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1. Know your potential employers

A lot of jobseekers don’t know their potential employers, their needs, problems, and concerns. As a result they write a CV that employers don’t care about. To write an effective CV, keep this CV writing tip in mind.

2. Prove your skills and core competencies.

Most CVs fail because most jobseekers think that by just listing their skills and qualities in their CV, employers will believe them and call them up for interview. Instead of just writing “Excellent Communicator”, add that you delivered a speech at a world conference in Ghana or helped previous company renegotiate debt payment.

3. Make the most of the introductory part of your CV

Whether you’re starting with an objective statement or profile statement make sure that you make the most of this critical part of your CV by briefly mentioning the problems and needs of the employers and the skills you possess to solve the problems and meet the needs, not forgetting to prove them by revealing how your solve similar problem in the past. Employers decide whether to read a CV or not in less than 5 seconds – that is why must take this CV writing tip very serious.

4. proofread your CV 101 times

The importance of proofreading a CV cannot be overemphasized. CVs riddled with errors are like bad breath, everybody hates them. Errors and inconsistencies say a lot about job applicants. Just one or two blunders can scuttle your chance of getting your dream job. Proofread your CV as many times as possible. Give it also to your friends to help you proofread. You are not the best proofreader of your CV.

5. Use bullets to stress key information

Bullets have a way of drawing attention to information. Use them especially when you are stressing key information like your accomplishment statements.

6. Start your CV with the most important information

When you are developing content for your CV, identify and isolate the information you know is the most important, it could be your previous accomplishment that stands you out of the crowd. The trick is to follow it with the next important information. This is the trick I use to write attention-grabbing and deadly effective CVs for my clients.

7. Use safe and professional fonts

Fonts like Arial, Verdana are safe fonts – that is, fonts that can be emailed via the Internet without losing its formatting or displaying strange codes.  Ditch Times New Roman, it’s an outdated font style.

8. Avoid using CAPITAL letters all over your CV

Apart from hurting the eyes, capital letters are unprofessional. Again, your CV may be caught as a spam and not delivered to the right inbox.

9. Avoid comparing yourself to other applicants

Do not say that you’re better than other applicants because you barely know them. And have it in mind that employers don’t know you and other applicants to be able to judge.

10. Focus on your accomplishments instead of responsibilities

What are the great things you achieved in your last workplace? Focus on them. Don’t waste your CV space listing your previous job responsibilities. There is a BIG difference between responsibility and accomplishment. For example, don’t say you were responsible for typing, say you typed over 4,700 documents in just a year you spent in your former workplace.

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