One size doesn't fit all
Charlotte Booth • 23 December 2020
Why your CV has to be 'rewritten' for every job
However, in addition to having different CVs per job role, it is important that your CV is tweaked for each specific job application and job specification.
As insane as that sounds, this is just a sign of the modern technological world. Gone are the days of CVs being hard copy on a recruitment manager's desk (although that's not to say they are not still printed off by some). Instead, CVs are received electronically and then processed from there.
And that is precisely where the problem starts.
Some businesses have implemented a wonderful time saving device known as applicant tracking system (ATS) software.
By entering set parameters the recruitment process is automated by ATS, so only CVs matching certain keywords, particular skills, specific employers, roles or even schools will be selected. Although latest innovations in AI mean that the CV can be more carefully aligned with job specifications and requirements I find such means of matching people and roles a sad sign of modern depersonalisation.
ATS systems can misread PDF CVs, can reject great people because they don't have the right words in their CVs as well as automatic removal of every CV that the system can't read or interpret. This is bad news in general for both recruiters and jobseekers. According to InterviewSuccessFomula.com on average 50 percent of applications are rejected by these systems.
But what this means specifically to the job seeker is, that if their CV does not have a number of specific key words, or the right ex-employers an actual human may never actually see your CV and may not identify that you have all the required skills to excel at the job.
To ensure that your CV at least gets looked at if one of these applicant tracking systems is used, it is important to match your CV closely with the job specification and requirements for the job you are applying for.
For example, if you are applying for a Project Management role and have the experience, but not necessarily a matching job title you need to ensure 'project management' or 'project manager' is mentioned somewhere on your CV either in role descriptions or the personal statement.
They say job hunting is a full-time job, and such ATS systems ensures this is the case for the job seeker who has to essentially rewrite their CV for every job application.
For every job, the average number of applicants is 118 and of them only 20 percent (23.6 people) will get an interview. So it is hard enough finding work without failing at the first automated hurdle.
If you are job hunting and would like a master CV or a role-specific CV drafted then why not contact me today. It could be the first step to your dream job.
There is nothing more amusing than checking out mediaeval artistic renditions of lions and other heraldic creatures. These beasts, grimacing and gurning are a strange juxtaposition of human, animal and demon and as far from the cute image of Alex from the Madagascar franchise or in fact a real lion as you could possibly get. There are three main reasons mediaeval lions are so ‘bad’ and un-representational; The artists were following a very tight brief. Some of the artists may never have seen a lion, and were following the descriptions they were given. These lions were representing heraldic principals of bravery, nobility and authority; all very human characteristics. When viewed through this lens it becomes more understandable why they look the way they do, but they are still ‘not right’ and not a great tool for learning about lions. Generative AI is very similar to an uninformed but talented mediaeval artist. There is a element of intelligence but at the end of the day it is following a brief, with no actual ‘knowledge’ of the thing it is producing. As an example, if you prompt your generative AI (ChatGPT and the like) to produce a blog for your new product or service, aimed at your ideal customer avatar you will in all likelihood get a mediaeval lion out the other end. Sort of recognisable, and sort of not. This is because AI doesn’t know what a customer is (ideal or otherwise), has no idea what your product or service is and does, and has no true understanding of how this service or product will serve your ideal customer and their needs. Of course, AI is pulling all the information available from the internet to help with its answer but there is no understanding there. There is no determining fact from falsehoods or even which websites are trustworthy and which are not. So, it skims the internet and puts together content which suits the brief as it understands it. This is then when the actual work should start as this content shouldn’t be used in the raw. It should be edited and tweaked by a human who DOES understand the brief, has been a customer (ideal or otherwise) and can imagine what your ideal customer will feel when using your product or services. We are in a world now, where we have generative AI promoting products and services to humans, when it has no concept of what a human is and how it thinks, meaning the marketing department are in fact more important than ever for ensuring content and copy is aimed at humans and human emotions. You could argue that the world would be a more entertaining place if there were more mediaeval lions in it, but it wouldn’t be a great environment for learning, or for basing purchasing decisions on. If you want to maintain the human element in your content, then I would love to help . Explain the brief, your CTA and your ideal client and I will know what I need to ask to get a clear idea before writing. Then you can rest assured your content was written by a human for a human and we can leave the mediaeval lions to the museums.
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