Does your CV grab attention within 10 seconds?

It’s a well-known fact that most recruiters only spend about 20 seconds reviewing your CV. Well, why not try to save them more time and energy, as they’ll thank you for it. I believe it’s possible to help a recruiter make their decision to call you for an interview in as little as 10 seconds. To achieve this, you must focus on two key areas – creating an impactful summary and ensuring your CV is easy on the eye.

Create an impactful professional summary

You must grab the readers’ attention. Your summary, located at the top of the first page of your CV, can help you achieve this goal. A recruiter should be able to make the decision to call you for interview after reading your summary, or at the very least get excited enough to scan over the rest of your CV.

• Use one line bullet points, not a paragraph. You’ll help the recruiter digest key data quicker.
• Be relevant! Review the job spec and tailor your summary to the role you’re targeting.
• Avoid CV clichés – ability to work on my own initiative, highly organised, motivated, or high achiever. For example, replace “High achiever” with “Received five promotions in eight years”
• Avoid bland statements! Highlight evidence of your achievements and results.
• Don’t be afraid to highlight key achievements already housed in the main body of your CV.

Ensure your CV is easy on the eye

The first thing a recruiter will notice is the general look and feel of your CV. A cluttered CV, or a poor CV layout, will immediately turn a recruiter off. So, make your CV easy to read and navigate. Most recruiters prefer clean and simple, with key information accessible at the glance of the eye.

• Keep your CV layout clean and simple, using clear headers and uniformed font style.
• Insert ample white space to let your CV breath.
• Keep CVs to two pages. It’s cheating to shrink font to size 8, or move borders to the extreme.
• Get key information onto page one, as the second page of your CV probably won’t get read.
• Remember, less is more! Don’t use 15 words when you can get a message across in 5.
• Avoid paragraphs! Use short bullet-pointed statements.