Quirks and hiccups, condensation of exaggerations and actual achievements, chaotic thoughts of self-doubt and meritocracy are the few emotions and images of actions that we all go through while writing down our life in a page of CV. Dents in the resume are as mandatory as taking the first step to begin something new in life. We learn about the right things in life from the mistakes we make, and that includes putting our bare self-mapped with failures, experiments, and accomplishments into headers and footers. It is not necessary that your CV/resume would stand out amidst the thousands of applicants and you will get your first internship/job in the first try itself. But, to help you obtain the minimal hope that you have done a fair job and added atrocity to the truth of your life into your resume, here is a round-up of 10 quick tips. These tips will guarantee that your CV gets read and not just seen and ultimately help you get shortlisted for an interview.

1. Simple But Organized Design

Simplicity in any form is an articulation of beauty and that applies to your resume design too. Keep it white with a blue/black double-lined border, spaced at the correct places and bulleted or numbered list of information. The font doesn’t need to be styled but is legible so we suggest either Times New Roman or Calibri. Clear and plain formatting of basic details (name, contact number, email ID, permanent or correspondence address), qualifications so far (doesn’t matter which school/college because the label won’t speak for the knowledge that you have gained and the conduct you have adopted for adaptation) and skills that you have gained (inherently or not).

2. Mirror The Job Requirements

A mirror reflects who you want to be, just like your CV. It is said and believed that you can ‘sell’ your abilities and skilled attributes through the few pages of your Circum Vitae without being saturated by the number of self-destructive nights that you spent while trying to harbor the passion or talent within you in the best possible way. Use the terms and languages mentioned in the job/internship description so that you make the person reading it realize that you are familiar with the brand and have taken the time to go through the working conditions, requirements and didn’t apply because you had to apply but because you want to get the job and work further.

3. Emphasize Your Soft Skills

Soft skills are your personality traits, your morality, work ethics, thinking pattern in terms of creativity and diverse interests with the unification of core values. For example, you deliberately but indirectly use the words ‘immaculate’, ‘keen observer’, ‘critical thinker’ in sentences that highlight your success rate in previous work experiences. It shows why you succeeded and justifies the letters of recommendation. When you, a prospective applicant, give a reason for the qualities that you have mentioned, then you show your clear conscience, honesty and that is often commendable.

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4. Previous Experiences Are The ‘IT’ Factor

Relevant experiences in the past have the veto power in any selection procedure. If you have worked in the applicable field and have benefited from it, then there is no harm in letting others know about. It shows a positive side of your career so far and that can only work wonders. Guidelines to using the ‘IT’ experience, position of responsibility and projects in the right way:

• Put keywords that can connect the bridge between requirements and possessed skills at the top of your work experience list.
• A listicle of your career graph.
• Format them in this manner – Challenge, action, and outcome.

5. Portray A Snapshot Of Your Career So Far

Attach a snapshot of your career history so that it showcases your metric value to your previous companies because numbers speak in volumes about your contributions instead of long summaries where you would desperately try to play with words and end up creating a fussy mess of clarity. Let’s see an example of what you should put in the snapshot if you are applying for a marketing job/internship.

• Product knowledge.
• Relationship building.
• Sales Negotiation.
• Problem-solving.
• Techniques for improvement in performance.

6. High-impact And Powerful Words

You have to ensure that your CV is a compelling read. Many a time, jumbled up sentences make the first page boring in itself and the reader doesn’t get beyond that. A resume isn’t the document where you use your rich vocabulary (unless it is an application for blogging, creative writing, ghostwriting, content writing and screenplay writing) and prove your mastery over the English language. High-impact and powerful words mean that you have the willingness and self-reliance to show your ideas and communication, managing skills and all the other things that make you the perfect match according to you. Use strong, relative, action words and try to put superlative degrees of your awards or prizes, like, ‘first’, ‘highest’.

7. Delete Slow Windups

Using windups in CVs is the act of concluding your brilliance yourself and that can be highly annoying. Mostly, younger applicants who are first-timers try to fit into the position at stake and start giving credit for their previous work themselves. That is not acceptable. We aren’t advising you to not list down your talents but don’t show that you think you are the best in the field.

READ: How To Get Your Voice Heard At Work- 4 Easy But Effective Steps

8. Attach The Link To Your LinkedIn Profile

About 90% of the recruiters look forward to the LinkedIn profile of the applicants so that they know the professional life and match it with the CV. This is the new trend and every person who takes his/her professional career seriously has a profile on LinkedIn. It gives you the scope to know your fellow competitors and make a list of the companies that you want to work for/with. Assessment of cultural beliefs and achievements is a part of every evaluation and that can come from social media profiles, LinkedIn, blogs, research papers etc. Also, bonus tip is to avoid any grammatical, spelling error.

9. Remove Filler Words

You write about what you speak. So, suggestions are to be smoothly transitional, that is, uninterrupted flow of your words. Keep reminding yourself that filler words can force you to skip your ideas unintentionally while losing the interest of the employer.

10. Add  A Concise, Professional Cover Letter

It requires a knack to write a cover letter that would grab the eyeballs of the recruiter. Your CV will overcome and surpass the daunting task of beating another thousand applicants if you add a professional cover letter. Now, here we provide few additional suggestions to write the best cover letter possible.

• Keep it positive and concise.
• Highlight your strengths and what makes you the perfect fit for the puzzle, that is, your dream job.
• Never use cliché terms.
• Showcase the positive side of your personality to the organization.

Your CV is a 1-minute autobiography where you show your eloquence in the relevant field and prove that you have the tenacity and skill to learn, grow and aggravate the company’s progress. These quick 10 tips for writing your CV will surely land you an interview.

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