Resume writing & interviews
What do employers think when reading a CV?
October 30, 2008 - 6:22 AM
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The employment process certainly confuses you if you are a part of the majority of candidates. For example, how many times have you found the perfect position, have quickly sent the CV and have waited for a phone call, but nobody called you back?

Unfortunately, the frustrating reality is that for the majority of the CV's that you send you get few or no answers at all. There are situations when things cannot be controlled: the position is already filled when you send your CV or applying for the job was not such a good idea. This does not mean that you cannot do something in order to increase your chances of being called for an interview.

In the next rows you have some questions that the employer poses when he analyzes a CV. Taking into account the employer's thoughts, you can formulate a much more decisive and stronger CV.

Does the candidate satisfy the company needs?
This is an obvious question. After all, if a company looks for a programmer it won't call for an interview a candidate specialized in human resources. Having the necessary experience is not all that counts. If the CV does not coincide with the company's specificity, your qualifications might seem inappropriate.
Adjusting your CV for a certain position means showing the employer that your experience and skills are a perfect match for the needs of the position. So, instead of sending the same CV for different jobs, modify it with respect to each and every job position. It will of course take much more of your time. What counts is that it is worth it. Be very careful when it comes to putting down all the information in the CV. Having the idea that something from the CV might turn out to be important is not the best way to go about. A good approach is using numbers, for example mentioning that your project raised the number of orders at 5000 per month. Where there are a great deal of words, the numbers will attract the attention of the employer. Try to read more than once the description of the position in order to be sure that you stressed the significant qualifications.

Will the candidate have a long stay in my firm?
The employment process is a long, complicated and expensive one. Because of high costs, employers search for candidates who do not plan leaving the company shortly after they had been employed. Therefore, they will search the CVs for proof of stable long lasting work places.
Moreover, employers search for confirmations that you are devoted to your profession. If you are a part of a professional association and you have certain certificates put them down in your CV. Make sure that all of your references are relevant and up to date.

Is this candidate a professional?
Imagine that you are trying to convince someone to buy a product just by offering a description of it and not letting the person test or see the product. The exact same thing happens when you send a CV. The employer makes use only of a few pages in order to decide if you truly are a professional and if you are able to efficiently communicate.
Therefore, the CV does need to be easily understood and does not need to contain any grammar mistakes. If the employer has a question referring to your experience he will most definitely not call you to satisfy his curiosity. Ask someone to read your CV in order to find the mistakes that you probably omitted. Then ask the person to do a resume. Can he or she still remember your workplaces and the responsibilities that you had at each one of them? Can he or she tell what kind of position you are interested in? If not, you probably did not make yourself as clear as you hoped to.
Even though the employment process is not a transparent one, one thing is certain: a well written and good oriented CV offers you the best chance firstly to get called for an interview and secondly to get the job that you wished. Before sending out the next CV, try to think as an employer. By doing this you make sure that your CV does not get lost in the stack.

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