A Resumè is a communication tool
The basic principles of communication I will never get tired of saying that a good CV must communicate, i.e. offer an intelligible message to its recipient. What does that mean?
Language
Language is one means for you to be understood by your interlocutor.
Cut down on the technical jargon that is used in your sector or company. Who understands that language?
- Your colleagues? You are not sending them your CV.
- Your colleagues in a broader sense i.e. people in the same sector? You might be sending it to them, but they will have a different position to you, as they could be managers or human resources staff. Maybe they used these technical terms in the past but they might not even know them...
- Intermediaries might not have specific and in-depth knowledge of the sector.
A trick: get a friend from a different professional background to read your CV. If they can understand what it says, you can proceed.
Lenght of the message
A CV must initiate a dialogue.
They respond, they invite you to an interview then they’ll call you and call you again. Umpteen times until they hire you.
Can you start a conversation with a CV that is five pages long?? That’s unnecessary, indeed it is counter-productive.
The purpose of the CV is to get an interview. It is best to provide a summary of important facts that you can discuss in-depth face-to-face.
When I say " counter-productive " what I mean exactly is that people will not want to read it. I’m not suggesting you "tweet" them but don’t send them your memoirs either!
The recipient
You cannot send a standard message to everyone.
Or rather, you can but who knows what effect it will have on the recipient. You’re only likely to receive a positive feedback from a few of these recipients.
So how can you increase the amount of positive feedback? You need to have a specific recipient in mind and write to him or her.
The recipient, in the case of a CV, is a person in a company, so you need to have them in mind and write something that is relevant for them. If you don’t have an ad hoc curriculum vitae, you must at least have an ad hoc covering letter. That’s essential!!!
I’ve got a good CV!
– Anonimo
Based on what I said above, you can safely conclude that a sentence like this means absolutely nothing for an effective job search!
