Maximising your ‘shop window’

Posted on | May 21, 2009 | Author: | mickh | 1 Comment

We are spending a lot of time talking to people about their CVs at the moment and as a consequence we are fine tuning our advice. My favourite at the moment focuses on how we tend to view CVs.

If you are like me, when I open a word document I tend to view it at 100% or full page width (129%). This means that my first view is of the top half of your document. Only if I like what I see will I bother to read any further. This is some thing that many of my colleagues also do. First impressions really do count and if you do not grab our attention at the beginning we are unlikely to read very far.

Maximising your ‘shop window’

I have started using the analogy of a shop window to help candidates make that important first impression. If you see a nicely presented and appropriate shop window then you are more likely to go into the shop – even if you did not intend to in the first place. Think of the top half page of your CV as a shop window. Only if you grab the attention of the reader will they be enticed to ‘enter’ the rest of your CV.

Continuing the theme you want to maximise your shop window. Would you store empty boxes in a shop window, or unwrapped supplies? In the same way is there anything in the top half of your CV that does not add significant value?

Filling your ‘shop window’ with contact details or education, is a common approach, and in my opinion wastes an opportunity to market yourself. These details are important if someone wishes to contact you or confirm you education but are unlikely to be the things that grab people’s attention. Put these to the back and use the space provided to show the reader what you are capable of.

The final message regarding your ‘shop window’ involves appropriateness. Just because something is eye catching does not mean it is necessarily good. Again going back to the high street think about how shops are able to present their brand through the shop front. The same applies to your CV. You want to create the impression of a professional who a future employer can have complete confidence in. This is perhaps not the place for exotic fonts and bright colours!

So there you have it. Try opening your CV at full page width and see what impression you are creating. Would you give it a second look? Then why should we.

photo by MorBCN via Flickr (licensed under the Creative Commons for commercial work)

Related posts:

1. Are you guilty of these Project Management CV errors?
2. Applications – and what they tell us about you
3. When Your Job Includes Several Roles, CV Advice
4. Recent Graduate/Student Project Management Visit

Comments

One Response to “Maximising your ‘shop window’”

1. Project Management Tools & Techniques
   May 22nd, 2009 @ 6:18 am

   This is great advice. It’s so easy to miss those small optimizations, but when you’re competing to be the one CV in twenty that gets more than five seconds of attention, every little bit helps.

   In fact, I’d go one step further: if you’re applying for lots of jobs, craft a CV so that the top half of the page isn’t just different — it’s weird. Most people will pass on it, but the few who don’t are still more than the many who pass on yet another generic resume.

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