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The average recruiter looks at your CV for 7 seconds, make each second count!

I’ve been recruiting for over 13 years and during that time I estimate that I’ve reviewed over 150,000 CV’s. I’ve seen some really impressive CV’s, I’ve seen some really terrible CV’s and I’ve seen a whole bunch of somewhere in between CV’s.

It would be great to think that recruiters and employers will look beyond your CV, to give you a chance to meet with them, to discuss any concerns or doubts that they may have, to give you the chance to impress, the reality is… they won’t.

Some Facts To Think About

• The average time a recruiter spends reviewing your CV is 5 to 7 seconds.
• Applications are received within 200 seconds of the job being advertised.
• An average of 250 CVs are received for each job position.
• One spelling or grammar mistake and your CV will likely be thrown in the bin.

What Does That Mean For You

Think about point number one for a moment… try this, open your CV and set a 7 second timer on your phone, start reading. How far did you get? How interesting was the read? How much could you conclude in just 7 seconds?

Imagine you’re looking to buy a new house or a new mobile phone contract or a new car etc – now imagine you get 200 to 300 “offers / applicants”;

• How long would you review each offer?
• Would you read every contract offer from front to back?
• Would you read every brochure page by page?
• Have you ever deleted a marketing email after only a few seconds? Why didn’t you call the company with your feedback and give them the chance to overcome your concerns?

The reality is recruitment moves fast, most of the people involved are in a rush and this is reflected in the amount of time that your CV will receive from each and every application and every recruiter that you work with.

How to Improve Your Odds

Your CV MUST be engaging and it MUST be tailored to EVERY position that you’re applying.

If you won’t give up 10 minutes of your time tailoring your CV, then why should you expect someone to give up 10 minutes of his or her time reviewing it?

YOU are the product, the CV is your sales brochure. If it’s not clear what you can offer, what you have achieved in the past and what drives and motivates you then your CV is not good enough.

Get your CV working for you and you’ll increase your application success fivefold.

• Change it.
• Update it.
• Read it.
• Share it.
• Get feedback on it.

There are lots of great articles online about creating a CV, spend some time on getting it right and you WILL increase your chances of getting that phone call, securing an interview and ultimately securing your dream job.

There are also a lot of very experienced recruiters who will happily help, don’t be afraid to follow up your applications with a phone call and offer to spend some time on your CV if it’s not hitting the mark.