MAHDI KAFI

N D I N G
LA
A J O B
I T I V E
D E F I N
TH E E
G U I D

CVs that get Interviews

LANDIND A JOB: The Proven method to build a CV that gets
interviews.

How do you know your CV is up to this year’s standards?

Good question, right? You may say “Well I get phone calls for interviews, so I guess
my CV is good”.

You might be right, but it’s not enough to say your CV is well optimized to get calls
from all sort of companies. Tell yourself: “Did I get interviews from ALL companies I
was dreaming about?”

The answer is most likely no and even though I don’t think you could possibly get
interviews for every CV you send, you want to increase your chances.

If so keep reading.

We say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but the sad truth is most of us do. The same
process goes for your CV. Even small errors and random information can cost you an
opportunity of a lifetime. Errors in your CV can be interpreted from a recruiter that
you are a disorganized, lazy person because you didn’t take the time to make sure
it’s flawless.

On the other hand, an excellent first impression from your CV will be harder to break
once a Recruiter personally meets you. That’s the power of a good CV. It is indeed
essential then, that your CV represents your personality, your experience, and your
objectives.

1
In this guide, we will make sure your CV is on point and represents your unique
background and gives you the best impression possible. Let’s start.

PART A: MINDSET
1. THE GOAL OF A CV: WHAT TO KEEP IN MIND BEFORE WRITING IT

You probably opened a word document and made yourself ready to start your CV.

Wait a second.

Before even thinking about what to write, you will have to keep some information in
mind, to find the best voice to adopt when you write your CV.

Why are you even writing this document? Why does a Recruiter will ever want to read
it?

Sure, you want a job, and you learned that you must submit this piece of paper. But
more importantly, this document is clearly just a sales pitch. What are you pitching?

Your Persona.

Your only goal here is to convince the company to call you for an interview. Your goal
should be to make them curious about you, to the point they feel the need to meet
you so that they won’t miss the chance to hire this good candidate.

2
Not many people realize this. They write their CV as if they are making the company
a favor by applying to their organization.

WRONG!

You are probably asking: How can I make sure my CV is selling my experience well
enough? We will see that together through this doc.

Keep in mind that a recruiter will take on average 6 seconds to measure if you’re the
right person for them. If yes, they will take an additional minute or so to read your
application carefully.

6 seconds is SUPER FAST. If you have a current CV, give it to a friend or family member
and ask them to glance at it for 6 seconds.

What information did they remember? If it’s not the relevant information you want
to project, then you have a problem.

A problem we will solve, RIGHT NOW!

3
PART B: ANALYSIS

2. STUDY THE INDUSTRY YOU’RE IN

Common errors people make: they create a One-Size-Fits-All CV and then wonder
why they don’t receive any call-backs. CVs just like emails or personal messages
should be tailored to the industry and job you are applying to.

Checklist:

o Check out the website of the company you’re applying to.

o Check out their competitor’s websites.
o Checkout relevant news about the industry.
o Note common practices (expressions, terms, strategy, objectives, etc.)
o Note common Keywords everyone is using.

Make sure to use them in your CV.

You should tweak some details each time you’re applying to a new industry.

3. STUDY JOB POSTING

This one is similar to the last point. Make sure you are using the same wording and
expression than the job postings you’re seeing on the company’s website.

Let’s take an example. If you see that Deloitte calls their audit employees “CPAs”, you
will want to take this word in your CV.

If you see that JP Morgan asks for quantitative skills in Finance, don’t forget to include
not only these keywords, but also these skills, whereas if you’re applying to PwC as

4
an Operations Analyst, maybe including your finance skills is not as relevant as in JP
Morgan.

You know what I mean?

Checklist:

o Note key responsibilities.

o Note keywords that are repeated throughout the job posting.
o Note qualifications you already have.

PART C: PREPARATION

4. FORMAT TO USE

Ohhh. I see your happy face. Yes, indeed, you are about to start actually writing in
your word document. (Or whatever other programs you’re using)

4.1 PRINCIPAL RULES

o Don’t write “Curriculum Vitae” at the top. We all know what it is.
o If you’re a student or have less than 3 years of experience, your CV should be
one-page long.
o Use sans-serif fonts like Verdana or Tahoma. You will have better results with
ATS.
o Do not use any type of designs or colors if you’re not applying to a “creative”
job. It will just distract the person reading it.
o Don’t put your picture on your CV.
o Your font size should not be smaller than 11 font points.
o Do not leave big white spaces. Try to fill up the whole page with relevant
information.

5
 4.2 MAKE IT EASIER TO READ

o Your layout, spaces, fonts and the use of italic and bold should be consistent
throughout the page. Eliminating inconstancies make it easier for the recruiter
to spot important information right away.
o Choose your formatting consciously, think of what you want the reader to see
first, and do it.
o Examples of information you should highlight by using bold, bigger font
size or italic are job titles, company names, university if relevant, etc.

4.3 DATES

o Use a format that is consistent throughout your paper.

o Avoid using “MMYY” or “YY/MM” as it can be misleading sometimes. Use
“YYYY-YYYY” or “Month YYYY-Month YYYY”.
o If you had any internship “Summer YYYY” is enough!

5. SECTIONS TO USE

Choosing the right sections to put in your CV can be a hassle. Here’s what you can do
to make sure your paper portrays your profile as much as you can.

Here’s a list of sections you can use:

Work Experience Community Service

Leadership / Volunteer Experience Selected Athletics / Activities

Activities and Interests Achievements and Extracurricular

Activities
Leadership and Extracurricular
Activities Extracurricular Activities and Interests

Extracurricular Activities Extracurricular Experience

Volunteer Experience Volunteering and Community Service

6
What you should remember here is to carefully select what you want to put in your
CV.

Do you want to showcase your leadership skills? Do you want to show how of a
sportsman you are? Or do you want to make sure your career experience is on top
of that?

Whatever your choice, use titles that are action related, and not descriptive. For
example: “Leadership Experience” instead of “Volunteer Experience”.

Following your sections about education and/or work experience, you will have to
add sections that say more about you and your background. I am talking about your
skills and interest.

Here are some header examples for these sections:

Skills Extracurricular and Awards

Achievements Certifications

Professional Designations Interests

Skills, Extracurricular and Interests Skills and Hobbies

Other Interests Awards and Achievements

Activities and Skills Awards, Competitions and Community

Service
Extracurricular and Interests
Team Sports and Achievements
Professional Development and Skills
Case Competitions
Honors and Awards
Activities and Interest
Technical Abilities

Keep in mind that you should have 2 to 4 sections on your CV max.

Most of the time for young professionals, education should be the first section,
followed by work experience, extracurricular, then interests.

But know that every individual is unique, and so you can mix this order as you wish,
but keep in mind that the most critical information should be at the top.

7
PART D: WHAT TO WRITING
6. WRITING

6.1 HEADER

Your header should include the following:

o Name
o Full Address
o Phone Number
o Professional Email Address

Your name should stand out from the rest of the CV. Put it in the center, bigger font,
in bold. See image.

If you’re applying to jobs in other cities/countries, it can be relevant to include a short

paragraph/ summary where you state that you are willing to move for this job.
Otherwise, if you have less than 3-4 years of experience, having a summary is not
relevant unless you have to state unique things that might help you get the job, like
the fact that you’re willing to move to work.

Try to give a phone number where you can be easily reached, and where you have
more chances to answer, like your cell phone.

Make sure you give a professional email address. Avoid personal ones like
[email protected].

Finally, make the header separate from the rest of the paper by adding a divider
below it. This makes it clearer and more professional.

8
6.2 EDUCATION

Notice: If you have more than 2 years of experience, you can remove the dates
next to your degree.

If you don’t have a master’s degree, list only the institution you attended for
your primary degree. If you’ve done an international exchange, make sure you
include it.

Listing your high school is not relevant.

If you have awards, scholarship or excellent grades, make sure to include them
beneath your education. Don’t include any coursework, you can talk about that
in the interview.

Your institution name should be on the first line, followed by your degree, then
major/minor/concentration. See image.

6.3 AWARDS

If you have exceptional awards, putting them can differentiate you from the
crowd.

Keep in mind two things when writing them:

o Putting the name of the award is enough. No need to add “Recipient of” or
“Winner of”.

9
o Give a short description of what the award is, like “Scott Trench Award for
best Public Speaking Engagement”.
o Quantify your awards when possible like “Dean’s Honor List (Top 10%)” or
“First Place Meese Case Competition (Among 500 participants)”. See image.

6.4 GRADES

This section is a bit touchy. Put your cumulative GPA only when you think it
may influence your application.

The general rule is: put it if you have more than 3.5/4.

Remember to include the total like “3.8/4” not “3.8” to avoid any confusion.

The GPA is included on the same line as your degree and major.

6.5 JOB DESCRIPTION

My favorite section! There are so much we can discuss here. This is where you
will include the relevant information and keywords you found in PART B:
Analysis.

Keep in mind, Recruiters read this section with hopes you’ve accomplished
something that will benefit them.

Listing tasks are not relevant for them, they don’t want to know you filled 35
contracts in less than an hour.

They want to see what the outcome was. Did you reduce costs? Did you make
customers happier? Did you increase your company’s revenue? Were you a
leader and made the group more organized?

10
 A question you can ask yourself to help you with that is:

“What were the results of my actions”?

Did you learn something? Have you improved something? Did you lead a
group of people into doing something great?

Accomplishments are merely things you got done or a project you carried with
some measure of success. In other words, what the company should expect
you can do for them.

Keep your job descriptions concise and straight to the point. Three lines are
enough most of the time. Differentiate your lines as well. Don’t write three
lines explaining how of a good leader you are. Try to take advantage of the
space to showcase all your relevant skills.

NEVER use personal pronouns like “I”. We know it’s you.

Change:

I was able to greet customers, evaluate their needs and sold 5000$ worth of clothes
in one day.

By:

Greeted customers, evaluated their needs rapidly and set a record of 5000$ worth of
sales in one day.

ALWAYS start with an action verb, ALWAYS. And never use the same action
verb twice in your CV (Please). I emphasize a lot in taking advantage of every
word you write in your paper.

11
Change:

Had the chance to learn essential concepts in the banking industry which made me
a better service provider.

By:

Learned important banking concepts which resulted in better customer care and
sales.

Here’s a pdf file with a list of action verbs you can use:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eohdbxi1deopv6f/Action-Verbs-for-Resumes.pdf?dl=0

Lastly, like the awards, try to quantify your accomplishments as much as you can.
This will give a better idea to recruiters on the impact you had in your previous roles.

Change:

Communicated with suppliers, reduced order time through improvement in

operational processes.

By:

Communicated with over 50 suppliers, reduced order time by 15% through

improvement in operational processes.

Finally, make sure you use meaningful and powerful job titles. The more precise you
are, the more chance you have Recruiters will remember them. For example, if you
worked in a bank, instead of “Customer Service Representative” you can put “Banking
Service Representative”. This makes it clearer to the recruiter in case he doesn’t know
the company you worked for.

6.6 EXTRACURRICULARS

12
This section is an excellent complement to your jobs section. It can add
relevant information of your skillset and differentiate your CV from the crowd.

Use the same guidelines as the previous sections: use accomplishment-

oriented sentences, limit your lines and start with an action verb.

If you feel this activity is significant, and you accomplished or learned impactful
things, you can even put it in your “Work Experience” section.

Again, choose your extracurriculars carefully, don’t forget that every line
should convince the recruiter that you are the best candidate ever.

6.7 SKILLS

Only include the skills you know is above the average applicant. Mentioning
you are good at Word and PowerPoint doesn’t give any advantage, so don’t
put them. However other software, like “Tableau”, “Microsoft Access” or
“Photoshop” can be put.

Put any relevant certifications you may have like “Bloomberg Certification” or
“Web Design”.

6.8 LANGUAGES

Include all the languages you master. Please put your fluency level (Beginner,
Conversational, Fluent/Native) next to each one.

A precision I want to make here, if you had 3 years of Spanish in High School
and you don’t remember anything, I don’t think it is relevant to put it, even in
“Beginner”.

13
6.9 OTHER INTERESTS

Now many people will tell you including your interest outside of work or your
hobbies is not relevant.

I prefer to think this way: Recruiters are humans as well (Yes, I swear!). I’ve had
many examples like one of my friend started talking about the upcoming
basketball all-star game with a recruiter because he had put “Basketball” in his
interest section.

Now I don’t say you will get the job automatically, but these things can make
you click with a recruiter, and this is always a good thing.

Your experience and education can be similar to other applicants, but your
interest is what will make you unique, and will show that you have a life and
interests outside of school and work.

6.10 REFERENCES

Putting “References available upon request” is not relevant anymore.

Employers already know this.

If needed, you will be asked to file a short form with the list of your reference
shortly before being hired, not when you are called for an interview.

14
 CONCLUSION
I hope this guide will help you kick-start your CV writing. Remember to ask yourself if
every word has its place in your CV. Test it with one of your friend or family member
like mentioned above, tell them to read it for 6 seconds and ask them what they can
remember. This will give a clear statement of your CV relevancy.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to me at

www.primalcareer.com, on LinkedIn or by email [email protected].

Until next time, CIAO! 😉

15