Entitled Opinions

How to write a killer CV

Manuel Frigerio -

Last week I saw my friend Jack. He told me he was  applying for sales/marketing positions at various companies in Bristol  and wanted my feedback on his CV. I said "sure" but quickly regretted it  when Jack gave me his CV: a 2-page long, very colourful, text-heavy  recap of everything he's done, studied and worked on in his entire life.

Jack somehow managed to commit all the cardinal sins of CV writing at once:

  • add as much shit as possible, even when it's not relevant
  • make it as generic as possible
  • describe yourself with the same overused 30 words ("highly motivated self-starter"...)

🤮

I've not applied to many jobs (I've been self-employed almost my entire  adult life) but over the years I've hired several people and by shifting  through hundreds of CVs I've figured out what makes a CV stand out. In  short, I know the rules of the game.

In this post, I'll show you three simple rules to get your CV to stand  out and massively increase your chances of getting the job you want.

The Game

Let's go back to Jack. His CV sucks but of course, this is not Jack's fault. He simply didn't know the rules of the Job Application Game.

In this game there are two players:

  • you (a.k.a. the hero)
  • the person who reads your CV, let's call he/she "The Recruiter" (a.k.a. the boss)

The goal of the game* is for you to be hired but to do that you first  need to win this level by beating the Recruiter (the boss).

The Recruiter has only one job: figure out as quickly as possible if  you're a good candidate for that position and either hire you or send  you to the next round.

Now here's the key point: in this game, your only job is to make the Recruiter's job easier.  In other words, to beat The Recruiter you must help the Recruiter. The  easier you make their job, the higher the chances you will win at this  game.

*The only difference between this game and, say, Super Mario is that  if you die in this game (if the Recruiter doesn't pick you for the next  round) you don't get to play the game again, at least not with the same  company. You're out. For good.

3 tricks to win the game

Like every game, the Job Application Game has tricks and cheats.
There are 3 simple tricks to win at this game.

Trick 1: Make it about THEM

Take a standard CV. It's ALL about the person who wrote it.
Me, me, me, I, I, I...

Don't. Do. That.

Your CV should always be about THEM, the company you're applying to, not  you. Take your ego, crush it, crumple it and throw it away.

This will feel extremely counterintuitive. Of course my CV is about me! Who else should it be about?

But if you ask that question, you are missing the point: the person who reads your CV doesn't give a damn about you. They only care about filling the position with the best candidate.

(If this hurts your feelings, you can have a cry. I'll wait.)

Ok so how do you write a CV about them?
Spend some time researching the company. Find out about their problems,  roadmap, goals. If they have a blog, read it. If they have a public  roadmap, analyse it. Find interviews, podcasts, etc with the CEO or  execs of the company.

It doesn't matter what you do, just spend some time researching the company and their goals. This alone will put you head and shoulder above 98% of the other applicants.

But that's only the first step.

The second step is to show them how your past  experiences, personality, skills, studies, etc, make you a good fit for  that position AND help the company achieve their goals or overcome their  problems.

Let me give you an example.

One of the companies my friend Jack was applying to had a post on their  blog where they outlined their goals for 2020, which included expanding  their offering to enterprises in the B2B market.

That information is gold. Why? Because Jack has experience with B2B  products. In fact, most of his work experience is about selling B2B  products to senior management of large companies.

Now Jack can talk not just about his sales skill, but show how such  skills can help the company in a specific, tangible way. In other words,  Jack can make it about them.

(By the way, this is also precisely why you should never send the same  CV for two applications. How could you? Unless you're applying to the  same position for exactly the same company - in which case you probably  need to rethink your strategy - it simply doesn't make any sense because  different companies have different goals, different problems, etc.)

Trick 2: Don't bury the lead

I'm always surprised when I read a CV and hidden on page 2, under a  mountain of useless info, I find something truly impressive that makes  me go "Ah! That's amazing!"

In my experience most CVs are designed to hide the gold.

You're probably doing it with your CV. You're leaving it to the  Recruiter to find the gems. In other words, you're making the  Recruiter's job more difficult, which is the exact opposite of what you  have to do to win this game.

Instead, lead with your most impressive achievement*.  Read your CV and find something that stands out and use that that as the  first paragraph of your CV. Give the Recruiter a reason to stop.

This will be clearer with an example.
Let's imagine a woman (Milly) who is applying to be the private chef for  Bill Gates. Milly has 15 years of experience, several certifications  and multiple awards. Milly has also been the personal chef for Jeff  Bezos (CEO of Amazon) for 3 years.

What do you think Milly's lead should be?
Having been Bezos' private chef for 3 years easily trumps any other  certification, award or experience she has. In fact, Milly's CV could  easily be just one line "Jeff Bezos's personal chef for 3 years". Everything else is a bonus.

I know what you're thinking: I haven't done anything impressive.
But I don't believe you. Unless you're at the absolute beginning of your  carrier, you have definitely done something that can impress the  Recruiter. It doesn't have to be world-impressive either.

For example, Jack's most impressive achievement was that in his previous  business - a startup he bootstrapped at 23 - he managed to get the UK's  2nd largest van leasing company AND the UK's 2nd

largest car buying company. This is hardly something that will make  the headlines on the New York Times, but it's quite remarkable for a 23  years old. In one fell swoop, Jack has showed the ability to conduct  business negotiations, self-reliance and hustling (he bootstrapped his  company); all great skills for a sales person.

And yet, this information was in a bullet point on page 2, buried  under dozens of similar bullet points. Jack was burying the lead. He was  making the Recruiter's job more difficult.

Don't let the Recruiter do the dirty job of figuring out why you're a  good candidate. Make their life easier. Don't bury the lead.

Additional tips about the Lead

Your lead should be the first thing the Recruiter reads. It should be  the first paragraph of your CV and you should spend 80% of your time  optimising it, trying different versions, etc.

Here's a tip on writing your lead: imagine you're the keynote speaker of  an event of the company you're applying to. The host is going to  introduce you by reading a small blurb (2-3 lines). What do you want it  to say? What would make you feel proud?

*Your most impressive achievement should be related to the position  you're applying for. After all, remember that your job is to make the  Recruiter's job easy and their job is to find the best candidate for a  specific position. However if you have something truly exceptional to  show for use that instead. For example, my friend Elijah was applying  for a designer position but his lead was an open-source Javascript  component used by thousands of front-end developers he had built in his  spare time. The lead wasn't directly related to design but it showed  creativity and the ability to work in a team, which ultimately granted  him the job.

Trick 3: Keep it short

Imagine two restaurants. In one you're given a menu of 10 pages with  dozens of different dishes. In the other, you're given a one-page menu  with 5 dishes on it.

Which restaurant do you trust more?

If you are like most people, you will trust the one with the smaller  menu more. There's actually lots of research that shows how people  naturally trust more people or companies that give them fewer options.  Most people, you included, don't believe people (or restaurants) can be  good at too many things at the same time. Which is why Michelin star  restaurants have tiny menus and generalist restaurants have a couple of  dozen.

The same thing happens with your CV. Squeezing in every single piece of  information about your life, your carrier and your studies is the  equivalent of a 10-page menu in a restaurant. Don't say everything you  can do; say the best 3 to 5 things you can do.

As a rule of thumb, your CV should not be longer than 1 page, ideally  half a page. You know you have won when your entire CV is one line; e.g:  "Former CMO of Hubspot". If you can do that, no one will care where you studied or what your hobbies are.

Take the Milly example above. Her entire CV could effectively be one line "Jeff Bezos's personal chef for 3 years". You want to get to that level of minimalism for your CV.

Avoid repetitions
The reason a lot of CVs balloon to multiple pages is often due to  pointless repetitions. Jack's CV, for example, had a section called  "Skills" that listed things like:

  • Excel, Word and Email
  • Photo-editing
  • etc

Can you see what's wrong with that section?
I'll help you. If you can't use Excel or send emails in 2020 you're like  somebody who can't read or write 50 years ago. The fact that you're  applying to the job proves that you can send an email.

Photo-editing? That might be interesting... if Jack was applying to a  design position. Too bad he's applying to a Sales position.

Don't make the same mistake. Cut, cut, cut.
Your goal should be to cut off as much as possible without removing any  important information. What qualifies as "important" information?  Anything that helps the Recruiter decide you're the right person for  that position.

Where you studied very very rarely makes the cut here. Your hobbies  almost never. Prizes/awards? Please don't fool yourself. Nobody cares  about the "Best Entrepreneur Award" you got in 7th grade.

Remove these sections all together or summarise them in a couple of  lines, unless you have proof that these information make the Recruiter's  job easier. For example, if you know that the company you're applying  to likes to hires people from a specific school and you happen to have  gone to that school, then mention it.

Game over

To recap:

  1. This is a game. If you know the rules of the game you massively increase your chances of winning.
  2. Your only job is to make the Recruiter's job easier.
  3. Use these 3 tricks to win the game:
  4. Trick 1: Make it about THEM
    The person who reads your CV doesn't give a damn about you. Spend some  time researching the company. Find out about their problems, roadmap,  goals. Then show them how your past experiences, personality, skills,  etc, can help the company achieve their goals or overcome their  problems.
  5. Trick 2: Don't bury the lead
    Lead with your most impressive achievement. Read your CV and find  something that stands out and make it the cornerstone of your CV. Give  the Recruiter a reason to stop. Spend 80% of your time optimising the  lead.
  6. Trick 3: Keep it short
    Your CV is like the menu of a restaurant. Keep it short and people will naturally trust you more. Avoid useless repetitions.