Why Tailoring Your CV Is The Key To Getting Those Interviews

Why Tailoring Your CV Is The Key To Getting Those Interviews

By Lilian Wamaitha
Does your job hunting strategy involve you having a folder that has your CV and cover letter somewhere on your desktop or email and all you do is fire out generic applications and send the same CV to every employer for every job you apply for?
It may be time to re-think this because I can tell you for sure that one of the reasons you are still jobless is because of those generic applications.
Here is why…
Sending generic CVs is most of the time counterproductive.
For one you could be applying for jobs that you are over or under qualified for.
More importantly any employer or recruiter can spot a generic CV from miles away.
You would rather take your time to update your CV and apply for that one job you know you are qualified for than applying for ten jobs in a day.
At the end of the day; quality always trumps quantity.
Today, I want to take you through two reasons why you should tailor your CV always for every job you apply for.
1. For a minute assume that you are the recruiter
Here is the brutal truth; one job vacancy attracts more than 200 applications. Now put yourself in the shoes of that employer or HR manager who has to shortlist all those people just to get eight or ten candidates to invite for an interview.
One, that person will not be reading your CV like it’s a novel. They have no time to waste trying to figure out if you are the right candidate for the job.
And they are not just checking whether you fit the basic requirements but want to know if your skills match the job in question.
In this case, they are looking for specific skills that they have already listed in the job description and not just your years of experience.
Now what happens when you just send a CV that is not tailored to fit the job? Automatically, they move on to the next application in line and that’s how you end up getting rejected for every job you apply for.
The closer your CV fits with the job description and the company culture, the better your chances of standing out from the crowd.
Tailoring your CV for every application might sound like a time-consuming process that you would rather not delve into, but it can dramatically improve your chances of getting to the top of the pile and securing an interview.
2. The starting point is your ‘generic’ CV
Yes, you should already have a generic CV which is a standard document that has everything an employer will be looking for in an application from your career summary, work experience, education qualifications, skills, duties and achievements.
However, you should never send this generic CV to any employer. Instead you should use it as a template that you fine tune every time you see an opening that you believe is a perfect fit.
This is because; it is unlikely that your generic CV will be perfectly attuned to the requirements of each and every job you apply.
Remember you don’t know the employer and while you may think that you can do the job, you need to convince them.
And you do that by taking your time in the application stage.
With this in mind
Your CV is your knock on the door. It is what you use to get an interview which brings you closer to getting your job. But all this is futile if you continue sending generic CVs just because you don’t want to tire your brain fine-tuning it to fit the requirements of the employer.
Until you do this; all your job search effort will most likely never bear fruit.
And if tailoring your CV to fit the job market is difficult, never worry. Professional CV writers exist for that very reason.
Click here today to get in touch with one of them to see how you can get a CV that sells you every time you apply for a job.