Your CV, Your Sales Pitch | CV Advice from Maria Weafer

Jun 27

Written By

Your-CV-Your-Sales-Pitch-A-blog-by-Maria-Weafer-Recruitment-Blog-and-Career-Advise-Celtic-Careers-Recruitment-Agency-Dublin-Love-Your-Job.jpg

You’ve been looking for a new job for months, applied to multiple roles, but you are not getting any response. It’s time to re-evaluate how you sell yourself!

When a prospective new employer picks up your CV you have just seconds to win their attention. So why blow your chances by sending a poor CV? As a recruiter, I have been won over by some of the most successful CV sales pitches and rejected some of the worst. But with so much conflicting information out there it is easy to fall into the latter.

This is why I’ve made it simple for you.Follow my ‘tips’ to convert your CV into a sales pitch!

Your Presentation

It is important that your new prospective employer can easily understand and read the information that is presented to them. Be polished and perfect this.

Use a clean and simple layout.
All information should be formatted the same way throughout the full CV.
Don’t overload and confuse - 2 Pages is enough.
Spell check, spell check, spell check
Ask someone with fresh eyes to read over your CV because when you read a CV so many times you can miss glaring mistakes.

The Introduction

Let your possible new boss know who you are by including a brief biographical introduction of who you are professionally to date at the beginning of your CV. 3-4 lines should be enough.

The Pitch

Let’s talk experience-

Are you Qualified! Great – let us know!
Please don’t list Junior and Leaving Cert results if you have further education also. You are really wasting space. Only include what is relevant.
Your Job history should include dates of employment, job title and company name.
Start with your most recent position first and work back as far as relevant.
Be concise – Bullet point your experience and don’t use paragraphs.
Don’t fill your CV with non-quantifiable ‘skills’ e.g. team player

Back It Up!

It’s time to prove yourself and show that you added value or made a difference in your previous roles. List 2-3 real achievements that you have had in each of your roles to date, especially if you have worked for more than two years within a company.
If you’re a sales person – ensure you use figures to back up your sales career to date
If your achievements have resulted in quantifiable results – then show these numbers – it helps to cement your experience

Perfecting Your Pitch

A job advertisement is a list of requirements and specifications that a company need - It is time to truthfully tailor you CV.

Use the job spec like a checklist for your application to make sure you are truly selling yourself.
Mirror the language used within the job advertisement.

The Close

By now you should have proven your ability to do the job through your credentials and experience. Now you just have two things left -

Give a peek of who you are in your personal life by including hobbies at the end of your CV. But just give a peek!
Let your perspective boss know that your previous manager believes in you too by including references of your most recent employers to include Name, Title, Company, Email and Telephone.

And just one last thing to remember – Don’t mess up your pitch with spelling mistakes. Spell check, spell check and spell check again.

Maria Weafer