"CVs fail to demonstrate great skills and experience" - Jill Ryder

I recently replied to a post by Jill Ryder on LinkedIn. The following is my post.

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Completely agree.

The CV is an introduction to your personal brand. Job seekers (and even non-job seekers) need to continually review their CV through-out the year. The continual tweaks and improvements made to a CV can make a significant difference from an average CV to a standout CV. Look to include key words and short descriptions relevant for the role worked and re-review as per advertised position.

I highly recommend focussing on the layout of their CV from a helicopter view. Focus on the white space/text ratio. Is it pleasing to the eye? Can the reader easily navigate to the different sections and find what they are after? Eg: I put my career outline and key strengths in a narrow column because I find it easier to scan, as compared to a full A4 width row of sentences/paragraphs.

Under each role worked;
- Include a short sweet summary of the project's objective. The hiring manager might be looking for a BA with similar project experience
- Key PERSONAL achievements using measurable metrics data (eg: completion of work within 5 month target, or completed testing & training for 200 users in given 6 week window etc etc)
- Additional key highlights for the role if not already covered in any of the above sections.

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The original post by Jill is posted below

The Disease Of CRAP Resumes.

Here's the thing...the vast majority of business analyst CVs I see are, at best average.

In a week, I look over at least 70 or 80 business analyst CVs.

It may surprise you to hear that I can only pick out max 5 CVs, which I really rate.

This is not to say they aren't amazing candidates... there are certainly more than 5 decent candidates out of the 70 or 80!

For a variety of reasons, their CV fails to demonstrate great skills and experience.

Strange really....given that a business analyst is required to produce high quality documentation as an integral part of their role.

Stranger still, the CV is the first step in landing your dream job, presenting yourself in the best possible light, so your average CV may mean career suicide.

I think the majority of people send poor CVs unintentionally....they don't know where they are going wrong.

Common issues include:
-spelling and grammatical errors.
-poor layout...messy, hard to read/follow (MOST COMMON).
-spending too much time describing irrelevant work experiences or not enough time on really important experience.
-the CV presents a profile which is very generic...it doesn't clearly represent your core skills and offering. Pretty much all hiring managers want to hire a specialist business analyst as opposed to a jack of all trades.  

Of course....there's no rule book which sets out the only way to write a resume...this is just my experience on what gets interviews.

Keen to hear your thoughts. Happy to provide feedback on your resume.