5 Must-Have Keywords to Make Your CV Stand Out in Job Applications

5 Must-Have Keywords to Make Your CV Stand Out in Job Applications

5 Must-Have Keywords to Make Your CV Stand Out in Job Applications

Your CV or resume is a crucial document when applying for jobs, as it highlights your qualifications, skills, and experiences to potential employers. To make your CV stand out, it is important to use industry-specific keywords that relate to the job you are applying for. These keywords can help your CV get noticed by applicant tracking systems (ATS) and hiring managers. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the keywords that you may want to include in your CV and job applications.

Technical skills:

These are skills that are specific to a particular field or industry. For example, if you are applying for a job in software development, you should include programming languages that you are proficient in, such as Python, Java, or C++. If you are in a different field, such as accounting or marketing, you should include relevant technical skills, such as proficiency in Excel or Google Analytics.

Action verbs:

When describing your experiences and accomplishments, it is important to use strong action verbs that demonstrate your abilities. Some examples of action verbs include managed, created, developed, implemented, and analyzed. These words help to convey a sense of action and accomplishment, which can make your CV more impressive to potential employers.

Industry-specific terminology:

Using industry-specific terminology can help to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in a particular field. For example, if you are applying for a job in finance, you may want to use terms such as ROI, cash flow, and balance sheet. If you are in the healthcare industry, you may want to use terms such as HIPAA, EHR, and telemedicine.

 

Soft skills:

Soft skills are personal attributes that can help you succeed in a job. Some examples of soft skills include communication, teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving. Including these skills in your CV can demonstrate that you are a well-rounded candidate who can work effectively in a team and communicate effectively with others.

 

Accomplishments:

Employers want to see how you have contributed to your previous roles and what accomplishments you have achieved. Rather than simply listing your job duties, highlight specific accomplishments and how you achieved them. For example, instead of saying “I managed a team,” say “I successfully led a team of 10 people to achieve a 20% increase in sales.”

 

In conclusion, including industry-specific keywords and strong action verbs in your CV can help it stand out to potential employers. Additionally, highlighting your technical skills, soft skills, and accomplishments can demonstrate that you are a well-rounded candidate who can contribute to the company’s success. Remember to tailor your CV to the specific job you are applying for, as different jobs may require different sets of keywords and skills.

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What contact details do you include on your CV?

When you prepare your CV, contact details are often the most obvious details that job seekers overlook.
Check your CV to make sure that the following information is on your CV before your apply for a job.
1. Address
You do not need to put your exact physical address or postal address (because no one posts letters of regret anymore!) But it is very important that you state the area that you live in, to the nearest suburb. This is also the field that job seekers neglect to update, and result in them being regretted unnecessarily for positions that they would have been suitable for.
2. Email address
If you are applying via email, it is essential that your email address is on your CV. The first time your original email with your CV is forwarded on to someone else; or your CV is downloaded, it is separated from your email address, and the chances of you getting feedback on your application will be slim.
3. Cell phone Number
It sounds obvious, but a lot of people forget the obvious!
4. WhatsApp Number
If you were with one service provider, and moved to another, chances are you have a different WhatsApp Number to your cell phone number. If this is the case, list both. Many companies make use of WhatsApp for Business, and communicate via WhatsApp
5. LinkedIn Profile
If you are active of LinkedIn, your LinkedIn profile should mirror your CV. It is an opportunity for your share your endorsements and skills, and any projects and articles you may have worked on.

Formatting and presentation when preparing a CV!

Your CV makes your first impression, it is the thing that determines if you get the interview and make it to the next round, or get the regret email.
When a recruiter opens your CV, you want to immediately grab their attention and provide them with the information that they are looking for, in an easy and professional manner.
Take note of these top tips for preparing a professional CV:
1. Keep the font, heading and text size uniform.
Use a standard font that is clear and easy to read. This is a professional document, and not a wedding invitation. If you are updating your CV with new information, make sure that you are using the same layout and font as before.
2. Make it easy on the eye.
There is a lot of misinformation about the 2 page CV, and cramming as much information as possible onto a two page CV. You want your CV to be as concise and to the point as possible, but you also want to include all the relevant information- and you need white spaces. You will never see a webpage a professional email with no white spaces, and there is a reason for this. The majority of people who read e-documents, skim read the documents, your CV included, and white spaces help them do this.
Where appropriate use bullet points and short sentences.
3. Make it personal.
Place a head and shoulders photo of yourself on the front of your CV. I know that this may be uncomfortable for you, but I cannot stress how powerful it is at “personifying” your CV. Remember- this is a work photo. The kind that would be on your company name tag or website. Dress and do your hair and makeup like you are going to a job interview. No sunglasses on your face or head. Sit up straight- a stool works well- with an appropriate backdrop. Look into the camera and SMILE. People like happy people.
4. Avoid clip art.
Does anyone really enjoy the old fashioned scrolls and boarders and images of clipart. Does is add to your CV, or take away from your CV?
5. Is this the best you can do.
If your CV is the most important tool you have to get you an interview, and from there the job, then it stands to reason that it is an example of the highest quality of work you would produce if you got the job! If you arrive at the interview, and your CV is outdated; dirty, torn and crumpled; and you have made no effort. I would hate to know what work you would produce when the stakes weren’t quite so high?

What do you do when you don’t have any experience to list on your CV?

I was chatting to a senior manager recently, who was in the process of interviewing for a graduate trainee program, and he pleaded with me to make sure that my sons have hobbies and interests now, so that one day a future employer could have something to chat to them about in an interview!
When you are starting out in the workplace; no one expects you to have an elaborate career history and amazing qualifications. They are largely interviewing you because something about your application sparked their interest, and they want to see if you have the work ethic and attitude for them to invest their time in training you.
In the absence of work experience, listing your hobbies and interests will give the interviewer something to chat to you about. It also steers the conversation to something that you enjoy and are passionate about, and makes answering interview questions that much easier!

Are you Procrastinating or are you overwhelmed?

“Procrastination is not a form of laziness at all. It’s a coping mechanism for stress.”
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The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage
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We all have that family member who has been unemployed, are in a dire situation, and yet they are not doing anything to help themselves. They are constantly shuffling papers, starting new projects, waiting for this or that to happen first. It’s frustrating to watch, but have you ever thought that maybe they are just completely overwhelmed by the situation and don’t know where to start?
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Maybe what they need from you, is not to do it for them, but to break the job seeking process into steps for them. To help them just start, just do one thing.
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“If you have the courage to start, you have the courage to succeed.”
― Mel Robbins

The Path of Least Resistance

Energy moves down the path of least resistance, be it water in a river or electricity through a circuit. Your life is the same way – it moves down the path of least resistance.  Recruiters also take the path of least resistance when dealing with advert response.

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What this means practically to you as the job seeker, is that if you make processing your application harder for the recruiter, than the other applicants, they will deal with your application last.  If the job advert asks for a CV of a certain number of pages, a cover page or questions answered, follow the instructions.  The two minutes that it takes you, will put your application ahead of everyone else.  The ten minutes it will take for the recruiter to search their emails for the copy of your CV that you sent last week/ month, or to email you back for the missing information or to send your CV in a format that is readable… may just mean your application is dealt with last.

Talent is overrated

“Most people learn how to do their jobs in the first year, and then they never get any better. They just coast in their jobs. But the only direction you can coast is downhill.
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The average person does only an average job, and as a result, he earns an average income and worries about money all his life. He does not realize that there is often only a thin veil that separates the average person from the excellent person. The fact is that if you are not getting better, you are getting worse. No one stays in the same place for long.”
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The only thing that separates the average person from the exceptional person, is continuous learning. Listening to podcasts, reading, doing courses.
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Part Four: Your future employer is going to cyber-stalk you.

Before you are employed- possibly before you are even interviewed- your future employer is going to stalk you on the internet.  I know this, because it’s the first thing that I would do, and most of my clients do as well 😊!  And its perfectly fair and ethical to “invade your privacy” and make judgements on what is on your social media accounts… because you made it public!

You have the power to decide what people see and do not see on your social media profiles, by changing your privacy settings and thinking before you post.  By looking at little details such as your display name, account name, email address, statuses, and profile pictures.  Your WhatsApp Profile picture may be my first visual impression of you.

Take a moment to scroll through your account and look at your posts through the eyes of a future employer.

And while we are on the topic of digital accounts- do you have a LinkedIn Profile?  If not, it is time to get one.  Think of LinkedIn as the professional Facebook for the business world.  Next week I will post a few hints and tips of putting together a professional LinkedIn profile.

Part Three: Tertiary Education sells you on Dreams

It’s sad, but true.  Tertiary education is a business like any other.  They must sell you on studying qualifications through them, with the promise of amazing careers, dream jobs and huge salaries.  The truth is, that a lot of the Student Advisors are students themselves and have no idea what the business world has to offer.

You study for years, excel in your exams, enter the employment market, only to find that the jobs and salaries are not what you expected.  Business on the other hand is less interested in your qualifications, and more interested in who you are and the value you can add to their business.  And without practical experience behind the theory that you learnt, they will have to invest more in you initially, than the value you will add.

The reality is, that when entering the job market, you need to see what the market is paying, and the value of the experience that you will gain.

The good news is, that while you may not necessarily be the next Marketing Intern for Unilever, or Account Manager for an Advertising Agency, with hard work and a little time, you will achieve those great things.  And there will come a day when you and another applicant apply for a job or promotion, and you will get it, because of the qualifications you studied.

(A final note- I am not for a second saying that studying is unnecessary or irrelevant.  As a recruiter, if a CV passes my desk of a graduate, I immediately assume that they are intelligent and have work ethic, simply because they completed a qualification.  That alone will open doors for you!)

Part Two: Who wants this job- you or your mom?

Every recruiter’s pet peeve- when a girlfriend, boyfriend, best friend, wife; or in this case- parent, phones on behalf of their child to find out about jobs.

When you are starting your career, there is not a lot on your CV to “sell” you.  Most of the time when we book in a school leaver or graduate with no experience for an interview, it is because they impressed us with their communication.

If you are not the one communicating with us, how will we get to know you? How will you form connections/ network? How are we supposed to know that you are confident enough to speak to people on the phone or construct a professional email?

(A side note to the parent: I know you care.  I know that it’s easier for you to just get it done.  I know you are at work to access to your employers’ phones and internet.  I am a parent too. But you undermine your children when you phone for them.  Respect them enough to let them do this themselves.)