Tailor Your CV For Each Job Application

Does it ever feel like, even though you send yourBy only specifying the relevant skills set, qualifications
glowing CV to recruiters and employers by theand experience in your tailored CV, this will not only
dozen, with the expectation of getting a responsehelp in getting it noticed but it will also show the
but nothing ever happens?recruitment agent that you are particularly interested
You have detailed all of your work experience andin their vacancy. If you show that you have spent
skills, attached certificates and reference letters totime preparing your application, exerted effort and
accompany your application and still not a hint ofcare to target and customise your job application,
interest from a recruiter or employer alike.this will prove that you recognise and understand
So what's the problem? Why, after painstakinglywhat the employer is looking for in a candidate and
creating a nine page application is no one interested inyou've got what they want.
at least one of your skills?RELEVANCY OF SKILLS WILL RANK YOUR RESUME
Want to know the answer? It's your CV! It's just notA key concept of targeting your application employs
getting you noticed.emphasis to be made on the roles and responsibilities
Your CV application document is the only means tolisted in your generic CV that are relevant and relate
promoting your unique skills to prospecting employersdirectly to the advertised post. Omit information that
and should be viewed as a personal brochure aboutdoes not specifically correlate to listed requirements
your skill and accomplishments. When a resume is tooin the job ad, as this will waste limited space and
long or details work history that is irrelevant to themake it that much more difficult for a Recruiter to
position you are applying to, no Recruiter will payidentify the relevancy of your work history.
attention to it. Recruiters are bombarded withIDENTIFY TRANSFERRABLE SKILLS
candidates work history for each job vacancy thatTransferrable skills are important to detail, as these
they advertise.skills are unique to you personally and may be utilised
In order for Recruiters to get through the bulk ofequally from one job to another job. Tranferrable
applications received, they scan through the details,skills may be used in any role regardless of the job
noting keywords, skills and specific work experiencefuntion or the industry, which is why it is vital to
that match the details of the job ad.document such skills. To illustrate such skills; the ability
If you have sent through a chronological curriculumto multitask, attention to detail, energetic, crisis
vitae, describing every position you have evermanagement, ability to integrate into a team,
worked in, because they lack capacity and time,motivate others and so on.
Recruiters will be reluctant to wade through each ofUSE THE JOB AD TO TAILOR YOUR CURRICULUM
these looking to match your skills to an employer'sVITAE
requirements. Instead they will toss your resume' toThe Recruiter will use a specific language style and
the side and scan through applications that arewords in the job advert itself and these are the
concise, to the point and relevant to requirements ofwords that should appear in your customised
the role.curriculum vitae which you will send as your job
This is why it is recommended that in order to getapplication. Mirror the Recruiters' language and choice
yourself noticed, you need to concentrate on gettingof words in your modified job application in order for
your CV to talk directly to the Recruiter and in aspecific skills to be highlighted in the language the
language they understand. By adapting this, each timerecruiter speaks. By using too advanced synonyms or
you apply to a unique job vacancy, this will assist inparaphrasing, may result in waffle and a "slow to
helping you to talk to the Recruiter in a languageread" document.
they understand, telling them exactly what theyRELEVANCY OF THE TITLE
want to hear.It is just as important to modify your unique CV title
Follow these guidelines to assist you in customisingas it is to edit the skills and responsibilities listed in the
your applications so that it gets noticed.body. If the title is simply your name and a date,
BEGIN WITH YOUR BASE CVhow does this help to sell you at a glance? It doesn't!
Start by preparing and all encompassing curriculumGive your tailored CV a unique and customised title
vitae to base each customised application from. Whilerelevant to the position and try to include no more
this is fine to advertise generically, this should not bethan two credentials or required skills that you
used for all job applications but rather made availablealready have.
for head hunters.INCLUDE YOUR CURRENT CAREER OBJECTIVE
READ THE JOB AD CAREFULLYInclude a brief but targeted career objective at the
Take special care when looking at the advertisedend of your curriculum vitae that directly relates to
vacancy and ensure that you are absolutely sure thatthe position you are applying for, for example; my
you are matching relevant ability to those skills andcurrent career objective is to become the Online
experience detailed as being requirements of theContent Manager at Company X.
Recruiter. If and when possible, give the agent a callThis will illustrate once again, how well you are suited
to find out further information regarding the job andto the role as well as the effort and care you have
the roles and responsibilities it entails.taken in identifying relevant information that pertains
BREAK YOUR BASE DOCUMENT INTO SECTIONSto the role you are interested in.
OF RELEVANCY