Unique CV Per Job Application

So you've sent your curriculum vitae to a thousand job vacancies and have waited in anticipation to hear a response to your comprehensive CV.

You have detailed all of your work experience and skills in your CV, attached certificates and reference letters to accompany your application and still not a hint of interest from a Recruiter or employer alike.   So what's the problem?  Why, after painstakingly creating a nine page CV, is no one interested in at least one of your skills?

Want to know the answer?  It's your CV! Yes, your CV or Resume', is just not getting you noticed.

Your CV is a marketing tool for your career, a brochure explaining why an employer should hire you or at least meet with you.  When a CV is too long or details work history that is irrelevant to the position you are applying to, no Recruiter will pay attention to it. Recruiters are bombarded with CV's for each job vacancy that they advertise.

In order for Recruiters to get through the bulk of CV's received, they scan through the details of your CV noting keywords, skills and specific work experience that appears in your CV or Resume which correlate and match the details of the job ad. If you have sent through a chronological CV describing every position you have ever worked in, because they lack the capacity to do so, Recruiters will be reluctant to wade through each of these looking to match your skills to an employer's requirements.  Instead they will toss your resume to the side and scan through a CV that is concise, to the point and relevant to requirements of the role.

This is why we recommend that in order to get your CV noticed, you need to concentrate on getting your CV to talk directly to the Recruiter and in a language they understand.

By adapting your CV each time you apply to a unique job vacancy, this will assist in helping your CV talk to the recruiter in a language they understand, telling them exactly what they want to hear from your CV.

Jobs.co.za offers guidelines to assist you in customising your CV so that it gets noticed.

Begin with your base CV

Start by preparing and all encompassing curriculum vitae to base each customised CV from. While this is fine to advertise as a generic CV, this CV should not be used for all job applications but rather made available for head hunters.

Read the Job Ad Carefully

Take special care when looking at the advertised vacancy and ensure that you are absolutely sure that you are matching relevant ability to those skills and experience detailed as being requirements of the Recruiter. If and when possible give the agent a call to find out further information regarding the job and the roles and responsibilities it entails.

Break Your Base CV into Sections of Relevancy   

By only specifying the relevant skills set, qualifications and experience in your tailored CV, this CV will not only help in getting it noticed but it will also show the recruitment agent that you are particularly interested in their vacancy. If you show that you have spent time preparing your application, exerted effort and care to target and customise your CV, this will prove that you recognise and understand what the employer is looking for in a candidate and you've got what they want.

Relevancy of Skills will Rank Your Resume

A key concept of targeting your CV employs emphasis to be made on the roles and responsibilities listed in your generic CV that are relevant and relate directly to the advertised post. Omit information that does not specifically correlate to listed requirements in the job ad, as this will waste limited space and make it that much more difficult for a recruiter to identify the relevancy of your CV.

Identify Transferrable Skills

Transferrable skills are important to detail in a customized CV as these skills are unique to you personally and may be utilised equally from one job to another job. These are described as being those skills that can be applied to any position regardless of your specific role or industry and should always be included in your unique CV. Examples of transferrable skills are; the ability to multitask, attention to detail, energetic, crisis management, ability to integrate into a team, motivate others and so on.

Use the Job Ad to Tailor Your CV

The Recruiter will use a specific language style and words in the job advert itself and these are the words that should appear in your customised CV which you will send as your job application. Mirror the Recruiters' language and choice of words in your modified CV in order for specific skills to be highlighted in the language the Recruiter speaks. By using too advanced synonyms or paraphrasing, may result in waffle and a 'slow to read' CV.

The Relevancy of Your CV Title

It is just as important to modify your unique CV title as it is to edit the skills and responsibilities listed in the body of your CV. If your CV title is simply your name and a date, how does this help to sell your CV at a glance? It doesn't! Give your tailored CV a unique and customised title relevant to the position and try to include no more than two credentials or required skills that you already have.

Include Your Current Career Objective

Include a brief but targeted career objective at the end of your curriculum vitae that directly relates to the position you are applying for, for example; my current career objective is to become the Online Content Manager for Jobs.co.za.

This will illustrate once again, how well you and your CV are suited to the role as well as the effort and care you have taken in identifying relevant information that pertains to the role you are interested in.

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