Employers generally have very little time for your CV: on average they spend 7 seconds on a CV. To increase your chances at a job interview, you must also highlight your strengths in the best possible way!
Tips from Manpower
Do not write one CV but write several: adapt your CV to the vacancy, or to the job you want to do.
Be precise, clear and concise: a CV should be a maximum of 2 pages and should be typed.
Be concrete: team spirit, determination and sociable are good qualities but have no impact. You would be better to choose concrete examples that illustrate those qualities.
Be honest: lying about your career will never go unnoticed and the consequences may be incalculable.
Use simple language: don’t use jargon or technical terms, unless they are really necessary to explain something about your qualities.
Use keywords: to sift through CVs more quickly employers will often use search engines based on keywords from the job vacancy. So use words from the job vacancy for that reason: otherwise you run the risk of disappearing in the rubbish.
Pay attention to your use of language: a CV full of grammatical mistakes is not a good sign. There are several ways to avoid making language mistakes: a dictionary, a spellchecker, someone proofreading your CV…
Be careful what you say: do not give any personal details, like your political conviction or religion and avoid talking about salary.
Choose the right style of CV: there are different types of CV to highlight your qualities. For instance there is the anti-chronological CV (which highlights seniority and experience, starting with your most recent experience) and the thematic CV (in which you emphasise your competences). You can also put pictures on your CV so that it stands out amongst all the applications. So you should best think carefully about the type of CV in advance!
