Can you read your CV?
Our CVs are one of those aspects of our personal profile that are often the last to be amended. This is perhaps because these days we are more likely to update our status on social media, or our job status on LinkedIn instead. As a result, we are more up-to-date in our profiles in some ways, but less so in others. We have different priorities and often something like a CV is only refreshed when we need it, to send out to prospective employers.
The story so far
If you are working with an outplacement Consultant, they will help you get your CV in shape. It’s worth remembering that a Consultant will not write your CV for you. They will help you to look at career/role/sector options through discussion and then point you towards how your CV can best display you and your skills. In this way your CV will speak to your selected readership or audience. This guidance is a reliable way of honing your CV towards sectors you would like to work in. It also helps you identify where your strengths and weaknesses lie, in relation to where and how you see yourself. All you really want from a CV is a true reflection of you, your career and experience thus far, and your ambitions and career goals – your story so far.
Cut the jargon, having read your CV
Your Consultant will be well versed in working with people at all levels, in multitudinous roles and sectors. They won’t understand the jargon necessarily, but they can challenge what you have put down, ask what it means and help you construct and articulate your skills and achievements. If you cannot explain what the jargon means, it’s probably best to take it out, as if you’re pressed on it in an interview, you’ll be caught out. At a push, if you think the jargon is justified for the sector – some digital abbreviations if the role is in IT for example, a sector littered with technical words and acronyms – then by all means leave them in. But in the main, aim for a general readership and an accessible tone.
The silence of print
My ‘go to’ when working with clients, usually after quite an amount of work, is to ask them to read their CV aloud to themselves. Speaking out loud changes the tone of the words dramatically from the silence of print. A good sign is if you simply write the way you speak. For someone who does this instinctively, there will be little discrepancy between the written word and the spoken one. We all have different styles of writing and language that we use. If it sounds stilted, then it isn’t you and you should correct it. Always aim for plain English when you’re assembling a CV – the more straightforward the better. Again, your Consultant will help you recraft until you’re happy that the tone and content reflects the true you.
