What did you do – not what you were paid to do? How to make or break your CV.

 So what’s the difference?

Think from the recruiter’s point of view. Does he want to read a job description and end up with no idea whether you were good, bad or indifferent in the role OR does he want to understand just what a dynamic individual you are and how you have delivered  a quantifiable performance for the organisations for whom you’ve worked in the recent past?

The first approach blights around 95% of CVs and this is irrespective of the candidate’s education, seniority or pay scale.

The second approach well set less able candidates above the more able ones who have submitted a “95%” CV.

Why should this be?

The simple answer is that “approach one” invites the recruiter to speculate about what the candidate can do from their CV. “Approach two” spells out and provides supporting evidence of their achievements and if done really well, plants the idea in the recruiter’s head that the candidate will perform to similarly high standards in the advertised positions.

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