You’ve worked on it for hours. You’ve spellchecked it three times. You’ve even asked a couple of friends to proofread it. But when it comes to knowing whether your CV will land you an interview, you’ve had to just hit send and hope for the best. Until now.
Be confident you’ve done all you can to perfect your CV with this CV assessment tool. Created by the CV & Interview Advisors for CIMA students and members, it only takes a few minutes to assess and is completely free to use. Once you’re finished, you’ll get individual scores based against key criteria and a personalised, downloadable report.
Before you start, look over these 5 CV dos and don’ts to see if you can do any final polishing. Then it’s time to put your CV to the test.
How the CV analysis tool works
The tool scores your CV against 4 key criteria:
Structure
The structure of your CV and the sections you’ve included are fundamental to an effective CV. Your layout should follow a tried and tested approach — don’t be tempted to try something new in hopes it will make you stand out from the crowd. The CV & Interview Advisors know from experience that recruiters — and recruitment software — favour a familiar layout that they can scan efficiently.
Content
Your structure may be sorted, but is your content on point? You essentially need to make a business case explaining why you should be hired over other applicants. To do that, you need a targeted CV that provides irrefutable evidence that you match the job description and have an impressive track record that warrants an interview.
ATS Optimisation
ATS = Applicant Tracking System, is the software that over 75% of recruiters and employers now use to select and manage applicants. ATS can match applicants’ CVs to the job description and process key words and phrases on your CV. That’s why your resume needs to contain very specific information — for ATS to consider you a good match for the role, your CV needs to be in a format that ATS can easily scan.
Style
Recruiters and employers expect CVs to be written in a certain voice and style. Veering from this or being overly adventurous can backfire. Without sounding like a grammar lesson, the rule of thumb is to use active voice, tight writing and implied first person.
