1. Formatting

The bane of a hiring manager's (including headhunters) life is the “formatted CV”.  Trust us when we say “plain is better”!  Use a word doc or pdf.  Plain is good.  

2. Over complication

If it takes the recruiter or hiring manager more than a few seconds to identify your relevant skills for the role, you’re already making your way through the metaphorical shredder!  

Your CV should follow a basic and proven format which includes: Bio, Education, Career history (reverse chronological order).  Career history should have a number of “responsibilities” and “Achievements” separated into two sections.  That’s it.

3. Make the CV relevant to the reader.

This is not your executive CV.  The focus of the CV should be those that match the non-executive director job specification.  Pull out relevant information into both the career history section and the biography at the very front of the CV.

4. To add cover letter or not?

A  CV with a “War & Peace” cover letter is as bad as a CV with no cover letter.  

Be succinct and draw out your relevant experience in this short two paragraph document.  

Use a “tick box” approach to sell your experience and relevance to the reader even before they get to the main CV document.  Use a short form bullet point list of “Reasons why I match the non-executive director specification”.  Anything that makes a recruiter’s job easier will see your chances of getting an interview increase.

5. Cut out the BS! 

The quickest way to turn off a potential hirer is by making statements in the CV that will prove difficult to back up in a real life interview.  “I won a £1bn contract single handedly etc”.  If it is true, fine – but we all get carried away and make some pretty fanciful boasts on CVs.