Are you a motivated, self-starter with an effective and pragmatic approach to problem solving?
Do you sometimes reflect upon the fact that your propensity to strive for perfection is your only weakness?
Or are you an ambitious and creative professional with a driven personality and a keen eye for detail as well as a goal orientated team player who is a meticulous, motivated and knowledgeable people person?
If your resume says so then please do everyone a favour…. and cut the BS!
It can be easy to get carried away with flowery language when putting together your CV. Let’s face it, we all want to get that little one-up on the opposition, however weighing your CV down with a whole lot of unnecessary information and cryptic sentences really does nothing but increase the size of your word document from two pages to three (and let’s face it, how many employers or recruiters have the time, or that long of an attention span to get through three whole pages?).
When it comes to a really good CV, economy is the key. The main information will be evident to the trained eye, however the most effective CV’s have an impact by making every word on the page count.
Let’s cut to the chase and list some points outlining the information your new employer wants to see:
History…
With good projects and reputable companies (accurate dates are also desirable)
Tenure…
Decent periods of time on good projects with reputable companies.
Projects…
A good list of projects you have been involved in is essential. This list should have the project particulars, start dates, completion dates, your involvement and the value of the project.
Communication…
You can string together a bunch of words (that are all your own) to convey the desired information.
Good References…
Why feel the need to talk yourself up when you can have someone else do it for you!
Honesty…
There is no point embellishing on your involvement in that one awesome project or the value of any given project… because your reputable references will tell the truth.
Your up-to-date contact details…
Oh yes… It may seem obvious but I have seen many out of date CV’s that have been rendered useless due to inaccurate contact information.
Bullet Points…
Bullet points are good to highlight the key information.
Too many bullet points…
Maybe not-so-good. Just highlight the necessary stuff.
So if you find yourself implementing a variety of non-sequential adjectives to enhance your ubiquitous credibility in a buoyant construction market… please stop.
Let the facts do the talking. Present all the necessary information in a clear, easy to read format and just be yourself.
Lincoln Gray is a Commercial Construction specialist at Fetch Recruitment (and our current lunchtime trivia champion!). You can connect with Lincoln on LinkedIn here.
