Making your CV stand out from the growing crowd

Matt | November 6, 2011 | 0 Comments

In this day and age, it’s important to have a wide range of skills to impress potential employers. Gone are the days when you could be highly skilled in just one area and be hired on the back of that. Employers now want multi-talented, highly adaptive graduates who will benefit their businesses in many different areas.

Since a CV will probably be one of the first things the potential employer sees about you, it is vital that (1) you can put skills on there that are relevant to the job and (2) you present them in an impressive, attention-grabbing manner.

You might think about putting skills on there that you judge to be relevant to the job but that you don’t necessarily have, but employers will see straight through this if they meet you in person. Honesty is always the best policy – realistically, you should only apply for jobs you think are a good match to your skillset (well, that goes without saying!).

Enhance your skills image

Communication skills, in a very broad sense, are essential in the modern world of business. Everybody asks for ‘excellent communication skills’, but it is up for debate whether or not everybody actually knows what they are asking for. Communication skills comprise a number of different skills, such as the obvious speaking and listening traits, as well as written communication, speaking on the phone and even paralinguistic communication. How you communicate through body language is massively important and a massive giveaway if you are disinterested or don’t know what you’re doing or talking about.

The term ‘communication skills’ has become very bland and ubiquitous, so it might be an idea to go into more detail on your CV. Don’t just say ‘I possess good communication skills’; ask yourself why and how you came to possess good communication skills. If, for example, you’ve ever been involved in a conference call review your performance and identify your strong points. Conference call etiquette is an important aspect of modern business so it can be a great skill to have. The same level of etiquette, of course, applies to normal phone calls, too.

Another rather vague term that makes it into many CVs and job adverts is ‘problem solving skills’. While, again in a broad sense, problem solving skills are good to have, many people use the term too whimsically. What does it mean to have good problem solving skills? What kinds of problems do you or have you solved? Break the term down and think of examples of when you have displayed and/or developed your own skills in specific situations.

Specificity on your CV is important if you want to stand out from the big crowd. It shows deep, logical and creative thinking from the offset, making a good impression and increasing your chances of being invited for an interview.