As a senior professional, you have undoubtedly worked in several organisations, or held numerous positions in your career. If, at some point, you decide to look for a new professional challenge, you will most likely need to prepare or complete your CV. But where do you start? Is it essential to mention every single working experience? And what is the ideal length of a CV?
Recruiters and employers attach great importance to a short and concise CV in order to quickly form a picture of you. Robert Walters provides 4 tips to help you highlight your extensive experience on your CV.
1. The CV's golden rule: be clear and concise
Also make sure that you do not come across as too highly qualified. You will undoubtedly be proud of all the qualifications you have obtained, but this can put some employers off: it may mean that you will cost too much, or that you may not feel challenged enough for the job in question.
Even though you have built up a wealth of experience in different roles, the golden rule of a good CV is to be clear and concise. Indeed, regardless of the number of positions you have held, it is advisable to limit your CV to a maximum of one or two pages.
First, it is advisable to sort and synthesise your experiences according to the position for which you wish to apply. If you have held several positions, it is recommended to limit yourself to the most recent and the most relevant ones. Temporary or less relevant positions at the beginning of your career can be omitted or mentioned very briefly, without providing a detailed list of all the tasks you have carried out in these jobs.
2. Describe your qualifications and experiences in a modern way
Make sure you pay extra attention to how you formulate degrees and qualifications. For example, a certain degree today does not necessarily have the same name as it did 10 or 20 years ago. The same applies to job titles that have been modernised over the years. When searching for the ideal candidate, recruiters often look for job titles in a CV: if you do not mention commonly used job titles on your CV, your profile will unfortunately appear less often in the search results.
3. Sort information by competency instead of chronology
Another way to keep your CV concise is to sort the information by competency instead of chronology. This will enable you to group certain elements, which reduces the amount of information considerably. To make these skills relevant, you can illustrate them with actual achievements: an special project, a remarkable result, achieved objectives, ... By doing so, you avoid describing only your daily tasks and limit yourself to those tasks that will have the greatest impact on recruiters reviewing your CV.
4. Mention additional trainings and courses
Over the years, you will undoubtedly have followed additional training, either in the workplace or in your spare time. Positions evolve so fast that it is important your CV displays you are aware of the latest technologies and trends on the market. Mentioning these extra training courses on your CV shows that you are open to change and have the adaptability that is essential today.
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