Tailoring your CV for your dream job

Finance, Accountancy, Local Recruitment...

You're excited. You've seen your dream job and you are about to press the button to send your CV over. Will you get an interview? Maybe - but you could improve your chances if you spend some time on your CV before you send it over. This week, I am looking at what you need to do to your CV to secure that dream role.

Firstly, read the advert carefully. 

Make a bullet point list of the things the job ad is asking for.

Ask yourself whether you have any experience in these areas and which jobs you had that experience at. 

Make a list of the jobs you have had over the last ten years.

Under each job, make a bullet point list of the relevant experience you have had for the role you are applying for.

Then put that bullet point list into order. For example, if you are applying for a Management Accountant role and the first thing the job ad mentions is "Budgeting experience", your budgeting experience needs to be at the top of your bullet point list. If you are applying for a Purchase Ledger role and the advert asks for "supplier statement reconciliations" first, that needs to be the first thing on your list. The recruiter reading your CV is far more likely to shortlist you if they pick your CV up and see what they want as soon as they read it instead of having to hunt around to find what they are interested in.

The more you tailor your CV to the job ad, the more likely it is that you will secure an interview and be closer to to that dream job. Next week, I shall be talking about interviews and how to approach them successfully.