Lesson 14: Strategies and tools to boost your CV

Does your CV not give the expected result? Do you dare to turn your CV and motivation letter?

We want you to learn how to create an attractive CV and give it the visibility it deserves, learn to use different tools that come from marketing and how to make your candidacy or professional project more visible and attractive throughout the long process of finding a job.

Get more visibility

In these crazy pandemic times, getting a job has become a little more difficult than it was before COVID. To this we must add that everything is going faster, you are competing with hundreds of candidates for a job and that we are facing a globalized world.

With this course we want you to develop the digital skills that the job market is currently demanding. If with the pandemic many companies have jumped into the digital sphere and implemented teleworking, digital skills are highly valued.

We have mentioned in the videos that Human Resources managers have about 20-30 seconds to evaluate, at first glance and without reading the CV, the suitability or otherwise of an application. So your CV should draw attention and move on to the next phase after those 20-30 seconds.

If you call the attention of the company’s recruiter, you will have the opportunity for them to take a few minutes to read the information you have in your CV, so order, clarity and the intelligent use of visual elements that make reading your CV an easy task are essential. You must make it easy for them so that these recruiters can get a very approximate idea of whether your candidacy is the right one and thus leave behind other competitors, other people who have entered that first cut of the selection process.

The next phase, when the recruiter has put you in the next pile of interesting CVs to spend more minutes, your CV has to continue showing aspects that make you interested in calling you for an interview, a group dynamic, a test, etc…

The essential parts of the CV

The CV is the basic tool that opens doors or closes them to access a selection process. The CV must contain the essential aspects that we list below:

Professional profile: it is normally placed at the beginning, visually highlighted and indicating in two lines the summary of your professional profile, for example: «Qualified administrative professional with 5 years of experience in Sales with high motivation in commercial management and interest in customer service».

Contact information: Name and surname, ID, email (hyperlinked, which when clicked directly opens the recruiter’s email to contact you), mobile phone, place of residence and date of birth. Optionally you can put if you have a disability, nationality, driving license and social network profiles (if you are able to display them).

Photo: Please make it good, if you are going to post a bad, pixelated photo or one that does not favor you, it is better not to post it.

Academic training, naming the studies and the center. If you have a good record, put the final grade. If you already have a long academic background, ignore the titles that have fallen a little further behind, such as the Baccalaureate or highlight the training most adapted to the position you are applying for. The degree obtained in bold stands out and the educational center does not stand out, which is less relevant for the recruiter a priori. Put it in reverse chronological order, meaning most recent first.

Complementary training: It consists of training related to courses that you have taken to achieve and/or update certain technical knowledge linked to a profession or area of activity. An experience abroad, an unofficial degree, an unaccredited training course, MOOCs, etc. can fit here.

Work experience: both internships and paid jobs. If you do not have any experience, but for example you have volunteered, you can create a different section where you can put the volunteer work done. It again uses the reversed chronological order, that is, the most recent first. Mention the professional sector and the name of the company and the position you held. If you have space, name 3 main functions that you developed, very briefly.

Professional certifications or ratings

Languages, set the level, and make it real. When «Intermediate English» is very ambiguous, it is better to specify by level by speaking, writing, oral and listening.

Skills and competencies, very brief, 3-4 competencies that give the recruiter an idea.

Employment references from at least two companies where you have worked, with the contact details of whoever was responsible for you and can give a good opinion of your work.

Interests, try to make them related to your professional field or the skills they ask of you. It is a secondary section, nothing happens if you do not put it. But it may be interesting for those people who do not have much experience or studies to include it. For example, availability, skills or curiosities from your free time, awards, publications, previous entrepreneurial experiences, etc. can be included. aimed at empowering your candidacy.

Before preparing the CV, you need to collect your titles, work history, complementary courses, certificates of skills, languages, etc… to later organize the information and data that we will later need when preparing the CV.

The bad news for you is that it is advisable to have several versions of your CV depending on the type of offers you are looking for. The idea is that you highlight in a type of CV those skills, experiences and abilities adapted to the job offer that you have identified. The objective is for the recruiter to see the degree of adjustment of the CV with the profession in which you want to work.

Highlight achievements

It is something forgotten and that they will ask you in an interview, if you have not shown it in the CV. It is very important to highlight what the company achieved thanks to your work. They are written in positive and in
past. They are usually related to improving sales, implementing faster processes, better management, etc.

You can put it, in a very schematic way, in each work experience that you mention, for example: «At El Corte Inglés, we increased sales by 20% in my department» or «At Perfumerías Primor I managed to successfully implement my suggestion on the cash register flow».

Digital skills

It is going to become a section with more and more weight. You must put the level of knowledge of digital tools in 4 levels:

basic (knowing how to turn on the computer and use the smartphone in a very basic way),

user, know how to search the internet, navigate, use email, basic office automation

advanced, deeper search level, not only in Google, use collaborative tools such as Google Drive, Docs, Trello, Dropbox, and communication tools such as Whatsapp, Skype, Hangouts, Zoom and have profiles on social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Linked In etc.)

expert, you have the ability to teach other people about the aforementioned digital tools.

With the completion of this course, and if you have really practiced and learned all the tools that we have presented to you, you can undoubtedly put the Advanced level.

Do not forget that then each professional sector uses its own specific digital tools, which you must mention in this same section without forgetting your level of management.

Languages

In Spain, in all CVs we use this technique:

Outside of jokes, please use from this very moment the table of Linguistic competence or communication in mother/foreign language.
We can speak different languages: Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Arabic, etc…
In order to unify criteria and not put medium-low, medium-high, etc… and not fall into the mistake that Luis Merlo is messing around in the video, it is better that you take a look at the classification of the European framework of reference in languages. The established levels are those established by the European framework ranging from A1 to C2.

• The A1 determines the initial and basic level of a language
• the A2 of consolidation of basic knowledge
• the intermediate level with B1 and B2
• levels C1 and C2 for the most advanced or bilingual (C2)

The aim is to reflect in this section the number of languages that we handle and the level currently acquired in both oral, written expression and comprehension.
In this link you can see the table of the common European framework of reference for the
languages: https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/sites/default/files/cefr-es.pdf

Don’t forget these tips

These recommendations can serve as a check-list to verify that your CV is ok:
FOCUS ON THE ESSENTIAL

BE CLEAR AND CONCISE

ALWAYS ADAPT YOUR CV SUITABLE TO THE POSITION YOU APPLY FOR

TAKE CARE OF THE PRESENTATION OF YOUR CV

MAXIMUM OF 2 PAGES (AND 1 BETTER THAN TWO IF YOU CAN)

IF YOU PUT A GOOD PHOTO, IF NOT, DON’T PUT IT

CHECK THE GRAMMAR

PLAY WITH THE DESIGN (bold, colors, design)

ALWAYS ACCOMPANY THE CV WITH A MOTIVATION LETTER

The motivation letter

It is an essential document that should always accompany a CV.

It must consist of:

Presentation and greeting: appropriate to the type of company or position. Reference to the offer, call or company.

Reference to the position you are applying for: Be careful, if the job offer has a code or a name, please mark it in bold at the beginning of the letter.
Your value proposition: the differentiating elements, your strengths for the position, your skills, your achievements, those aspects of the attached cv that are most important in this case.
Your goal: expand information, thank…
Farewell.

All this must be related to the job you are applying for, therefore, you should make a different motivation letter for each job you see.

We leave you a cover letter template in the «Materials» tab of this lesson.

Tools to make a CV

We have already told you about the Europass CV before, we are not going to go back to it. It is not the best CV format out there, but it is very complete. There are other online tools where you can make your CV. We love Canva.com for its simplicity and the wide variety of templates it has.

Then you have other resources to see other alternatives to build your CV:

Easy resume http://www.curriculumfacil.es/es_quick_tour.html
Curriculum-web http://www.curriculum-web.com/
Curriculum model http://www.modelocurriculum.net/modelos-y-plantillas-de-curriculum-vitae

Where there is work http://dondehaytrabajo.com/plantillas-para-cv-clasicas-e-infografias-donde-
there-is-work/

CV in infographics Visualize http://vizualize.me/

Finally, on About.me you can post your professional biography (not exactly your CV) on a website that helps you be easily found on the internet: https://about.me/

And a Video CV?

Sure, it is another alternative, but it is not always necessary. Highly recommended in professional fields of design, creation, journalism, etc… and for other sectors it is not necessary.

It is not prepared in the same way as a CV since the video format offers many more possibilities and incorporates new variables such as image, voice and the way of communicating…

The first step is to introduce yourself by saying your full name, your studies and a brief description of who you are.

Name the projects you have done one by one, being able to add links to web pages or videos in the comments of the video once you upload it.

It is important to list the strengths or qualities for which you stand out, and then your work preferences. Finally, mention the reasons why you think you are the fittest.

To close the speech and the recording, contact details, telephone and email must be provided.

Keep in mind that you need to «work» a lot on your content, although there are very cool CV video templates that can be effective:

We leave you our two favourites:

Wideo very easy to use and free, with watermark at the end of the video. It has already pre-designed CV video templates where you just have to put your data and text.

and Powtoon, whose difference is that it is made in comic format, with fun animations and very visual.

We leave you another type of CV in video, much more worked in time and editing:

A BAD PRACTICE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSE9ND_LRwU&feature=player_embedded

A GOOD PRACTICE:

HOW TO SCRIPT THE CV VIDEO

There are 5 important steps to script your video CV:
Step 1- To make a CV video. You have to previously prepare a script or story with paper and a pen as if it were a mini movie. The objective is that you relate our candidacy (CV, Presentation or answer to the questions of our video-interview).

Step 2– To make a video I must prepare a story. I can imagine a maximum of 10 scenes, as if it were a comic. Think about what images are going to be seen and draw them and think about what text is going to be said or music is going to play while viewing the image.

Step 3- I must think of a principle of three images (Presentation/motivation. Example: Why
Is it important that I get hired in this sector/profession? Who am I as a professional?) That excites the audience and the context in which that story takes place: Choose a neutral space or one that has to do with the profession I am addressing. (Example: if I want to work in the environment, I am looking for a nursery or a botanical garden, or I am preparing my space at home with plants.) Choose the outfit for the protagonist, neutral or personalized, with the right clothing for the profession according to the right professional ethical regulations. Many times it helps to think of a metaphor or the need of my employers.

Step 4- Next, I think of a story knot of three images. Here I take the structure
basic of the traditional cv indicated in the suitcase of how to get it and personalize with my data
curricular, learning the most relevant and narrating it as if it were a TV news story. All
story has a problem, conflict to solve. Write one and answer by counting your CV as
solution to those needs of the sector (What can you contribute to the sector or to the company that hires me?
What is my professional know-how? What training and experience can I offer? what are my
main skills or competencies?)

Step 5- Finally I think of an outcome of my candidacy, summary of what has been said, highlight my
personal brand or end up transmitting a positive attitude that engages so that the employer has
desire to quote me to a selection process.

What if I blog CV?

Once again, we came up with the idea of the importance of having a website or a blog to give your profile greater visibility. It is a very good opportunity, the best, to boost your personal brand effectively. Here are some examples of blogs focused on enhancing the professionalism of people who launched their own web project years ago:

Self-improvement: https://autorrealizarte.com/recupera-hoy-tu-vida/

Coaching: https://mariamikhailova.com/

Trips: https://elsindromedelamochila.com/new-home/

SEO: https://blogger3cero.com/

Efficient presentations: https://www.elartedepresentar.com/