Perry Maddox reflects on the reality faced by hiring managers and explains how to get the CV & resume basics right in your next application.
What do you call a person who reads only one job application?
An applicant.
On the other side of the table, I’ve read thousands of applications over the years. No matter the format – CV, resume or application form – candidates come in droves.
Sadly, those numbers will increase as the pandemic continues. In the UK alone 60,000 jobs could be lost in the charity sector. More talented people will compete for fewer jobs, something readers in many developing economies have long experienced.
With such competition, you absolutely must get the CV and resume basics right.
Start by stepping into the mind of the person who’s reading your application, and the hundreds of other applications sitting next to it.
Looking to Rule You Out at the Start.
As a director in Uganda, I regularly received over a hundred applications for any job we advertised.
I normally cut that pile down to 10-15 candidates in under two hours. That’s a couple minutes with each application, max. Why? Not out of cruelty, but because time was scarce and my day job was waiting.
The first step was to reduce to a shorter, manageable list of candidates whom we would explore in depth. That first cut was thus about speed. As I read the first time, I looked to do one thing.
Rule candidates out.
CV & Resume Basics to Master.
It’s brutal, but you must get the basics right.
If that sounds patronising, know that so many candidates fail here. Execute these basics or expect to get cut.
- Proofread for Spelling & Grammar. Spellcheck isn’t enough. Do the work. Have a friend – or perhaps an enemy – pick your application to pieces. If you’re submitting in a language that’s not your first, take extra time. Keep revising until you read through several times without spotting a single error.
- Meet the Minimum Requirements. We list these for a reason. Yet, many people apply for jobs they’re not qualified to do. Beware of the impostor syndrome – you don’t have to have all of the desirable traits listed – so don’t talk yourself out of a job you can do. But equally don’t apply for one that you can’t.
- Tie Up Your Details. Ensure that the information in your application matches the information in your cover letter and on LinkedIn. This goes for contact details, employment dates, everything. Check for consistency, particularly when editing an old document. When you update details in one place, update them all.
- Follow their Instructions. Even for senior roles, people often send in the wrong format or include the wrong content. I don’t know if it’s laziness or attention to detail. I don’t care, either. Follow the instructions or forget it.
- Keep it Short. The old rule is one page of resume for every decade of work experience, with a max of two pages. CVs run longer in some places, but the idea holds. Keep it punchy. You will share more in an interview.
- Keep it Clean. Nobody wants to read a page covered in black ink. If you find yourself adjusting font sizes and margins to make it all fit, stop immediately. Instead, try to cut your word count by 10 or 20 percent. Actively select the most important content, leaving plenty of white space on the page for ease of reading.
- Beware TMI. Requirements vary by country, but many candidates share too much personal information. Your hobbies, interests, grades and old awards rarely matter, so if you must include them, keep it brief. Same goes for older jobs. Jobs that once got a paragraph in my resume now get a sentence. Leave your photo out too. That’s just creepy.
- Create a New Application. Every job is different, and every application must be unique. It’s exhausting to tailor to every job, every time. But if you don’t demonstrate that you meet the unique job requirements, that you understand the organisation, and that your offer lines up for this job, don’t expect an interview.
There are other traps, like using a ridiculous email address or stuffing keywords and jargon, but these are the big ones I often see.
Nobody’s Perfect, Unless it Comes to CV & Resume Basics.
We all make mistakes.
Most of the times that I didn’t get an interview, I went back to find one of these errors in my application.
Fair or not, perfection is the standard when it comes to the first reading of your application.
So print a copy, leave it overnight and come back with a coffee, a clear eye and a red pen. Read every single word and cross check the detail. Repeat several times until you’re sure it is mistake free. Then do it one more time.
Don’t give anyone an excuse to rule you out.
