What is the best template for making the perfect CV?
Let’s be clear from the start: there is no one best model for creating a perfect resume.
But there is the best resume template for every single application.
Let us explain better.
If you are applying for a competition , the Europass format is usually required . This is because the CV will have to meet very specific requirements and receiving hundreds or thousands of CVs in the same format makes the job much easier for recruiters.
In addition to the fact that the Europass format is definitely the most well-known and used , but be careful, for this very reason it can sometimes be inconvenient to use it.
For example, for a corporate application : how do you hope to stand out with a CV format that everyone uses?
For this very reason, it is also a good idea to adapt the CV format based on the type of application.
Let's take some examples.
When we post job ads in the creative field, such as digital graphics, what we certainly expect is to receive extremely creative resumes, not monochromatic, boring and similar to thousands of others.
A candidate's soft skills can also be seen from this: from his ability to demonstrate his potential, and not to reduce it to a few lines (which could also be invented).
Think about it, it has surely happened to you that you had the perfect characteristics and qualifications for that job you applied for, but no one contacted you.
Yes, the excuse you may have given yourself is that they will have found someone more qualified than you, but even if that were the case, I assure you that they would have granted you at least 1 interview.
The reality is that your resume was probably terrible: you presented yourself badly!
In fact, we have also hired people for positions that we were not actively looking for, but their spontaneous application had struck us so much that we wanted them on the team.
Ok but what should I actually do?
Think about the position you are applying for, try to put yourself in the shoes of the company and create the most suitable resume format, which you think will leave them speechless.
There are no limits, take risks, get out of impostor syndrome.
On the web we have seen resumes in the shape of a milk carton for an application to a packaging company, a resume made in origami or in the form of a comic strip…
And if you don't want to overdo it, you can just use a program like Canva , start from a predefined template and create your own personal CV.
How to Make the Perfect Resume in 7 Steps
After choosing the format, let's see the 7 steps to create a perfect CV.
In short, after they have noticed you thanks to a creative and effective template , let's see what absolutely cannot be missing to convince them to call you to schedule the first interview.
1 Customize your CV according to the company you are applying for
Please note that you do not need to write everything about yourself , but you must include absolutely all the information, including personal information, that you believe may be useful for the job position and for the company to which you are sending your application.
But do I have to personalize my cover letter and resume every time?
Exactly!
Using the same resume for dozens of applications to different companies is one of the most common mistakes , recruiters realize it , and this is not looked upon favorably.
Then enter:
- details relevant to the position you are applying for
- information that may be useful for that particular company
- every detail must always be updated
2 Select and describe your relevant experiences
What also needs to be personalized are the work and/or personal experiences that you decide to include in your CV.
This is because it is really useless and boring to include an endless list of experiences that have nothing to do with the position you are applying for, or are not useful to that company.
Making this type of selection allows you to better highlight the experiences you want to highlight and also gives you space for a short description of them.
Yes ok, but what if I have no work experience?
Don't panic!
In this case, our advice is to focus more on your soft skills and include any type of experience you have had, even if it is not relevant.
A little experience , even in the field of charity or volunteering , is always better than not writing anything: it will demonstrate to the company that you are still capable of putting yourself to the test and collaborating in a team.
Omitting such an important section of your resume is a very serious mistake.
3 Describe the objectives achieved and possibly measurable
Including numerical data, milestones and successes in your resume means giving recruiters measurable, therefore concrete, elements of your value.
Everything else is just talk.
By providing measurable data, you can truly demonstrate with numbers that you are the best person for the role they are trying to fill.
What to do if you don't have any numeric data to enter?
You can simply choose to include goals achieved , but also comments or compliments you have received in your work experiences.
Reviews don’t just work for e-commerce : don’t be shy about asking for short sentences of recommendation that confirm your skills, even through LinkedIn , from your previous employers.
4 Choose the path of sincerity
The truth is that any company notices the lies that are included in a resume: during the interview , or worse, in the first few days of work.
If you want that job badly, but know you don’t have the experience or skill required, be honest.
Include this shortcoming in your CV : true, your application could be discarded, or the company could appreciate your sincerity and decide to hire you anyway by making you take a training course .
It is better never to start a working relationship (which should be based on trust) in a climate of lies.
5 Include Soft Skills, But in Moderation
Too often, too many resumes contain endless lists of soft skills, thrown together a bit haphazardly.
Soft skills, or psycho-attitudinal abilities , are much more complex to prove than hard skills, or technical abilities.
Precisely for this reason, in the perfect CV, you should include only those soft skills that you have tested in the field and that you are sure you possess , also adding some motivation.
Let's take an example: “Excellent leadership skills put to the test during my work experience X”.
What you should do, therefore, is to absolutely avoid including soft skills that you are not sure you have and that you have never tested in your experience, but that you assume you have.
Just as you shouldn’t lie about your work experience and technical skills, you shouldn’t lie about your soft skills.
Also because, let's be clear , recruiters know it and nowadays they don't rely much on those that are inserted in CVs. They know very well that they are written almost by heart , no one can have all those psycho-attitudinal skills that are inserted randomly in a CV and they don't believe in them anymore .
“Ability to work under stress”, “excellent teamwork”, “I love working with the public”, “problem solving skills”…and so on…
Remember that not including a soft skill does not mean that that ability does not belong to you at all, but it means that it is not part of your strong points or you have not had the opportunity to test it.
Don't worry, if you haven't listed a soft skill that the company is particularly interested in on your CV, you'll probably be asked about it during the interview.
6 Create an eye-catching resume
The eye also wants its part and what you really want to avoid is boring the recruiters.
Imagine the scenario: a company posts a job ad and receives 1,265 applications.
This translates to 1265 resumes to read.
All 1265 resumes to read are in black and white , with the same layout and full of long paragraphs to read.
Now imagine the recruiter, who among those 1265 resumes, finds one that is colorful, creative and laid out differently from the others with short and clear paragraphs.
Our recruiter friend, in a rush of adrenaline, will immediately start reading that resume that saved him another 10 minutes of pure boredom.
Here, that resume must be yours.
Ok, I'm not telling you that applying for an accounting job has to be extremely creative but, in line with the position, try to create a resume that stands out from the crowd , that catches the eye and possibly in just 1 page .
7 Consider attaching a portfolio
Very often a CV is not enough, especially in some types of work: graphic designer, photographer, copywriter, event planner, website creator…
How can we demonstrate our skill in this case?
Always remember that the CV, together with the cover letter, is a first presentation that you make of yourself: often a portfolio or case studies can be worth much more than the CV!
In fact, inside your CV you can insert the coordinates to view some of your works in your portfolio, or create a paper one in the case of specific works.
In your CV, therefore, I recommend that you include a link to your website if you have one or, even better, create a digital portfolio .
5 CV Mistakes to Avoid That Can Keep You Away from Your Dream Job
These mistakes should always be avoided.
1 Photo
Photo yes or photo no? that is the question.
Especially in recent years there has been a heated debate as to whether it is really necessary to include a photo in your CV or not.
This is because it is proven that appearance can influence the recruiter's decision , unintentionally of course, we are talking about brain functions.
In fact, for many companies it is no longer necessary to include a photo, even if it is still highly requested in the Italian market ; unlike many other countries where, even, including a photo in the CV is not looked upon favorably.
But if it is requested, or you really want to include it, avoid inserting blurry or crooked photos, photos on the beach or in other contexts and with clothing that is not appropriate for the environment for which you are applying.
Then take a clear photo of your body or face, with a neutral background and clothing appropriate to the position you want to fill.
2 Spelling and syntax errors
Ok, we all agree that a spelling or typing mistake can happen to anyone , but if many small errors are repeated throughout the resume it is really an ugly thing to see.
Lots of small errors, syntax inaccuracies or little attention to detail in the layout are typical of a person who is not very detail-oriented , who takes little care of his or her work or who is particularly absent-minded .
Would you ever hire someone like that?
3 CV too long
Put yourself in the shoes of the human resources or the entrepreneur who has to read hundreds of resumes: wouldn't you also like them to be short, concise and with the most important information inside?
As we have already said, it is important that a CV contains the main information and not lines and lines of superfluous material.
Precisely for this reason, unless we are talking about specific applications as we said before, a perfect CV must be 1 page, maximum 2.
This plays to the advantage of the company, which will save time and find everything it needs at a glance in an A4.
But also to your advantage, because you have the ability to insert only what you want to stand out for that specific application.
Writing your entire life story on a resume is not only pointless and boring, it also shows a poor ability to identify and prioritize essential information - essential characteristics in many jobs.
4 Incomplete CV
The goal of a perfect resume is to make the company understand that, thanks to your educational and work experiences, you are the right person for that role.
How do you plan to prove it by sending a resume without specific dates, without clarifying the tasks you have performed and without going into detail about your experiences?
Precisely for this reason, remember to:
- Don't just enter the year of the experience, but specify the start date, end date or whether it is still ongoing;
- be clear with your name and description of the tasks you performed (writing “manager” means everything and nothing);
- Detail with a brief description each study and work experience that you have included in your CV.
(Perhaps using a bulleted list like we did above.)
5 Application procedures not respected
One of the most unnerving things for a corporate recruiter is to receive an application that has not followed the required procedures to the letter and does not meet the necessary requirements for the application.
For example, if the company requires a paper to be attached to the CV to demonstrate your skills and this is not delivered, your application will almost certainly be thrown away.
What do you think the company might think of the fact that you weren't even able to complete the first simple task requested?
As for the requirements that are requested instead, we would like to make some specifications.
Very often, in fact, the company inserts some requirements that the candidate must have in a job advertisement: years of experience, educational qualifications, etc.
If you do not meet some of these requirements , but you are particularly keen on that position, do not give up, but acknowledge it and report it to the company.
As?
For example, you could write a few lines in the cover letter , which we always recommend you attach, in which you can explain that despite the absence of that requirement, you still feel like the right person for the job.
The company will surely appreciate your sincerity and may think of a way to fix that requirement discrepancy .
In short, we have guided you in creating your effective and optimized resume.
Once you have entered all the information as best as possible your resume is ready!
But we want to say one thing.
For us at Upenabler, the CV itself is not so important, we give much more importance to the projects and your portfolio: the CV is important but it is not everything.
Now all you have to do is apply for the positions that interest you and for which you know you are the person they are looking for.
Don't forget to send a short cover letter when submitting.
Conclusion
Here we are at the conclusion of this guide on how to stop writing resumes that won't get you the job of your dreams.
But let's do a quick recap.
How to write a perfect CV?
- customize your CV based on your application;
- enter only experiences and information relevant to the role applied for;
- enter the goals achieved and make them real thanks to the numbers;
- don't lie;
- enter only tested soft skills;
- be captivating;
- attach your portfolio, website or LinkedIn page;
- use only high-quality and suitable photos;
- avoid spelling and layout errors;
- use only 1 page;
- don't leave your CV incomplete;
- follow all the required application procedures.
Now all you have to do is leave the recruiters speechless!
Before saying goodbye, I would like to give you some last pieces of advice:
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Until next time!