Tailoring your CV
Preparing your CV
Your consultant needs an up to date resumé to help you find the most suitable temp job. Keeping your consultant up to date with new skills, systems knowledge and qualifications you may have gained is essential and your CV should reflect this.
If you are in the process of rejuvenating your CV, your consultant can help you to tailor the presentation and content of your CV to the temp market, focusing more on technical skills, flexibility, availability and your ability to fit in with the existing team. If you want to make a start on your own, try to do the following
Make sure your CV is not too ‘diverse’
Even if you’ve been a soup cook on a Vietnamese trawler remember that the skills probably aren’t transferable. You want to list work experience that is relevant to the jobs you’re applying for. And if you can group similar placements under one heading, putting your best assignments first, all the better.
Emphasise your Temp credentials
Adaptable, flexible, quick to learn; temps must consistently exhibit a judicious mix of hard and soft skills. Showcase yours in a career summary at the top of your CV so that employers are sold on you from the outset.
Make your CV stand out from the crowd
Don’t just list your job skills, describe what you’ve achieved applying these skills in the workplace. List major accomplishments for each assignment, using the STAR technique as a template; describe the Situation, the Task required as a result, the Action you took and the Result of that action.
Let Google know who you are
Google uses complex algorithms to match search criteria with relevant content. If you’re going for an admin role, the relevant content will consist of something along the lines of ’40 wpm, Excel formulae, good team player’. Google behaves in much the same way as a seasoned HR manager. If your CV manages to get your USPs in the first paragraph, Google will find it. Resist the temptation to cheat. You could put ‘red hot admin assistant’ in your career summary and you would get more hits, but not the sort you’re after.
