There is no magic CV that will get you noticed, as there are no hard and fast rules. The idea of a good CV is to provide the information a recruiter needs as quickly and as concisely as possible. While you’re doing that, you also have to create interest and provoke questions about you, and what you can offer.

A CV is about selling, in this case, you’re the commodity. You have to identify the need by reading the job advert, then tell the recruiter exactly how you fulfill it. You have to answer all the questions they might have, while provoking enough others that they call you. That isn’t easy to do.

There is no mandated length for a CV, but it should be no longer than two pages. That’s the one thing everyone is agreed on. A CV longer than two pages is either going to bore the recruiter before they finish, or end up in the bin.

Recruiters say they like to see a neatly formatted CV, ideally over two pages, with standard fonts, and plenty of white space. If you have 25 years work experience, you’re going to have to do some compression. Bear in mind that they will only be interested in the last 5 to 10 years, depending on your field.

Those who have just left college or university might have trouble filling two pages, so don’t. The last thing a recruiter wants to see is waffle to fill up space. If you only have enough information to fill a single page, it doesn’t matter, as long as the content addresses the advertisement. Use whatever academic projects or extra-curricular activities that relate to the role. If it isn’t relevant or doesn’t add to your story, don’t put it on there.

The trick to selling anything is to identify the need and show how you can fulfill it. Gone are the days when we could produce a CV and send it off to any job we applied for. Now we need to target the specific advert and answer all the requirements it demands. If the role specified particular skills, identify them and address them directly.

The ideal CV will quickly answer the questions the recruiter has in their mind. Can they do the job? Do they have the skills? Will they need further training? How quickly can we make them productive? Are they reliable? Are they worth the money? Most importantly, are they the best of the applicants I have?

If you can produce a CV that answers those question quickly, while provoking others, you’re on to a winner.

First and foremost, tailor the CV to the type of job you’re looking for. It might sound obvious, but the CV must tell the recruiter quickly why you would be suitable for the role. Address any specific requirements in the job advertisement clearly and you’ll have their interest.

Include a summary. Something that rounds up both you and your work history. It needs to sell your features and benefits, just like selling a car or TV. You must convince the recruiter that they need what you’re selling. A viable summary will convince the recruiter to continue reading. That’s reason enough to get it right.

There should be no chronological gaps in a CV. It’s a two page story of your life, and should have no gaps whatsoever. Did you go travelling after college? Put it down, then highlight how it made you a better person. Were you unemployed for a few months? Again, put it down and try to highlight a positive like retraining, taking the time to learn new skills, or doing volunteer work.

When adding employment history to the CV, remember to include previous employers name and the industry they are in. It adds a context to the information. Don’t worry if it’s a different industry than the vacancy, if the experience matches what they are looking for it doesn’t matter.

Use proper formatting, white space and a standard font. Recruiters won’t even bother with a resume that is hard to read. With dozens of other applications to read through, they no longer have to. So keep the font clear, at least 9pt and use white space to make the text easy to read. Then check the spelling, grammar and facts.

Once checked, leave it a day then edit again. You would be amazed how different something looks once you have slept on it. The best editing is done at least a day after the writing. Use it to your advantage. Be harsh with the editing. Read the contents of the CV and remove anything that isn’t relevant to the role. If it doesn’t answer the requirements of the job description, don’t include it. You can relate your life story once you have the job.

The most important thing to remember when writing a CV is to tell the truth. It may be tempting to embellish or to lie to make yourself seem more suitable for a role, but don’t. Employers are checking people out, which means everything you say in your CV had better be verifiable. Anything that doesn’t match up to what you put on it will get you consigned to the bin.

Writing a good CV is part investigation and part marketing. First identify the need, then make yourself the solution. Address the requirements precisely and you’ll get an interview. It’s as simple as that.

Most of my days were spent on the sun drenched snowy slopes with a general feeling of being able to get by on my skis.  Oakley goggles, Solomon helmet, Animal ski  jacket and salopettes, and lashings of thermal underwear, I was pretty much the embodiment of the saying “all the gear and not a lot of idea” on my winter holiday!  As time went by my confidence increased, my expertise developed, the slopes became more familiar day by day.  Most days the sun shone and the conditions were good.  My snow plough manoeuvres progressed to parallel turns and blue slopes turned into reds and then came the dreaded black runs.

Familiarity breeds contempt as they say, and as the week went on I became more acclimatised to the alpine ski slopes and then I noticed a subtle change.  On several occasions aided by my growing confidence, ambition definitely started to get the edge and cunningly outstripped my ability.  Suddenly, I would be half way down a slope when I would become painfully aware that I was in fact hurtling downhill, almost completely out of control and even more worryingly with ever increasing speed.  It’s at this point, as G forces started to take hold, that I quickly realised that I had two very stark choices.  I was faced with a dilemma, and one that needed addressing in less time than it takes to shout “where’s the brakes?”  All I needed was a nanosecond of clarity.

Here lies the conundrum:

Should I

a) Keep gathering speed either in a straight line down the hill or in a traverse across the slope, which would ultimately and certainly lead to a considerable and undoubtedly painful drop over the edge.  Or …

b) Put in a turn?

Putting in a turn would be the more obvious, sensible and from a spectator standpoint, apparently simple answer.  But the novice and lower intermediate skiers amongst you will recognise that there are occasions when this simple sounding manoeuvre is much more easily said than done.  Despite the lack of logic on the face of it, continuing on my existing course regardless of outcome sometimes seemed preferable to an unfamiliar and potentially tricky turn.  There is no need for answers on a postcard as more observant readers will notice that I am in fact here back in the office, and so must have managed the critical turns, despite the difficulty encountered, and mercifully with all my limbs intact! (or at least the two fingers required for typing.)

The analogy of course and the point of my article is that once on a course of employment, it can appear easier on the face of it, to continue in a role where in your heart you know that ultimately the course you are on is not the right one. You are familiar with your surroundings, your days are predictable, you may be relatively comfortable right now, but you are faced with unavoidable and all too familiar downsides to your job that hang heavy like a grey cloud.  Perhaps redundancy is looming or you know that your job is just plain wrong for you, but staying with the devil you know until your hand is forced, can often seem preferable to the deep blue sea alternative of willingly and deliberately initiating the action of changing course.  Changing your job seems possible in theory, but you might not be equipped with the practical skills and knowledge to make the leap of faith it will take to change your career direction.  You know getting a new job is possible, but just like carving a turn on the ski slope, making it happen is an entirely different matter.  It’s more the fear of the unknown and unfamiliar that is holding you back and the perceived effort of changing your job than anything else.

Now, here is the good bit.  I have some good news at this point for anyone who recognises this dilemma.  Unlike ski school which will cost you an arm and a leg (hopefully not literally), there is an abundance of completely free tuition available on the internet to help you make the transition.  Research will pay dividends and practice will make perfect in your preparation for job hunting.  Perfecting your CV, honing your interview technique, networking effectively with possible employers and recruiters, there is more careers advice on the internet than you can shake a stick or even a ski pole at.  Just like learning to ski I cannot guarantee you will get it right first time, and you might fall flat on your posterior a couple of times along your journey, but hopefully it will be a learning curve, and ultimately you will head off on a new direction to pastures or slopes new.  There are videos, articles, blogs, websites all completely free and written by those in the know, so if you really want to do it, fill your ski boots, take courage and put in the turn.

For those who would rather après ski than trawl the net, here are a few starting points.

Video 4 in a series of 4 on how to write a CV

Video 3 in a series of 4 on how to write a CV

How to answer competency based interview questions

http://blog.giraffejobs.co.uk for many more useful articles

When asked the question “What is the ideal length of a CV (number of pages) in your opinion and experience?”, the overwhelming response was 2 – 3 pages. I have seen articles saying a CV should be no more than 1 page long, which I consider too short. So I asked the question “What is your reaction to a CV of only one page?” Again the response was overwhelming in saying that this would be too short. Employers considered a CV of only one page to be vague, lacking in information, crammed, not enough experience to make a judgement on, and even graduate CVs were expected to contain more than one page demonstrating why they would make the ideal potential employee. I thought I would go the other way, as many people ask me if their CV is too many pages. I asked “What is your reaction to a CV of 5 or more pages?” Again the response was almost unanimous in the perception that a CV longer than 4 pages was waffling, contained too much information, irrelevant detail, was too long and that they would lose interest and perhaps even stop reading it before then end.

This led me to thinking what about the more experienced candidate who has been working for say 30 years, how should they detail their work experience and do justice to the vast knowledge they have amassed while not exceeding the 2 – 3 page rule? I asked the question “If you are reading a CV of someone with 10 years plus experience, how important is the detail about experience which is more than 10 – 15 years ago in your assessment of the candidate?” Most employers responded to this by saying that over 10 to 15 years you should only put dates, employer name and job title, they thought that you should omit the detail of the role. The information on jobs more than 10 – 15 years ago gives them insight into how your career has progressed but the detail was not at all important. This advice should help those with more work experience to shorten their CV without feeling that they are compromising their experience. Employers are most interested in what you have been doing recently, remember that as an applicant you are probably being assessed against a large number of other skilled and qualified candidates, so it will be those who most closely recently match the job requirements who will be shortlisted. This may be depressing news for some who feel that they have substantial and relevant experience albeit from 15 years ago, but I’m sharing inside information here about how it will be perceived. Incidentally for those looking for a change of career, perhaps back to something they did several years ago, you may be interested in another article I have written on this subject. Click here for career change advice.

The quality of CVs that come across my desk daily varies enormously, so as an afterthought I asked “How important is spelling and grammar to you when assessing a CV?”   Again the overwhelming response of the people who will typically be reading your CV or resume, and making a judgement on your suitability, responded that poor spelling and grammar reflected an applicant who couldn’t be bothered, lacked effort.  They replied that poor spelling and grammar on a CV generally gave the impression of someone who hadn’t put any real care or time into making their application.   I realise that spelling and grammar is not a strong point for many people, but you probably have spell check on your computer, you can buy a dictionary and you can ask someone else to proof read your CV for you…. I expect this last point will prompt a flood of eagle eyed Giraffe blog readers to respond with numerous errors on this very blog! I really must get round to reading Eat Shoots and Leaves one day!

For more advice on writing a winning CV you might like to watch the 4 short videos I have prepared offering further advice based on inside information on reactions from hiring managers and my own experience of spending the majority of my working day reading applicant’s CVs. http://blog.giraffejobs.co.uk/inside-advice-on-how-to-write-a-great-cv-resume/