What do recruiters look for in a CV?

What’s your main goal when applying for a job? Yes, we know – it is to beat the other applicants and to land the job. To ensure that you stand a chance among all the other eager applicants, your CV needs to make an impression from the get-go. Most recruiters receive several applications every day – and usually spend less than a minute on a single application. The trick is to make an impact during these vital seconds.

Here are some things that recruiters really look into in a CV. Apply these in your CV to make it stand out.

1. Roles and responsibilities: This helps in determining your professional background and experience and helps in identifying the perfect fit for the job. It’s always good to tailor your resume for each job that you plan to apply for. This helps in highlighting the relevant information and increases your chances of getting the rectuiter’s attention.
2. Skills: a further validation of the work experience and the abilities of the applicant. By taking a look at the skills recruiters get a better understanding of what the candidate is capable of. Listing your skills is also helpful in finding the right keywords that reflect your past work experience.
3. Results and achievements: If you’ve been an achiever in your past jobs, this is the section to focus on. Recruiters love to see the result-oriented individuals and their achievements. So if you are one of those individuals who always managed to achieve the targets, never missed deadlines, received awards or recognition for your exceptional efforts, make sure you mention everything. And it’s of course always helpful if these achievements are relevant to the job you’re applying for.
4. Education: List your education in chronological order along with the dates. Also specify all your certifications that are relevant to the job that you’re applying for. It’s always a good catch for the recruiters if they can find someone with the certifications and education to make them eligible for the job.
5. Inconsistencies: Make sure that everything is in a reverse chronological order and avoid any inconsistencies. Also, make sure that there are no unexplained gaps in your work history.

Additional tips for even more shine

Formatting: This should of course not be the deciding factor, but sometimes CVs come with really funny formats. Using strange colors and fonts can leave an impact, but it’s probably not going to help you in securing a job. It’s very important to keep the structure professional unless you are applying for some creative job and need to stand out in a purely creative way. Make sure the fonts and spaces are consistent throughout the document.

Spelling and language: These are also very important. Having a CV with correct and solid language reflects on your attention to detail.

Labels: All the sections should be labelled correctly so that the recruiter is able to find exactly what they are looking for.