Everyday recruiters scan hundreds of CVs. On average each one receives less than 30 seconds of attention. If you want your CV to stand out you need to invest something extra into it. Inevitably candidates with professional written CVs will get noticed more often, because their documents are authored by people who understand how recruiters work.

There are two types of CV reader: One is digital, the other human.

Recruiters use digital search tools to sift through their massive database of CVs. They will input a number of keywords, generating a list of CVs that meet their criteria. This means it’s important to understand what keywords recruiters tend to use, and have familiarity with their search tools. Without this knowledge it’s harder to ensure that your CV will be picked up by a search.

Having used search tools to reduce the list of potential CVs to a short list (often up to about 40 CVs), the recruiter will scan each one by eye. They’re looking to build a mental picture of each candidate from the information on the CV, and they’ll usually take no more than 30 seconds to do so. This means that the information that’s presented at the top of the CV is absolutely vital. Often recruiters will not reach the very end of the document, particularly if it’s a long document comprising several pages.

They will also have difficulty reading large chunks of text. Because a CV is usually presented on a PC screen rather than being printed out it should be designed in the same way as a web page. Lots of short, highly focused pieces of information separated by white space.

The value of using a professional CV writer is that they should understand the search and formatting preferences of recruiters. Given that the quality of your CV might make the difference between landing or losing a job, it must be worth investing in.

Andrew Michaels is a freelance writer with twenty years experience in management, finance and recruitment. For more information about CV writing services go to http://www.cvpartner.com.

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