Today’s job market is incredibly saturated. This means that making an immediate impression with your CV and cover letter is absolutely essential: think of these documents as an elevator pitch for yourself as a potential hire.
A good CV and cover letter should be worded in a way that presents your experience and qualifications in the best possible light. Your application documents should also jump out to recruiters from the pile of CVs and cover letters they’re reading through. Finally, you want to optimise your CV and cover letter to the specific job you’re applying for while still remaining completely accurate.
If all this sounds like a challenge, you’ve come to the right place. In this piece, we’ll go through some top tips on how to make your CV and cover letter stand out from the crowd.
Make Your CV & Cover Letter Easy to Read
If your CV and cover letter are difficult to read, you run the risk of recruiters simply throwing them in the bin. Companies often receive more applications than they can handle, so you want yours to be as convenient to go through as possible.
This starts with your file format. PDFs are the most universally accepted document formats the world over, so an online PDF editor can be extremely helpful. You should also use simple language when you can: you’re likely not applying to work at a dictionary publisher, and recruiters will be more impressed by your ability to get the point across concisely than your use of big, flowery words.
You should also stick to simpler, more minimalist layouts. While using extravagant resume layouts might be tempting, they can be difficult for both human recruiters and AI filters to read.
Get to the Point
CVs and cover letters should be short and snappy. This goes back to the point of ensuring your materials are easy to read: you want recruiters to be able to take in the main points of your CV and cover letter at a glance. This means avoiding superfluous language, cutting out unnecessary sections and saying everything as concisely as possible.
There are lots of elements that were traditionally included in CVs and cover letters that are no longer relevant today. The most glaring of these are the delivery address and return address sections. These are vestiges of a time when application documents were sent by mail. At most, you can include your address in your CV, but there’s no need to insert both a sender and receiver address on both your CV and cover letter.
Be Different
Company recruiters might go through dozens, if not hundreds, of applications over the course of a week. To get noticed, you need to make your resume stand out from the pile. One easy way of doing this is by highlighting key points in bold. You also shouldn’t be afraid to include all your work experiences, even if they don’t seem totally related to the role you’re applying for at first glance. These can include jobs in other industries, self-employment roles, internships and more.
You also shouldn’t be afraid to add a personal touch to your CV and cover letter. Use a font you like (as long as it’s not too difficult to read), play around with formatting without going over the top and use casual, everyday language where appropriate. You can also devote a section to discussing your personal interests, as hiring managers want to see that you have a life outside of work.
Volunteering experience is another great way to stand out from the crowd. Companies value employees who care about doing good for the world, so if you regularly help out at an animal shelter or spend your weekends cleaning beaches, talk about it on your CV and cover letter.
Optimise Your CV and Cover Letter for the Role
Companies that receive high numbers of applicants often utilise digital programs to help them filter through CVs and cover letters. These tools scan for certain keywords relating to relevant work experience, training programs, education, skills and more.
Make sure to read through the job description and include keywords you think the recruiters might be looking for. Using an online CV checker can also be a great way to ensure that your application includes key elements like action words recruiters check for and that it is free of typos and careless mistakes.
Start Strong
There’s a vast amount of information you can potentially include in a CV and cover letter, and it can be difficult to know where to start. When it comes to a CV, you want the first thing a recruiter reads to be your personal summary, but after that, you want to emphasise whatever skills or experiences you have that make you suited for the job you’re applying to.
Start with your most relevant skills and experiences. If you’re applying for a digital marketing role, highlight previous jobs or internships in digital marketing. Alternatively, you can talk about your marketing education and highlight particularly relevant courses that you’ve taken.
In the case of cover letters, you have a little more freedom when it comes to starting out. Rather than going for something generic like ‘I am writing to apply for the role of…’ or ‘I’m a recent graduate of…’, start with something more personal. It’s important to get across who you are as a person and why you want to apply to this job in particular, as well as how you can provide value to the business from the get-go.
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Just like on a first date, first impressions matter when it comes to CVs and cover letters. In this article, we’ve gone through some tips on creating a fantastic impression on recruiters the moment they lay eyes on your CV and cover letter.
By following the tips in this article, you’ll give yourself the best chance of being noticed by recruitment departments. Spend time optimising your application documents to ensure that they stand out from the crowd and paint your skills and experiences in the best possible light.