Principles of a Good CV. Jobseeker Basics I
Good morning!
I'm transferring over my Jobseeker Basics substack to LinkedIn, so this is the first weekly edition of my LinkedIn 'newsletter'.
Every week you'll received either a chapter from my book, "A Career Breakdown Kit." or an edition of my weekly round-up. (You have a breakdown kit for your car - why wouldn't you in case of an unexpected job search?)
All are guidance on navigating a VUCA jobs marketplace in the UK, mainly at mid to senior level. Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous.
Today's edition is Chapter 30, from Part 3 - Get It Done.
Yes, it's Wall of Text - because it's word for word from the publication version. Something I offer for free to every candidate I represent for a vacancy. Or you can support my work by buying it - click Visit My Store on my profile.
This chapter relates directly to my free CV template. DM me on LinkedIn if you'd like a copy - Greg Wyatt, Bircham Wyatt Recruitment.
‘Ask 9 people for advice on your CV and you’ll end up with 10 CVs.’
A pithy truth that shows how subjective a CV’s quality is.
While also highlighting how frustrating it can be to spend time or even money on perfecting a document that the next person rips to shreds.
The person whose opinion matters most, in a hiring process, is the reader whose finger is on the Reject button.
What are the principles of a good CV?
Not a perfect CV, because perfection is wholly subjective and the path of madness in a difficult job search.
These principles are based on advice I give to job seekers when they ask for feedback.
Principles that come from my own insight, backed up by effective processes from a seemingly different industry.
First, we start with what a CV is and what a CV means.
Did you know the first recognised CV was written by Leonardo da Vinci in a letter highlighting his candidacy for employment? Yes, a CV and cover letter in one!
I’m pleased to say he got the job off his first application.
The notion of a document that presents candidacy dates back millennia with gladiators highlighting their achievements through the Lanista system. This was done to increase their reputation so that owners could earn more money.
A form of marketing document based on provable facts that synthesised their gladiatorial career in written format - a stone slab.
In a sense nothing has changed - your CV is a marketing document, which you use to highlight your candidacy so that your potential buyers invest their time to offer you an interview.
Where it has changed is the medium, given there are many means of presenting candidacy, including LinkedIn, other social media or platforms such as YouTube. You can even parade your portfolio on GitHub (for software), a website or other platforms.
For now, let’s stick to the CV proper.
I read a lot of debate on what a CV actually is and whether it is more of a technical document than a marketing one.
That’s a disservice to true marketing, which always has a basis in fact.
Your CV is there to highlight your candidacy and to give your experience meaning to the reader, helping them make a positive decision on you.
It’s there to get you an interview and for its readers to take you to the next stage.
A hiring process often has several moving parts, each a decision-maker in their own right.
From an administrator who sifts CVs, to recruiters / talent acquisition processes that make a longlist, to hiring managers and their bosses - each has their say on whether or not you might make the cut.
I’m sorry to say sometimes it is arbitrary:
‘If they’re this unlucky, why would we hire them?’ said the hiring manager to the administrator after binning one of the two piles of CVs at random.
While their decisions aren’t in your control, your words and how they are presented are.
It makes sense to create a document that helps the weakest link in the chain see you as a candidate of choice. One which supports other decision-makers, presuming they run the game fairly.
It isn’t only about applications - it enables your networking, doorknocking and speculative enquiries.
The principles of a good CV are the principles of a good marketing document.
A good marketing document at its core creates action - the decision to move forward.
A CV is an advert that should provoke attention, create interest and convert action.
I’m sure you have read much hoo-ha on what makes a good CV in the Talent Acquisition, recruitment, career coaching, and job seeker spaces. Much advice is contradictory, while some of it is cynical.
Instead of joining in that conversation, let’s look to another industry that uses words to convert action, as a basis for the principles of a good CV.
Whose principles are based on user psychology, behaviour and experience, and influence their actions to improve the odds of a purchase.
E-commerce.
A multi-trillion industry built on the words you read, marketing and advertising.
While it may not directly relate to recruitment or looking for work, its principles do:
- Readability
- Accessibility
- AIDA (attention interest desire action; a century-old advertising formula that applies response-stimuli psychology)
- Features (what it does; skills, tools, experience in a CV) and benefits (how it helps; achievements)
- Search engine optimisation (SEO; keywords to be found) on the Google principles of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (EEAT)
- Conversion rate optimisation (CRO; words that convert)
Job boards and LinkedIn employ many principles of E-commerce in their functionality. These principles are not only equivalent but directly applicable to job searching.
What about assumptions and myths?
- ATS compliance
- 7-second CV scan
- CVs must be 1, 2, 3, 367 pages long
- Anything people often talk about
These seem like big deals. They’re not, for a simple reason.
If you write your CV for a reader in a way that grabs their attention while following basic rules, you’ll navigate these seeming traps.
Let’s touch on the top three briefly.
- To be ATS compliant, at worst, you need to avoid tables, columns and images. I say at worst because modern ATSs are less likely to struggle with these (read The truth about the ATS and AI – p18)
- It’s true that in a volume process, the initial scan may be quick to check for obvious reasons to rule out applicants. If you pass the scan your CV will be read in more depth because you move from elimination to selection
- Your CV should be… okay this gets its own section:
Everyone has their own opinion on what the length of a CV should be.
The only person who matters in a hiring process is the reader, if they have a strong opinion you can find out.
If you know their requirement for what makes a good CV and you are prepared to play to their whim - give them that.
If not, your CV should tell its story in a way that grabs attention and holds it. Accessibility, readability… those bullet points above.
- White space is good
- Unnecessary repetition is not
- Conciseness is good
- Ambiguity is not
- Achievements that show context are good
- Adjectives are not (strip an adjective out and does your CV lose meaning? If not, why are you relying on them?)
- ‘So What?’ is a brilliant editing question. If readers have to ask that of your statements, you need to find improvement or excise
- Show specific and relevant information and don’t bore your audience with things they don’t care about
(If you’re a recruiter, why not apply the same to your job adverts? The reader psychology is the same.)
Grab your reader’s attention in the first half page, so they read the rest. If they don’t read past that first half page, it doesn’t really matter how well written the rest of your document is.
Get these points right, and a good enough CV will often be 800 to 1200 words long across 2 to 3 (even 4) pages.
Okay now on to actionable steps.
Accessibility and readability
Can someone who doesn’t know your domain see what you do from your CV?
If they can’t, there’s a problem, especially if they are the weakest link in the chain.
A good litmus test is to ask a friend you trust to see what they can tell you about you from your CV. What do they think your biggest achievements are?
White space: would you more easily read a condensed document or one that is clearly laid out? Don’t worry about spreading your CV onto a third, or even fourth page, if your experience demands it.
AIDA
The classic advertising framework, and how animals make decisions (look, check, I am hungry, eat). Look to your puppy for confirmation.
In a 7-second CV scan, you grab Attention on the first page with the most relevant information: your job title, key skills and tools that show how you meet essential requirements, and what the vacancy is looking for.
Get past this first test and gain their Interest through a clearly laid out document that shows the passage of your career (reverse chronological order, show company and role context).
Build Desire by showing the achievements that support your candidacy for the role you want. These are the problems you solve and show how you can help your next employer best.
Enable Action by providing clear and accurate means of contacting you - this may seem obvious, yet some forget.
A note on context.
Context is the information in your CV that answers the questions your readers should have.
What does your employer do? How many employees? What size revenue? What was the structure of the team in which you delivered your achievement?
If your reader has to ask a question about your CV, your CV should provide the answer.
Context is what most CVs miss and it lets them down.
One way to show context is to use the interview framework STAR (Situation Task Action Result) - this frames information in a way that has
meaning to your audience.
Features and Benefits
These are the basics of selling.
You don’t buy the technical specifications of a TV. You buy what the TV does for you.
You don’t buy the ingredients of a pizza. You buy the taste, sensation and experience it provides.
Both are important.
Most of your readers know broadly what a <job title> does - there’s no need to say it if the meaning is implicit.
What we want to know is how it helps.
An administrator may do administration. How does it help?
Do they arrange travel cost efficiently, take away the admin burden from the directors, save time?
Those are the benefits, even better in the form of achievements.
SEO
SEO primarily relates to keywords. Think about how you search on Google. We do much the same when scanning and searching on CVs.
Are the keywords from the job description or advert clearly stated on your CV?
These are typically the essential requirements, and this is a rare piece of ALWAYS advice. Always show how you meet the essential requirements.
Rely on EEAT in that list above. Show these keywords without looking cynical or careless.
Some career coaches advise a ‘white text keyword bomb’ as a hack - if a reader thinks you’ve employed a hack, you may be seen to be cheating, and that rarely goes well.
If your CV has the right keywords, it will be easier to find on CV databases.
You can use the same keywords to make it easier to be found on LinkedIn.
Which are two ways to be considered for unadvertised jobs.
CRO
The main point of a CV is to prompt positive action - the second A in AIDA.
The crux of a CV is to show the reader how you can solve their problems.
The problems that are at the heart of their vacancy.
Do this in a compelling way, and you’ll improve your odds.
CRO is built on psychology and understanding how your readers make decisions.
Think about the flow and readability of your CV - this is how websites work.
Everything in a well-designed website is intentional. Is your CV?
I find CRO fascinating - worth a read if you want to go down a rabbit hole.
While CVs are important, many people place too much importance on their place in the process.
A good enough CV is your best step forward. If you are a no anyway, perhaps it wasn’t meant to be.
Or maybe the decision was already made if you are in a demographic the reader chooses to discriminate against.
That may not even be for illegal reasons, if they decide you live too far away, are too expensive, or that you love Agile when they love Waterfall.
Go for good enough - it is a challenge to get there, but once you do, you can build on it for life, and it will help you get a job.
