Applicant, especially fresh graduate does not know the real purpose of a CV. They all follow the traditions of men at the job-seeking phase of their lives. They write not knowing how and why the content of a CV is divided into sections. For a fact, recruiters have leapt away from reading through an entire CV to reading a CV in zigzag. No recruiter would want to spend a minute reviewing a single CV amidst thousand.
I was supposed to add this piece to How recruiters look on a CV at first glance but I felt it should be a topic on it own. Now, What do I mean by reading a CV in a zigzag Literally, CV follows an unruled order. Forgive me, I will only comment in lieu of a long note.
- Personal and Contact details – Use the nearest possible location
- Career objectives – in relation to the job position
- Skill– in relation to the job position
- Work experience – in relation to the job position, should be in reverse chronological order with your current or recent job position.
- Qualifications – Academic and professional qualifications relevant to the job position
- Extra curriculum – in relation to the job position
- Achievement – in relation to the job position
- Hobbies – in relation to the job position
- Reference – Someone who can vouch
- Narrative – When a job position is advertised with a job description, it is expected that an applicant should provide a narrative as to how he/she matches the requirement as noted in the job description.
Except for Personal Details, each section of a CV must be related to the job position. It pains me when I review CVs with no relation to the job position it was meant for, and applicant often wonders why they never get a call back for an interview. A CV is read in zigzag when a recruiter picks and read the sections he or she deems important for a job position before considering other CV sections.
For example; A Medical Firm with a job position of a Counselor would consider
Skills and Ability
Extra curriculum activities
Hobbies
If a recruiter OK this section, he may then consider other sections.
An ICT Firm with a job position for Database Management would consider
Work experience
Achievements
Qualifications
For a part-time job, a recruiter would consider
Career objective
Hobbies
Work experience
Now each of these recruiters is not following the old traditions of reading a CV from top to bottom but from a section that is relevant to the job position. This is often called the strength sections of a CV and somehow related to what recruiters look at on a CV at first glance. The only difference here is, there is a second, third and fourth glance.
The first glance is often employed to screen out a CV, while the zigzag is employed to know how relevant a CV is in relation to a job position.
Believe me, you, if you understand what I’m trying to convey with zigzag, you will not have problems with employment opportunities. For example, if there is an Administrative or Secretarial job position, knowing the concept of zigzag would enable you to focus more on those CV sections that are most important to Administrative or Secretarial jobs without losing preference for other sections.