How to write an impressive CV for NZ

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Our Job Search Consultant Katie shares her expert CV writing tips

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Katie says:

"In New Zealand your CV is a marketing tool, not a full work and educational history.

A successful CV will stand out and land you a job interview."

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Customising your resume: The key to a writing a successful CV.

Keen to apply for that interesting role? Now you need to customise your CV. ‍

It's worth spending time on your CV for a role where your skills and experience are a good fit.

Your CV should have information that will allow an employer to quickly see why you'd be a good fit for the advertised position.

Keeping in mind that most advertised positions attract numerous applicants, your CV will only stand out if its well considered, succinct and customised.

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Katie's top tips to ensure your CV is effective and ATS friendly:

• Address keywords in your CV that reflect your knowledge of the role you are applying for. Do your research by reading through job adverts carefully and taking note of the terminology used
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• Appropriately labeling your sections will help avoid confusing the ATS. Use common headers like Experience or Skills rather than "what I'm good at" or "what do I do"
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• Skip the fancy graphics and text boxes and submit your CV in the required file format
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• Read the job description carefully to see which skills are mentioned, and if you've demonstrated these in a current or previous role it should be on your CV. You may need to rearrange sections to ensure that the most important information appears on the first page
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• Customise every CV and a good way to do this is to take a highlighter to everything that aligns with the job description. When deciding what to keep in and what to leave out, be guided by what matches the skills and experience required and focus on what the employer needs.

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Further pointers:

• Keep it brief (preferably 2 pages and no more than 3)
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• Don't emphasise qualifications not relevant to the position
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• Apply only for jobs where you can make a good match. The advert will usually specify 'essential' experience and then 'desirable' experience. If you are missing some of the essential requirements, then just move on to something else
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• Focus on your current role, or the most relevant to the one you are applying for and don't repeat information
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• Don't leave any unexplained gaps in employment

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Katie says:

" Remember that you can use the cover letter to bring in more of your personality and motivation for a particular position and company.

And don't forget to use spell check and ask someone else to read it over before you press send."

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