Creating a good and stylish CV is a challenging and recurring job. In past years, there was an imposed tendency from recruiters that every candidate should have a specific structure to their CV, for example based on the European template. Nowadays, however, young candidates try to have more creative and unique CVs that will stand out of the crowd, while still following much of the classic rules in terms of size and content. They tend to create flashier CVs and exploit all the available space, by being simultaneously effective and to the point. So, what should every CV include in general and how can you style it to attract recruiters?
Your CV is usually the first thing that recruiters encounter, which represents your personal brand. Try to have a coherent and simple but stylish CV, with phrases that will catch their eye, representing your skills as best as you can, as well as using terms that relate to the specific job you have applied for. Each sector and industry desires a specific format and content, so it is advised to do thorough research on the demands of your sector, either by finding relevant articles, or asking other professionals in your field for tips.
However, keep in mind that recruiters spend on average five to seven seconds looking at each CV. Therefore, is it suggested not to have more than a two page CV, with some companies demanding only a one-page CV. Thus, make sure that within that time span, they will have sufficient – and not an abundance of – evidence concerning your personal brand and your skills, so as to take your application into further consideration.
To begin with, most recruiters prefer to have a visual image along with your CV, and usually they will ask for it beforehand. Try to have a professional but pleasant photograph, whose colours and size will match with the rest of your CV. In addition, the common CV structure nowadays includes a Personal Profile with a summary of yourself, along with your major skills and experience. This is a section where you will have to sell your personal brand and persuade the recruiter to continue reading your CV. In fact, it is advised to add the photograph next to the summary, in order to exploit as much space as you can, and to create a captivating start to your CV.
To continue with, after the Summary come the sections of Education and Professional Experience, followed by the Technical and Soft Skills, and then Languages. Try to have a coherent style, including font size and colour in similar titles, as well as equal space taken in every section. Especially in the section of Education and Experience, it is advised to have each title at the same format to distinguish them from the additional information, as well as to include any relevant courses and the tasks undertaken, respectively, in an equal number of bullets. For example, if you have ten bullets under one job, and five under another one, then the recruiter will automatically understand that in the first job you had more responsibilities, although it might not be true. Furthermore, in terms of styling, it is better to have a balance in every sub-section, so that the recruiter will create an appropriate idea of you and your personal brand from the first glimpse.
At the end of your CV, it is advised to add any Volunteering or Seminars you might have done, along with your Interests and Hobbies. In such a way, you create a full profile of your personal brand. However, they should not take as much space as the previous sections do, since you want the recruiter to focus more on your Education and Experience.
You can find a lot of free templates and programs online to customize your CV. If you want to make it even more different, you can just use ideas from the available templates and create your own. However, sometimes the specific format and style comes into conflict with the amount of information you want to include in every section. Here, you must decide which information is essential and how to paraphrase these in order to fit them into the specific format, while keeping your CV efficient and to the point.
To summarize, recruiters come across numerous CVs every day, so a well styled yet somewhat creatively different CV will convince them to spend more time reading it, and will increase your chances to get called for a first interview. Therefore, when making a modern styled CV try to be creative, but not too much, as recruiters can be lost with too much design muddled with information. Keep it simple but unique.
Good Luck!
Myrto Koulama