Your CV is your opportunity to sell ‘why you’ rather than other applicants. Most job seekers fall into the common trap of listing skills and experience but what if other applicants have similar skills and experience, how do you differentiate your application from theirs – through your achievements.
Whatever our role, all of us have done something really well, whether this be in our own job or through supporting others. Think of projects, change programmes, busy periods, tight deadlines, improvements we have made – no matter how trivial we think these might be.
For example, reorganising a spreadsheet so that it is easier for our colleagues to use is an achievement; it allows for time to be spent on other tasks and helps everyone within the team. The same goes for setting up a filing system or database.
If your contributions resulted in time or money saved or quality or serviced improved, try to quantify the saving or improvement as a result. Quality can be quantified through reduced error rates, customer retention or feedback.
When capturing these on your CV, use powerful verbs to open each achievement statement, such as:
Initiated |
Improved |
Introduced |
Developed |
Negotiated |
Established |
Created |
Pioneered |
Delivered |
Increased |
Reduced |
Saved |
Be wary of simply listing responsibilities; remember your CV is your personal sales and marketing, not a document which captures your job spec!! Consider not just the roles you have done, but think about how well you did in these; think about deadlines you met, ad hoc projects you contributed to, areas where you supported the team, processes you improved, feedback you had from other teams or managers recognising your contributions, etc. All of these points are unique to you and how well you performed and will differentiate you from other applicants.
A lot of us are not comfortable with ‘selling’ ourselves but in a competitive job market, we have to do this to stand out. In capturing your contributions, you are simply stating facts and helping yourself stand out in the crowd!
About the author
Paula has extensive HR background with experience gained recruiting globally having worked within BP, British Airways, Blackberry etc.Paula has been working as a freelance professional CV writer for 5 years.
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Published
04 October 2006
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