Selecting
A CV, generally, should not be longer than 2 pages; anything more is too much. That is why it is important to know how to select the most relevant information. In a good CV, recruiters must find, in the very first lines, your experience that corresponds to the skills required.
“I always tell the young people that come to me for advice, to refer to the employment ad when writing their CV,” says Olivia Morin from Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi Montréal Centre Ville. For her, the details of the proposed position and the experience required are the basis of the work of writing the CV. “By sticking as closely as possible to the job description, you avoid leaving out any essential information.”
Ideally, the most important terms of the ad should be found in your CV, without copying the contents word for word. “The description of the professional experience must be coherent, detailed and, most importantly, it should correspond exactly to the profile being sought,” continues Christopher Livingston from the recruitment firm Proforce Personnel. “One should be able to do the sorting at a glance. We are looking for the person most suitable for the position, and this should be evident from the very first lines.”
An evolving CV
It is for this reason that a CV should be adaptable for each new ad that you want to apply for. You don’t need to redo an entire document that you have spent hours putting together. You simply need to put yourself in the place of the recruiter and ask yourself the question: What is the recruiter looking for? You need to be able to discern, for example, what aspects of your experience are the most pertinent for this position. The CV needs to be adaptable.
For Michel Ohayon, recruiter at Barbara Shore & Associates, “It’s not about including a huge amount of experience and listing everything one by one; you simply need to give prominence to those skills that most closely correspond to the tasks and responsibilities of the position.” Thus, you must select from your previous experience the same kind of tasks and responsibilities as those specified in the employment ad and include only those in your CV.
Keep some information for the interview
Avoid being redundant. If your CV includes several identical positions in various companies, you do not need to repeat the same tasks for each one. Be as logical as possible. For example, a position of 5 years calls for more details than an internship of 6 months.
Finally, one of the reasons why you should be selective with your information on your CV is that you need to keep some material to present during the interview. “It is orally that people can best reveal themselves,” explains Michel Ohayon. “Candidates should be able to elaborate on this or that part of their experience by bringing forth additional information. The discussion is then that much richer.”
Therefore, one must be able to judiciously measure the selection of information. The CV must present, in an effective and synthesized manner, the essential information that you consider to be the most pertinent, that is, that corresponds the closest to the ad and that will provide you with further material to present during the interview.