On average, agencies receive hundreds of applications every day and with this high volume, our experienced recruiters only have a short time to make an initial impression on your CV. It’s therefore vital that your CV stands out. If you’re applying loads of jobs, without any feedback, we’ve got some tips to make sure your CV sits on top of the pile and doesn’t get forgotten. Our CV Do’s and Don’ts
- Throw out the idea that a CV can only be 2 pages long – if it’s relevant to the role, include it.
- Every CV submitted for application should be tailored to that job. It does take more time, especially when you’re applying for lots of jobs, but it makes all the difference to the person receiving your CV.
- Read through the job spec and highlight the areas you can deliver. If you’re reading it and find yourself nodding enthusiastically thinking, “that’s me” or “I can do that”, make sure your CV say’s so. We’re not mind readers!
- Don’t waste your time applying for roles that aren’t relevant. If an advert states ‘must have experience in x, y or z’ and you haven’t got it, don’t be disappointed if you don’t hear back. Imagine how many applicants they get who are ticking off all these boxes?
- Underneath each job that you’ve had, before talking about your role, include a brief synopsis about what the company does – don’t assume a future employer knows the company you work for.
- Photos – they really aren’t required when applying for a role through us. However if it’s a design/creative role, stand out is even more essential, so include that pic.
- Education – include this at the bottom of your CV and have your employment history starting from your most recent or current position, working back.
- Contact details – name, address, contact number and email, distance ready to commute or whether you are open to relocation.
- When talking about your role, bullet point your main day to day duties, budget sizes, line management, client involvement, pitch and proposal process etc.
- Project addendums – rather than talking about specific projects you’ve worked on within your CV, put together a separate document highlighting a selection of the best from the past two-three years – we don’t need the last ten years worth (unless it’s relevant to the role you’re applying for!) Include: the client, budget size, type of project, delegate numbers (if event specific), location, your position, main duties, dates and wherever possible, the results or ROI. If you can show a potential employer that you deliver, so much the better.
- Sales based roles – your CV is a chance to sell yourself to us before being sent out to our clients. If you are applying for a sales or account management role we need to see your figures, this is why you are so successful so you should be shouting it from the rooftops!
- Keep your CV consistent with the same format and size throughout. It’s so important that it reads well at first glance.
- Here’s an example of how you could lay out a role:
2005 – Present, ABC Agency
Account Manager
ABC Productions are a 30 person agency which deliver a wide range of (Event / Design / DM / Digital etc) projects, throughout the UK and overseas, for Pharmaceutical, Automotive and FMCG clients, with budgets in excess of £1m.
As one of five Account Managers I am responsible for the end to end delivery of my own projects, with specific responsibilities as follows:
- Taking client brief
- Part of initial proposal team
- Part of pitch team
- Central point of client contact
- Technical specification
- Budget management
- Liaison with internal departments
- Supplier selection and management
- Reconciliation
Now all you have to do is repeat this style for your positions. If the other positions you held are not relevant to your application then keep them brief, again an employer doesn’t want to know the detail of your non industry specific roles, just where you were at that time and the basics of what you were doing.
We hope that helps to get your CV noticed. We’ll look forward to hearing from you soon. And if you’ve got any tips about how you made your CV stand out from the crowd, we’d love to hear from you.
To keep up to date with careers and info from the events and marketing industries you can join our LinkedIn group ‘here’ follow our company LinkedIn company page ‘here’ or follow us on Twitter ‘here’.