It takes 30 seconds to judge a CV

KUWAIT: During the recruitment process, looking at CVs is a given. Often, reviewing a large number of CVs can be tiresome, especially if the precise information you are looking for in the CV is not easily spotted. Not only does this make the hiring process lengthy. It becomes even more challenging when you only have 30 seconds to spare per CV due to the huge number of applicants crowding your inbox.

To help you successfully weigh a CV in under a minute, Bayt.com, the Middle East’s #1 job site, has prepared a CVreviewing guide. Here are some quick things to look for:

The look

A CV’s layout is extremely important for employers. Looking at any document that is not properly formatted and organized can be very disorienting and a waste of their valuable time. So, from a quick glance, there should be a few essential elements that can show whether a CV deserves a full read or not. Some of these items include the applicant’s career objective, experience and contact information. There are other things to look for, but if you have a hard time finding these basic sections, then you know it’s time to move to the next CV in the pile.

The objective

A candidate’s career objective should be the first main section in a candidate’s CV, right after their personal contact information. You can consider the career objective an introduction to your candidate, the type of experience they have, the skills they possess, and their career trajectory.

A candidate’s career objective should show what they can bring to your organization, and how hard they’re willing to work to reach their end goals. Furthermore, the candidate’s career objective should be aligned to the requirements of your vacancy. You’ll be able to quickly tell if the candidate’s previous experience and future plans are truly relevant to your vacancy or not.

The professional background

A common rule of CV writing is that all professional work experience must be stated in a reverse chronological manner, from the most recent to the oldest. The second thing to look for after the order is a detailed representation of what the candidate’s job tasks were, their responsibilities, and any significant accomplishments they have accumulated.

A simple job title that’s stuck next to a previous employer’s name is not enough, even if it sounds fancy. Firstly, as an employer, you are most likely going to be aware of what a job description includes just by reading the job title. Secondly, you’re probably not particularly interested in the generic tasks performed by your applicant. In order to find a truly qualified candidate who will go above and beyond in performing their job, you’ll need to know what they performed, achieved, grew, and added to their previous company beyond the minimum requirements. Look for keywords that match your core skills and qualifications, look for numbers and quantitative values, and look for indications of growth.

Remember that, later on, you’ll need to verify some of the details such as the dates of employment, specific job titles, and names of previous employers. This can be done during the initial screening phases, such as the phone interview.

The skills

Let’s assume that you’re hiring a graphic designer. In their career objective, they’ve stated that they have experience in designing social media visuals, fancy PDFs, and brilliant presentations. They also stated that they’re currently looking to work in a dynamic environment that will help them become even more creative and add value to the organization.

In their work experience, you can see that they’ve worked in marketing agencies and production houses. But, so far, you still have no indication of their technical skills. The vacant position requires someone who is knowledgeable in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Competency in these programs should be found under a candidate’s technical skills, so that you truly gauge what they’re capable.

The next order of business is soft skills. While many CVs neglect adding technical skills, the majority of CVs you read will have a long list of soft skills with the exact same wording: Excellent communication skills, a team player and, works well under stress.

While wording alone is no reason to doubt an applicant’s skills, you should still be cautious with this section. If after reading through their career objective, their work experience, and their job tasks, you don’t feel like they’ve had the experience to develop and apply the skills they claim to have, then you’re probably right to have reasonable doubts.

The educational repertoire

To some employers, educational background may not be as important as work experience. But, for others, and especially for entry-level jobs, the vacancy at hand may require knowledge that’s only acquired through learning. And, just like work experience is stated from most recent to oldest, the same should ideally apply to education.

You might not always find a GPA or overall average, so what you should look for instead are academic accomplishments, including merits, certificates, and awards. This information will give you an idea of how motivated and hardworking your candidate was during their learning phase of life, and how well they’ll perform if they were hired.

Another aspect to consider is learning outside the formal education. Looking at extra courses, internships, workshops, and such can signify that the candidate is truly interested in growing and developing as a professional.

Because 30 seconds is all you’ve got, you should increase the efficiency of your background hiring work as much as possible, expedite writing job descriptions, increase the effectiveness of your job postings, and streamline your CV scanning and search efforts so you can focus on selecting the best candidate quickly.