Spring is here – delivering crisp fresh air and blue skies, and losing those dreary, grey days. It’s the season where we all begin to feel great again, revitalising ourselves before the summer.
In the spirit of ‘spring cleaning’ tradition, the UK’s leading independent job board CV-Library have put together some pointers to help you spring clean your CV.
Clear the cobwebs
If you haven’t updated your CV for a while, it’s likely that there’s information on it that is either old, irrelevant – or both! Go through your CV and declutter it.
Remove expired qualifications and certifications, and lose information from each section that no longer bears relevance to you or the type of work you’re after – like skills, old hobbies or employment experiences. If you don’t wish to remove employment experiences, try and condense or group them together as “other experiences”.
Clearing the cobwebs both frees up space and keeps your CV up to date.
Freshen it up
Once you’ve cleared the cobwebs, you may realise you have new strengths and experiences to add. Consider replacing the lost skills and hobbies, for example, with new ones.
However, don’t just do this for the sake of it. Two A4 pages is ideal CV length, and so it may be that clearing the cobwebs helps you get the length back on track.
It’s also worth revisiting sections, like your personal biography, and giving it a rewrite. Doing this not only freshens up the content on your CV but can remind you of your own strengths and career goals.
Give it a makeover
The purpose of your CV is to show off who you are, what you know and do, and – most importantly – how you stand out from others.
Before demonstrating your worth in the words on your CV, catch the eye of employers with visual elements. With smart, creative formatting, your CV can stand out from the pile.
For example, consider moving away from the black-ink-white-paper look that so many adopt. Injecting colour on section headers or keywords can be eye catching, encouraging the employer to read your CV.
Following these simple steps can help ensure you have a cleaner, clutter free CV that employers will be encouraged to pick up from the pile.
