For a more detailed overview of a CV template read our article entitled How To Write a CV

Your CV is likely to stand out if the information within it is well summarised, succinct and provides specific examples of how you have demonstrated your skills. Adopt a step by step approach to this and consider each and every job that is listed on your CV. For each history summarise any line management responsibilities you had, the size of the projects or tasks you worked on in terms of cost or employees and the specific role that you played and what the outcomes were. Write a sentence or paragraph about any barriers you had to overcome in order to achieve your objectives, providing negative examples of situations that you turned around is a powerful way of demonstrating your skills and abilities and is a strong indication of an individual with good problem solving abilities.

This does not need to be long and drawn out, all of these elements can be carefully summarised within the space of a few paragraphs and provide a much better indication of your skills and abilities than the traditional method of simply describing your employment and your position within the organisation. Remember that organisations want to know what you did and how you did it, not just a commentary on the nature of the organisation you worked for. It also shows that you have taken time to think about your resume and displays your skills at selecting, summarising and presenting appropriate information. Think about specific tasks or projects that you completed with that employer and pick one or two to develop into case studies which you can provide more detail upon in the case study section.

I have prepared two examples to give you a flavour of how this can work, the first example is a general description of job responsibilities, the second example presents the same information in a more specific manner which is much more valuable to a potential employer.

Example 1

1999 - Present Bloggs and Company Ltd.

Position: Team Leader

As a team leader I was responsible for supervising a small team in a call centre environment. This involved dealing with a large volume of daily queries relating to banking related matters and I would frequently be responsible for taking calls that staff members couldn't resolve through normal channels. In the role I demonstrated initiative and good assertiveness skills to resolve problem situations as quickly as possible.

Example 2

1999 - present Bloggs and Company Ltd.

Position: Team Leader

In my capacity as a team leader in a call centre environment, I was responsible for a team of twenty staff, which included involvement in job related assessment, disciplinary matters and day to day motivational strategies. One of the specific projects I worked on was to manage the call centre operations for our largest client Chase Manhattan, which was worth approximately $1.2 million to our organisation. We would receive approximately 500-600 calls from Chase Manhattan customers each day relating to account queries. My specific role within this operation was to develop the specific operational procedures for managing Chase customers, which were subsequently followed by staff members on a daily basis. This also involved protocols and procedures for escalation of unresolved queries to more experienced staff.

As you can see the second example provides more specific information of your role, your responsibilities and the scale of the work you undertook and is more informative to any employer.

Print Your CV On High Quality Paper

It is never appropriate to submit a handwritten CV to an employer mainly because it does not present a professional image but also because it is important that the document is legible and easy to read. Unfortunately handwritten documents can often be difficult to read. You should also type up your CV on a word processor and for added effect use high quality paper, ideally with a watermark, as this is likely to stand out immediately to a prospective employer who is shifting through hundreds of CV’s that are printed on cheaper quality paper.

Use Colour In Headings

It is often the attention to detail that will get your CV noticed and the use of colour in headings can make a real impact and draw the readers eye to your CV. It also suggests to the organisation that you are willing to go the extra mile to make a difference and this can provide significant insight into your character and potential as an employee.

Multimedia CV Creation

If you want to make the ultimate impact upon an employer then the creation of a multimedia CV is the ideal way to make your CV stand out from other applicants, especially as it displays your commitment to the prospective employer. A multimedia CV will provide the employer with an electronic copy of your CV and interactive links to case studies you have written. The best aspect of a multimedia CV is the ability to create flashy artwork and sound clips or video footage of you talking about some of your key skills. Multimedia CV’s provide a 3-D picture of you and your skills and if you include video footage, give the opportunity for employers to see how well you present before you even get to interview. With increasing access to digital video recorders and computers that can burn multimedia compact discs and DVD's, these are multimedia CV's are easey to make and there is little technical ability required.

Use Bullet Points To Summarise Key Skills

Bullet points are an easy but effective way to draw the readers eye to important information and enable your CV to stand out from those of other applicants. A busy hiring manager or human resources staff will thank you for helping them to find relevant information quickly by using this method. I would suggest using bullet points to list key skills that you used with each employer.

Include Case Studies

It is not appropriate to provide full or half page overviews of each employer you have worked and to describe in detail what you did within your main body of the Curriculum Vitae. These should be limited to brief succinct summaries. However to make your CV stand out from those of other applicants it is advisable to create some case studies for tasks or projects undertaken, which you are especially proud of. You should aim to choose 2 or 3, ideally from your current employer, but if not then from work that you have completed within the last 2 years. Look to develop your case studies into a half or one page summary and provide specific information on what you did, what skills you demonstrated, the size of the project, the number of staff under your direct supervision and what obstacles you had to overcome in achieving your goals. Make reference in your main resume to the fact that a separate a separate case studies (s) is attached at the end of the document. If you are unable to apply all of these elements discussed in this article then cosider utilising those that will be most effective in your individual circumstances. However these aspects either individually or collectively will enable your CV to stand out during the recruitment process and boost the potential of your receiving a formal interview invite.

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