Hey There,
We have all had that moment where after carefully crafting our CV, it is still above the required number of pages. We begin to brainstorm and think of ways we can present all this “awesomeness” into one single document. We then begin to introduce templates and formats that assist in presenting more than enough data than the hiring manager can scan through to get key details under two minutes. Yup. You have been doing it wrong all this while.
You might then ask yourself, what is the right thing to do? Other than asking yourself the questions we are going to highlight in this post, the very first step could be remembering that your CV should NOT be longer than 2 pages.
According to the Hiring Manager at Google who has reviewed over 20,000 resumés,
“For Every 10 years you’ve been working, you can add one page to your resume”
The five key questions to ask yourself to decide what to keep on your CV, and what to delete are as follows:
#1 Does This Relate To The Position I’m Applying For?
A simple tactic that can be employed to determine what is relevant and what is not so relevant is printing out your resume, and then highlighting every single role and description that relates to the position you are applying for. If it’s highlighted, then it stays, if it’s not; then it goes. It’s that simple. You have to be honest and objective while carrying out this task, otherwise you might find yourself stuck on this task, longer than you should.
#2 Was This A Big Responsibility Within The Role?
When you have more experience, you have more substantial information on your CV. You can then replace the not so substantial information that was previously on your CV with the more relevant duties you have carried out. Replace not Merge, that’s the second rule in shortening your resume without presenting an incompetent version of yourself to the hiring manager. Also remember, sometimes less is more.
#3 Have I Shown This Somewhere Else On My Resume?
You do not need to highlight the same piece of information under all the sub sections in your CV disguised in various forms. You do not want to come across as being redundant. Since you are trying to maximize your space, you don’t need to include two entirely different job descriptions under the same department when you can simply merge them or chose the more superior job description that would be a better representative so to say.
#4 Could I Do Something Similar In The Next Role?
Sometimes, your work experience is not completely relevant but is worth including. For example, you’re currently in recruiting and trying to transition into sales. In your current job, you consistently hit or exceeded your recruiting goals. Not only is that impressive, but it also shows you know how to sell a product (in this case, your company!). There’s no doubt it should be on your resume.
To make the connection really obvious to the hiring manager, include a line in your cover letter that says, “I would apply the skills I learned in attracting top talent to acquiring valuable clients for your company.”
But the bullet you’ve included about conducting in-depth phone screens with job candidates? Well, since you’re not going to be interviewing candidates as a sales rep, that should probably be omitted.
#5 How Impressive Is This Point?
There are some achievements and awards that you should keep on your resumé simply because they make you look really really good. However, some achievements that we have seen on some resumés just simply make us wonder. For example, except you are applying to be a coach or a sports teacher, we do not see why you should add the fact that you were the winner of the 100m dash in Year 11. Simply put, do not put achievements that might come across as totally off point to the hiring manager while reviewing your CV.
In Conclusion, If something on your resume does not make you answer a yes to one or more of these five questions, it is time to let it go. In return, you would have a more professional CV that would be more impressive and also easier for the hiring manager to review.
Yours Truly,
PushCV Content Team.
