The Difference Between What Makes a Good CV and a Great CV

There's been so much discussion about what makes your CV stand out and what recruiters are looking for these days, yet for some reason, there always seems to be the key point that's missing. CVs, especially compared to resumes, are a much different representation of your job qualifications and work to elaborate into more detail. Hence, overcomplicating your resume and not focusing on what's really important to your CV, which is CV maintenance. That's a much more important topic for later. 

What is in a Good CV? 

A good CV, or a good enough one, will portray your background to others. You're following all the guides and rules and formatting your CV to look presentable to those that may review it, namely the recruiters and talent specialist areas. This will cover your job history, your skills, as well as language and technical skills, and standard contact information to be able to reach out to you in case they want to reach out for a further round. 

That seems well and good, and maybe there have been some guides out there to use some specific buzzwords as the first word of every sentence to pass those screening machines and get you through to the recruiter, at the very least. But, again, this is all well and good and is the bare minimum when it comes to crafting your CV, but there's a lot more that needs to be done when you want to compose a great CV. 

How to craft that great CV

You want to have all of the above and more. That greater portion is about having a data-driven mindset. That's what the recruiters are searching for, and that's what the hiring managers are looking for. The numbers themselves aren't always that relevant; it's the fact that your mindset is pushing you to focus on the data points of your career. Providing these figures shows your direct impact on the department and, thus, the overall company. 

This helps to show that while you're able to hit the minimum requirements of the position, you're also going to look at ways to quantify that, and that's where you start to make a great resume. But, of course, you want those numbers to be clearly stated with every bullet point, so at the end of the day, your CV looks like a list of bulleted statistics of your accomplishments and how you were able to reach those levels. 

Another item to make a great CV

Your CV also cannot be static, and that means you're going to need to consistently update your CV. It's not about tailoring your CV to a specific position, but it's actually updating the figures and project information as time goes by. You want fresh accomplishments represented on your CV. This, in turn, provides a historical overview of your professional successes. Resume maintenance in this area is what will help to make you have a great and easy-to-read CV every single time. 

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