Identifying a top CV when you see it

Over the last few weeks, we’ve looked at various topics related to recruitment, including how to improve your job advert, why salary is important for it, and how to make your recruitment process more streamlined for more quality candidates.

Now let’s focus on how to identify a top CV when you’re whittling down your list of candidates. 

Source personality

Find evidence in a CV that the candidate has done their homework and due diligence on your company and role. They should have made it clear in their cover letter why they want the job. For example, do they enjoy problem solving? Or are they interested in working for a large team? Perhaps they would take pride in being a representative for your company. Anyone who can provide good examples of what interests them about your company is probably a more successful hire than someone who chose to send you a generic CV.

Locate passion

Finding a candidate who shows passion for their career could be a huge benefit to your company. And passion shines through in a well thought out CV too. For example, you might see examples of passion in the hobbies section, or in the certifications/qualifications section. Perhaps your candidate chose to study alongside their previous role to acquire the skills they feel they have now achieved to apply for your job? Or they have highlighted some key reading materials in their cover letter – this is real passion, going above and beyond to learn more about your job. And this is a candidate worth investing in. 

Don’t just look for buzzwords

Buzzwords relevant to your job will likely be found in most CVs submitted for your job. Let’s be realistic, in today’s world, how difficult is it for a candidate to find a suitable job description on Google and simply research, then copy the skills required to make themselves sound more qualified than they are? It’s no secret that white lies can be found on a CV. It’s not ideal to screen candidates against buzzwords for the job – recruiters need to look deeper, and read the CV in detail to identify whether the candidate can ‘speak the language’ of the job. you should also review the CV for a proven track record of achievement on their application. While a keyword search comes in extremely handy to whittle down applications initially, like our advanced CV Discovery tool, you have to look deeper at the CV to assess if the candidate has genuine knowledge and experience of the area in question.