When there are few open vacancies and a correspondingly high number of applicants, a CV must make a strong initial impact to be effective. As the job market has contracted, professional CV writers have adopted various strategies to ensure that their clients' CVs make it through the first round.
Appeal to your reader
Move your focus away from you and your career goals to an emphasis on what you can offer a prospective employer. For example, instead of writing a career objective (which puts the spotlight on your career needs) write a short professional profile or career summary to highlight your talents and the value you can bring.
Be relevant
CVs are now less an exhaustive list of everything you've ever done and more a careful selection of key roles, highlighted career skills and quantifiable achievements putting you in the best possible light. Not only do you have complete flexibility of what to present, but also in how and where you present it. For example, traditionally your education section would be the first section in your CV, but unless you're a recent grad with little relevant experience, this section now generally comes last.
Having full control over what you include in your CV also means that functional layouts (with their emphasis on skills rather than dates of employment) have fallen out of favour in all but very few situations. Most hiring managers will want to see your work history, so rather than making them piece it together (or worse, come to their own conclusions) CV writers now generally advise a hybrid chronological format, with a beefed-up skills section, then a full work history section. Any gaps in work history can be plugged by personal projects, voluntary work and training courses, for example.
Keep it concise
Few HR departments, recruiters or hiring managers have the time to read through dense text. For most roles, a two-page CV is normally enough to demonstrate your key skills, achievements and career history.
CV layouts have become more reader-friendly, with headings and sub-headings, sparing use of bold font and a few bullet-points rather than long paragraphs to help your reader process information more quickly and easily.
A more concise writing style, characterised by powerful action verbs, has replaced the dull "I was responsible for..." recitation of job duties. Every word you write should help position you for the role, so edit out irrelevancies or repetition.
Use personal branding strategies
How you differentiate yourself from others has never been so crucial, and creating a strong brand centred around your key qualities, skills and values helps you set yourself apart.
Personal branding extends online, too. A LinkedIn profile, presence on Twitter and industry-specific forums and blogs can all reinforce your brand. With recruiters and hiring managers also scouting online, it's become essential to safeguard your image and make sure you have a consistent brand both online and on your paper CV. This blurring of the online and offline means you can include your LinkedIn URL in your CV — especially useful if you have some glowing recommendations which can serve as third-party endorsements.
