eCV helpful hints
Helpful hints to ensure your CV gets seen by prospective employers when you apply online.
The e-cv or e-resume, short for electronic CV or Resume, is a vital tool for today's job-seeker.
But what exactly is an electronic cv or resume? Whilst opinions vary about what is or is not an electronic cv, it's a broadly used term that covers several types of cv's. What ties these cv types together is mode of delivery. Rather than traditional modes of cv delivery - snail-mail, faxing, and hand-delivery - e-cv's are delivered electronically -- via e-mail, submitted to Internet job boards, or residing on their own Web page. Then there are sort of middle-tech cousins of e-cv's, scannable cv's - used less and less frequently these days - that are in print format but are ready to become electronic cv's through optical scanning.
- 1. You absolutely MUST have one.
- 2. Your e-cv must be loaded with keywords.
- 3. Your e-cv must be achievements-driven .
- 4. An e-cv is not too difficult to create.
- 5. Text-based e-cv's are pretty ugly, but you can dress them up a bit.
- 6. E-Cv's are highly versatile.
- 7. You must tailor the use of your e-cv to each employer's or job board's instructions.
- 8. Take advantage of job-board features to protect yourself and get the most out of posting your e-cv on the boards.
- 9. A few finishing touches can increase your e-cv's effectiveness.
- 10. Use your common sense
8. Take advantage of job-board features to protect yourself and get the most out of posting your e-cv on the boards.
Most reputable job boards have features that enable you to protect your own privacy and confidentiality, control who sees your cv, mask the identity if your current employer (so your employer doesn't know you're looking), and easily edit and delete your cv or change it from active to inactive.These privacy and confidentiality issues are more important than ever these days in light of recent revelations of identity theft of resume information. Many boards also enable you to create multiple profiles for yourself so you can look for various types of jobs. Some permit you to submit a list of your top skills. CV submission forms generally have questions in addition to a place to submit the actual cv. Some questions are mandatory; others are optional. When a question is optional, consider whether it is to your advantage to answer it. Answering questions about salary or location requirements, for example, may be too limiting. The resources in No. 7 above are helpful in taking advantage of the features of job boards.
