One of the most frequent responses I receive after sending clients their new CV is that on reading it, they thought “Is this really me?”. Yet they admit that they cannot see anything that is not true, it was just that an objective person was able to see their character and accomplishments in a different light. A CV Writer’s job is to highlight the best of what this person offers as a candidate and the bonuses of employing them – it’s not about ‘spin’ or ‘smoke and mirrors’, but about putting the genuine good stuff front and centre. Everybody has some good stuff, whether it’s their work ethic, ability to relate with people, outstanding achievements in their field, or multiple qualifications.
I frequently come across people who use the word ‘Expert’ in their CV, but when I start reading their details, they only have 3 years of professional experience. If you overstate your history or abilities, this can be off-putting to employers.
Malcolm Gladwell in his bestseller ‘Outliers’, says that to become an expert it takes 10,000 hours (approximately 10 years) of deliberate practice. By definition, an Expert is someone having comprehensive or authoritative knowledge in a subject. I am always reluctant to include the word ‘Expert’ on a CV unless the client has at least 10 years of consistent and progressive experience in their field.
How about understating your capabilities?
Many clients also make the comment that they find it hard to tell what their good points are, they feel they are not very good at promoting themselves. Your CV is not the time to be modest. If you have done it, you deserve to shout about it. Even if you’ve just held a role at the local fish and chip shop, this demonstrates that you have a work ethic, customer service skills, and an ability to manage pressured environments. Employers are looking for both hard and soft skills – hard skills are abilities specific to a particular role or industry, for instance, demonstrating proficiency in software, accounting, languages, operating equipment or machinery. Soft skills are equally as important, because no matter how good you are at complex technical programming, if you can’t get along with your team members, you won’t last long in the role. Examples of soft skills include communication, customer service, problem solving, time management and leadership.
You might think that soft skills aren’t that important, but the results of an in-depth survey showed that particularly in New Zealand, a lot of employers are small business owners, and they value attributes such as loyalty, turning up to work on time, being able to relate to customers and good teamwork as the most important things they look for when hiring new staff. Hard skills are usually things you have learned, while soft skills are more around personality traits, which are harder to develop, and therefore extremely valuable to employers.
Every person has soft and hard skills to offer, and both of these should be highlighted on your CV with examples, to have the greatest impact. As a job seeker, it is very important to showcase your best hard and soft skills, to demonstrate that you are a well-rounded candidate.