The Importance of CVs and Resumes

Studies have shown that a recruitment manager spends on average 10-15 seconds to decide whether to reject a CV or put it into the shortlist.

On average employers can receive between 100 - 300 CVs for each position advertised. These will be narrowed down to around 20-30 CVs and from this selection between 4-12 will be called for an interview. This indicates the great importance attached to your CV. Hence, your objective is to create a CV that does not get discarded at the initial "glance" stage, then passes the review stage and lands you an interview. If you are not getting enough interviews this shows that your CV needs to be rewritten as it is being discarded. You need to make sure you present your skills and experiences in the right way to catch the employers attention. Only when you start landing interviews for your desired jobs will you know that you have created your CV successfully.

Creating a Good CV or Resume Takes Time

In order to remember your full range of skills, achievements and experiences that have been acquired over numerous years, it will take you some time. Sometimes you will not remember achievements or experiences that are highly significant to the job you are seeking. And if you have already prepared your CV you might be tempted to leave out significant new information which might grab the attention of the employer. It may take you many hours or sometimes even a couple of days to remember everything. Taking the time out to audit yourself fully provides lots of benefits. One of those benefits is greater confidence in interviews. If your CV is weak, the interviewer will ask you questions based on information that presents you weakly. Whereas if your CV is strong, the interview will ask questions based on information that presents your image strongly. Therefore, straight away, your CV determines how your image is presented and it will influence the nature and direction of the interview.

Strong CVs and Resumes Set a Strong Image for Interviews

This is one of the most important points that need to be understood. It is vital that your strengths and appropriate skills are clearly represented in your CV. Just improving on interview skills alone will not make such a great impact. A carefully planned and distinctly prepared CV will have a great impact on whether you get the job. Sometimes CVs may land interviews, but because the information presented does not portray a strong image, the job is lost. This may make a person think that it was poor interview skills that made them lose the job. This is not necessarily the case. A weak presentation of skills in the CV will also lead to weak presentation and discussion of skills in the interview.

Who Gets the Job?

Its not the most technically qualified person that receives the job offer, but the person who has put together the most effective CV and gives a good interview to convince the potential employer that he or she is the best qualified person for the job. In many cases, your competitors can look more qualified on paper and they will be hired instead of you, even though you may be the most technically qualified and skilful applicant. The following is a quotation from the Bureau of Census after conducting a survey of 10 million job seekers in order to identify successful job hunting tactics:

"The skills that make a person employable are not so much the ones needed on the job as the ones needed to get the job, skills like the ability to find a job opening, complete an application, prepare a resume, and survive an interview."

The crux of the matter therefore, is that the majority of people do not know how to market themselves appropriately for the job at hand. Lesser qualified job seekers often snatch the jobs from the more qualified because they know how to create effective CVs to market themselves more efficiently.

The Importance of Identifying Skills

By identifying your full range of skills, your confidence will be greatly increased and this will also have a positive impact on how you deal with interviews. You must also try and think broadly about your skills and not neglect to mention "soft skills" within your skills set. Soft skills are those that are transferrable from one job to another and are not tied to a particular industry or job type.

Your CV or Resume is an Extremely Powerful Tool

From the above you will have gathered having a strong and well-written CV can result in:

• Matching your skills and image to the job you seek
• Defining the image that your potential employer has of you
• Giving a clear indication of your growth potential
• Defining and directing the nature of the interviewer's questions
• Giving very good interviews
• Gaining a competitive edge over your competitors
• Increasing your confidence
• Entering employment at a significantly increased salary level

In a nutshell, your CV or resume will be one of the very important investments you will make for your own life.