Section 2 – Make the most of your 7 seconds
Hiring managers are busy people, and they might be handling a lot of recruitment all year round. Your perspective might be that applying for an industry job is a big life decision. Nevertheless, you should tailor your CV so it talks to the company desires, not yours. And they look for keywords based on their demand for skills.
The hard truth is that hiring managers spend approximately 7 seconds scanning through your CV.
Even if the reader spend more than 7 seconds, do not expect them to read between the lines, unriddle information or interpret. Everything you want them to learn about you must be presented by you, up front.
Hiring managers do not have time to make assumptions about your abilities based on your titles and positions, prove your value by telling them. You showcase that your skills are transferable to the company output.
The more important the information is, the higher up the information should be. This applies for western culture, reading from left to right.
🖋 Task:
Find a job advertisement, and try these steps:
-
- What do they want? What skills, personal qualities and experiences do they ask for?
- What can you offer? Pick from your CV, be as specific as you can.
- How can you use what you have for the company in the future?