail your full name and position applying for.
- Font size, style and colour used. e.g. small letters, bold excessively used and inappropriate colours used e.g. red/green – to be avoided.
- Email etiquette make sure your email layout is appeasing on the eye, appropriate paragraph spacing, do not use UPPER CASE – taken as shouting by the reader.
- Cover letter as an attachment or detailed in the body of the email – your personal preference here. However if the cover letter is an attachment – what will be detailed in the body of the email. Consider sending a blank email with two attachments – what does this say about your professional approach, can give the perception of the following:
- Low professional standards.
- Little to no attention to detail.
- Lazy.
How do you wish to be received and perceived?
Email Attachments
- Most common document used when drafting a CV will be Microsoft Word, be it your own design or a standard template. When you are sending this to potential employers, please ensure it is sent in a non-changeable method of document e.g. PDF. A professional touch demonstrating attention to detail and not permitting anyone to make changes either in error or on purpose.
- Attach the CV in the requested language per the position requirements.
Here at Eltoma Recruitment, we are here to help.
Take the first step, visit our website, set up your secure account and start the process of capturing new employment.