Using concise bullet points will draw the HR manager’s eye to the key elements of your CV without them having to trawl through lengthy paragraphs to see whether you fit the job description or not. Here are some tip to ensuring that your bullet points are strong, easy to read and illustrate the impact you could have if you were offered the role.
- Start with the most important points first. If the HR official isn’t instantly wowed by your CV, he or she may not read on. Start with an overview that sums up who you are and what you can offer the company, for example, ‘Managed an advertising campaign, including digital marketing and social media, that attracted hundreds of new buyers’.
- Show career development. It’s important that you demonstrate how your previous roles have contributed to your overall career development. For example, ‘I started off as a runner at ITV before becoming an assistant producer at the BBC. After undertaking some training, I produced a primetime TV show watched by two million people’.
- Talk about team work. Most hiring managers will want to see evidence that you can work well as part of a team as well as achieving great things on your own. For example, ‘I headed up a team of five that won a ‘best in class’ award for our services to accountancy’.
- Prove your consistency. Whether you’ve worked at the same place for ten years or have flipped between roles, it’s good to show that your contribution has been proven over time. For example, ‘In all the sales roles I have undertaken, I have exceeded my targets and increased sales for the firms I served at’.
- Give a more detailed insight into your current role. It’s important that you don’t describe the minutiae of every job you’ve ever done, but it’s worth giving a strong overview of your current post and what it has taught you. For example, ‘Handling staffing appointments and appraisals has taught me how to build a strong team that delivers consistently good results, while ensuring that my workforce feels valued and appreciated’.
Once you’ve written out your bullet points, take a break before coming back to them. Do they give a rounded overview of your skills and experience? Can you cut out any unnecessary waffle? Have you used the same words over and over again when you could use a decent alternative? Does your list fulfil the key criteria of the job description? Keep refining your bullet points until you’re completely happy with them.
