Interviewing - Reviewing CVs
Introduction
The company that I work for has recently been recruting for a new position. As part of this, we put the role out on the job boards, instead of using a recruiter. This was an eye opener, as there was a large volume of applications that were being made. The only knowledge we had of these applicants was the CV that they sent through.
This means, given the large number of CVs that we were getting through, then the length of time to review a CV was not high, and so a lot of applications were rejected out right due to their CV. This highlights the importance of having a quality CV.
What I look for in a CV
Readability
You can create a CV this is all singing and dancing and looks amazing on your machine. If you then upload this to a job board, they can slightly reformat it, and change the borders / padding etc. This could mean that the fancy coloured border that you put on has completely mangled the details about your last job when I am reading it. Try and keep the formating simple, and maybe export it as a PDF.
Gaps in experience
People have gaps in a career for many reasons, and I have no problems with career gaps. What raises warning flags for me is a 3 year gap in your career with no mention of why. If you stayed at home to look after another human being, then that’s an amazing thing to do, and you should be proud of it and include it in your CV. If you went travelling for a year as a career break, put it on your CV and it maybe a random question in an interview if we’ve been to the same place.
Relevant experience
For the role in question, we have a minimum amout of experience. I know tech roles are hard to get your foot in the door with, so if you don’t have the requested experience then personalise the CV / add a covering letter and let me know why I should hire you, given you don’t have any experience. I have employed people with limited experience before, but they personalised the application to say why they wanted to role, then they got through to an interview, and were subsequently successful.
Length
I still print off some CVs, and scribble notes over them. If your CV is too long, then I will get bored reading it all and move on to another candidate. If your CV is too short, then I won’t have enough information to get an idea of you as a candidate. I think I fall back to the “standard” advice that a CV should be around 2 pages long.
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