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
1. You absolutely MUST have one.
A job-seeker simply cannot succeed these days with just the traditional formatted cv intended to be printed out as a visually pleasing marketing piece. The formatted "print" cv is still important, but it can no longer be the only tool in your kit.More than 80 percent of employers are now placing cv's directly into searchable databases and an equal percentage of employers prefer to receive. All these stats mean that you need at least one other version of your cv that can go directly into a keyword-searchable database with no obstacles Formatting that needs to be removed before the cv can be placed in a database is an example of such an obstacle.
Sending your cv in text-based format directly in the body of an e-mail message removes all barriers to an employer's placing your cv right into a searchable database. Some employers still prefer the formatted document version of your cv attached to an e-mail message, while others won't open attachments because of concerns about viruses and incompatibilities among word-processing programs. And since the formatted version of your cv is often delivered electronically as an attachment, it too can be considered a type of e-cv.
The formatted "print" cv is still vital because the employer may wish to visually review your cv, especially once the database search has narrowed down the candidates, and the formatted, print version will be more reader-friendly than the text-based version. You'll also want to have a print version of your cv on hand to take to interviews and career fairs and for occasions when employers request cv's in "old-fashioned" ways -- by mail or fax.
So, at the bare minimum, you need a formatted, print version of your cv and a text-based (ASCII) e-cv. To cover every contingency, you might also want to have a Rich Text (RTF) version, a Portable Document Format (PDF) version, a Web-based (HTML) version, and a scannable version.
