Jobseekers about to undertake CV writing are being advised to speak to the company they are applying for jobs at before sending off the application.
Charlie Ryan, the owner of advice website therecruitmentqueen.com, said that the best way in which people can fine-tune their CV is by asking their prospective employer what they are looking for in an application.
Furthermore, she added that graduates heading out of university do not play up their strengths and forget to show skills they will have acquired while studying – such as working under pressure and to deadlines.
While companies look for competencies – such as decision making and customer service skills – often people are not quick to show examples where they have used them, Ms Ryan said.
She added: "What they need to do is establish what the company is looking for by calling the company first. And then once they know what they are looking for, they can ask a question back.
"So if the company says 'we need someone who has come from this environment', the graduate can say to them 'well what is it about that experience that is going to make that person suitable for the role?'"
Her comments come after Elizabeth Baccus, the founder of The Successful CV company (thesuccessfulcv.com), said last month that CV writing should depend on the job role.
If people do decide to send the same CV to every job they apply for, they will not succeed, she added.
"The other important thing is to provide measurable examples. So it is not good enough to say that they are a team player – they could say they have gained excellent team skills by working within a particular project or a sports team, but they need to provide measurable examples," Ms Baccus added.
This, Mr Ryan agrees, is the way to go about it.
"Companies recruit in-line with competencies, so if graduates know the ten or 12 competencies that most roles look for … they can actually get those transferable skills and give examples of how, in the last four years, they were able to demonstrate those skills," she said.
