It can be difficult to know how to tailor your CV. This blog post provides CV writing help if you choose to write your own CV rather than using a CV writing service, or if you wish to tailor a professionally written CV to another role.

This article show you how to tailor your CV, so your experience stands out to recruiters. This portrays you as the perfect candidate for the role, by emphasising the skills and experience which the recruiter is looking for.

Tailoring your CV means creating a different version, specific to a particular role or sector. Most people write their CV based on the duties in their current role. Whilst this is a good starting point, it doesn’t emphasise any skills, or differentiate you from other applicants. It is also likely to contain information which is less relevant to the recruiter, which can introduce concerns.

Understand what the recruiter is looking for

In order to make your experience stand out to recruiters, you need to understand what they are looking for, and write / tailor your CV to emphasise that your experience is a perfect match for their role. Recruiters assess your CV against a job description to assess whether you have the relevant skills and experience, and whether you are a high achiever. Tailoring your CV involves reviewing the job description, identifying the keywords and specific skills and ensuring your CV is structured in a way which ensures these are clearly visible.

How your CV structure makes your experience stand out

Your CV needs to be structured to showcase your skills and experience, so these are clearly visible within a few seconds of looking at your CV. Most CVs contain sections such as your personal details, personal profile, expertise / key skills, employment history, professional development / certifications, education and additional information. These sections should be ordered by importance, so the most important information is clearly visible, with less relevant information further down your CV. Whilst many CVs will follow the order above, you may wish to order these differently.

• A high-achieving executive may wish to include a Career Highlights section to showcase their achievements, which may otherwise be less visible on the second page of their CV. They may also wish to write each “duty” as an achievement.

• A recent graduate can emphasise their degree in their personal profile, feature their education before their work experience and include information about their dissertation, projects and key modules. Relevant voluntary experience is likely to be listed before their employment history if their experience is retail / hospitality etc.
  

A skills based CV contains a detailed description of your skills / expertise on the first page, whilst listing employment history on the second page. This can be an extremely effective format if you have the required skills, but limited relevant experience, for instance someone seeking a career change, or at the beginning of their career. This is also an effective format for someone who has completed numerous consultancy or short-term contract roles, as it clearly sets out your expertise whilst reducing the length of your CV to one or two bullet points per role.

You may find this article on CV structure helpful for further CV writing help.

How to choose the right keywords

Most large companies use computerised systems called Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) or Candidate Management Systems (CMS) to scan CVs for the specific keywords to ensure your recruiters or hiring manager only reviews CVs which closely match the job description. If your CV doesn’t include these keywords then it will often be rejected before reaching the hiring manager.

In order to identify the most important keywords you may find it helpful to divide the job description into four or five main areas, look at the keywords included in each section and emphasise these in your personal profile, key skills section and role descriptions. Focus on the main parts of the role, rather than trying to include every single skill from the job description. If you are applying for a Project Manager these keywords may include project management, project manager, projects, resources, progress, deliverables, reporting, budget, scope etc. The more highly your CV scores, the more relevant the system will rate this, and the more relevant your CV looks when the recruiter reviews this.

Look at the four or five key areas of the role and emphasise your skills and experience in your personal profile, key skills and role descriptions. Aim to highlight your wealth of experience in each area, rather than repeating the same content in each section. It can be helpful to think about the key benefits you can deliver for the company. Some companies use different language, so once you’ve reviewed a few job descriptions, you may decide to tailor your keywords or include common variants. E.g. Certified Scrum Master, CSM, Scrum all refer to the same skills.

Do I need to tailor my CV for every role?

Tailoring your CV emphasises the skills and experience which the recruiter is looking for, and this helps you to stand out above other applicants. Most people develop one or two tailored copies of their CV, specific to a particular role or sector.

If you are applying for a single type of role e.g. a Financial Accountant or an IT Manager, the duties are similar in most companies. However, if you are applying for two different roles, for instance an Account Manager nurturing existing customers, and a Business Development Manager acquiring new customers, you will gain best results from tailoring your CV to each role. Once you have tailored your CV to two or three similar roles, it is likely to only require minor tweaks.

Do you need professional assistance in writing or tailoring your CV, so this stands out to recruiters? I offer CV writing help including a CV writing service which includes a telephone consultation to discuss your experience, so I can write and tailor your CV for you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me.