How to Tailor your CV for a job
According to a recent poll by T2M Resourcing, only 21% of job searchers always tailor their CV to a job every time they apply for a role.
It all starts with the job description, don’t just read and apply – take the time to read it. Understand it. Then tailor your CV.
If you’ve never tailored a CV before, don’t worry – it doesn’t need to become too time-consuming. If you already have a CV then you’re 90% of the way there, having a regular ‘Base CV’ saved as a separate copy is always a great place to start. From here, you can save another copy of your base CV and save it with the name of the company you’re applying to, now you’re going to be ready to edit!
Not sure if your CV is up to scratch? Discover some simple but effective CV tips here, with the 5 C’s of Your CV.
Look at the business that’s hiring:
- What industry do they operate in? Do you have any knowledge or experience in similar environments?
- What is the role that they are recruiting for and how might your role benefit the organisation?
- Are there any projects listed in the job ad that you’d be working on? Could you think of any similar examples you have from previous roles?
It’s thought that 70% of large businesses and 20% of SME’s use ATS trackers to auto-scan your CV and pull out relevant details. This means that your CV will often need to pass a screen test by a robot before it even gets human eyes laid on it. It’s not as scary as it sounds, there’s plenty of easy things you can do in order to tailor your CV – this is all based on keywords.
It’s important to align the wording on your CV to the keywords used on the job ad that you’re applying for, in order to do this ask yourself:
- What skills are being listed as essential in the job ad?
- What software is being listed in the ad?
- What desirable skills are there?
- Are there any essential or desirable qualifications being listed that you have?
- What soft skills or personality traits might be being listed on the ad about the type of person they’re looking for?
In order to make the keywords obvious to you, don’t be afraid to write them down in a notebook as you see them, or print the job description off and annotate/ highlight it. Whatever makes things the clearest to you is the best method to take.
Remember: While more and more companies are using ATS machines for the initial scanning of a CV, not all companies do this.
At T2M Resourcing, we read CVs ourselves without putting them through a machine – it’s all about our people-first approach.
However, you can never be sure which businesses are or are not putting their CVs through ATS systems – so it’s best to spend the time tailoring your CV regardless, especially as it will still benefit you if your CV is just being looked at by a person.
Once you have your keywords
Once you’ve identified which keywords are listed in the job ad, it’s time to take the ones that are relevant to you and start editing your CV.
You do not need to include every single keyword or buzzword form the job ad in your CV. Remember, you need to remain honest and truthful – if there’s a skill or software on there that you don’t have, then don’t include it. Pick out the words that are most relevant to your skill set and experience.
A personal summary is the top section of your CV that should act as a brief intro. It’s important to keep this brief – try to keep it at 2-3 sentences about yourself.
Consider 3 traits that you could use to describe yourself that might be either on or relevant to the job ad (e.g. analytical, motivated, creative, problem solver etc.). Then look at including your current industry/ position – how many years of experience you have (or if you’re a recent graduate, perhaps the degree you have just obtained). If there’s any particular skillset you have that is a strength of yours, or that you’ve niched down into – then include a brief sentence on that.
Example: ‘A motivated, analytical and detail-orientated IT professional with over 5 years of experience working in Cybersecurity. Strong skillsets in network security, penetration testing, and incident response.’
The work experience section of your CV is an ideal section to use input a lot of the keywords and buzzwords that you’ve pulled out.
It’s important to keep your work experience in chronological order, with your most recent employment at the top, working back down your CV through your later positions. Generally, the older job positions might not need as much detail as your most recent positions, which are likely to be more relevant. However, if you do have a previous role that might be very relevant for the job you’re applying for, don’t be afraid to provide a few extra bullet points for those positions.
It’s important to keep your CV concise, generally, it’s a good idea to try and keep it to two pages unless you’re at C-suite level, in which case you can get away with three pages.
Insert your keywords:
- Are there any keywords that you picked out from the job ad that you can swap out/ add into the bullet points on your CV?
- If you’ve used any software in particular roles that were listed on the job ad, then make sure to mention it underneath the relevant position.
If you’ve worked on similar projects to those that were listed on the job ad, then try to briefly mention this – but provide actionable results, if possible, what effect did you have on the business? For example, did you contribute to increasing productivity or revenue by x%?
Something else you should consider, especially Senior level candidates is to ensure that your CV clearly demonstrates what you do – i.e. what’s your day job/ and responsibilities?, but also ‘what you have done’ – i.e. your achievements. Ask yourself how have your achievements made a positive difference to the success of the business or the function you work within.
While the above is great, if your CV is not user-friendly to ATS trackers then nobody will be able to read it. Ensure that you create your CV using software that is able to be scanned easily – this often means avoiding software such as Canva and ‘Creative CV’s (this is of course different if you’re working in an industry where a creative CV is required).
At T2M, we do not use ATS trackers and will read your CV, however, it’s best practice to keep the format of your CV easy to read so that it can be opened easily on a Laptop by a user, or scanned easily by an ATS tracker.
This a great section of your CV to add in other keywords, skills or software that you haven’t had the chance to mention so far. While you don’t need to do this with every single bullet point, prioritise matching the keywords to your key skills section – start with the most relevant ones at the top.
This doesn’t mean you should remove key skills that aren’t on the job description – if they’re still relevant to the industry or role then it can be a good idea to leave them in, but just make sure you prioritise the skills that are listed on the job.
Remember – be truthful, most hiring managers aren’t expecting you to match 100% of the criteria, there might be things you have little or no experience with, but you might have transferable skills. Don’t lie about the software or skills you have, but ensure you include transferable ones.
If possible, try to include a mix of hard and soft skills.
Do you need a hobbies and interests section of your CV?
Many people will not deem it necessary, other hiring managers like to get an idea of personality. If you do include it, it’s best to keep it short. Two sentences maximum at the bottom of your CV will do.
Many people might not read it, and ATS machines certainly won’t – but that doesn’t mean it’s not important to some hiring managers.
For more Job Searching Tips, make sure to check out: