I had recently written a post about rewriting your CV in todays work climate, what I learned, how to present it and all that kind of stuff, I had passed my new CV round colleagues, previous bosses and clients to make sure that it was exactly the CV they were looking for. and after some corrections nearly all of them stated that it was just what they were hoping to see coming across their desk.
Perfect.. New role here I come!!
The only problem was, that two weeks into job searching, and I was simply not getting any response to my CV submissions, so much so that I started to worry about my skill set and if I was missing something core in my abilities.
By the beginning of the third week, I decided that something had to be done. So I went back to the traditional way that I’d written CV’s for ages which is absolutely bring everything to the table. So I rewrote my CV again, but this time I listed every one of my skills, how long I had used them, everything I’d done, all of the improvements I brought to every client and company, all the successes, everything!
It was a full five pages, and I started using it on the following Monday, within three days I had four interviews lined up. I was apparently exactly what people were looking for, phew!!, just had my CV written wrong then..
However when I went to the interviews, I was asked for details that were already on my CV, I would answer the questions but was then asked why I had not listed it, this happened multiple times, after checking, it would turn out that agents would take my 5 page CV that their search filters would find, then quickly trim it down to the 2 page version before submitting it to the end client.
Ultimately all has ended well and I have a perfect new role, but the lessons I would take away in hindsight would be:
- You need 2 CV formats. 1) A full length full detail one that will get you through initial Agency filtering and 2) A 2 page summery version that clients want to read.
- When you are contacted by the Agent after they have filtered you from your 5 page CV, send them the 2 page version trimmed in the way they want 1
- Maintain a version of the full length one on-line in an easy short URL that you can give to clients in the interview if they ask.
- Makes sure your LinkedIn job history and skills match your CV exactly 2