A toxic CV and a job opportunity are soon parted

A toxic CV and a job opportunity are soon parted

Toxin in a CV damages the persona just as melamine in milk poisons the health

by Samuel Goh | 10 May 2009

“If you are not getting as many interviews as your expertise commands, sack your profile.” ~ Samuel Goh “The job of the profile is to attract interviews.” ~ Samuel Goh

Remember the global scare in 2008 of babies in China poisoned by milk tainted with melamine? More than 6000 babies fell ill. Some died. Many developed kidney stones. All from drinking milk that has toxin in it.

Toxin in a CV damages the persona just as melamine in milk poisons the health. An interviewer is scanning a pile of CV’s into a short pile of choice candidates and a taller pile of rejects. Into which pile would the CV tainted with toxin be placed in? If your CV reveals any sign of toxin, which pile would it end up in?

Recruiters are past masters at detecting toxin in CV’s. The fortunate toxic CV ends up in the trash can. The unfortunate one ends up in a blacklist. The trash can has a short history of 24 hours, average. The blacklist–a few years, at the least. A blacklist that reminds each recruiter which candidates the organization would consider. How many job opportunities can you afford to lose?

OK. You have a toxic CV. What can you do? Lots. Let’s look at 2 remedies–ones that even a periodic job hunter can handle and benefit from.

Remedies

1. If your CV is more than 3 pages long, you lost the plot. Folks with 25+ years of working experience are the exception–1/2 page longer, tops. What’s the crux here? If you have not the clarity of mind to sieve through details and pick out the essence, you may be overlooked for those jobs where clarity of mind is a criterion. When was the last time you saw an inability as a prerequisite in a job description?
2. Keep your contact detail (home address, mobile # and email address) in the CV. You’ll be surprised at how many CV fail this test. Let’s pretend you are in a shortlist of 5 prime candidates (and 7 more on the substitute bench) for a position. Ms Recruiter likes your strong background and relevant expertise. She hunts for your contact details to align schedules for an interview. She runs through top to bottom of your CV twice over for your mobile #. And found nothing. Just your name. She could reach out for the cover letter or email. Then again, she muses, “What candidate worth his salt omits the obvious? What’s he saying here? Perhaps, perhaps, I should look at one more candidate from the bench, just in case…..” You have not lost the candidacy; but you have cast doubt upon it.

Exercises

• Print your CV out single page and lay them out on the table in front of you. Take a helicopter view.
• Now load the 2 tips onto them. Tip 1 may take a while to accomplish. Now print the revised CV single page and lay them out on the table in front of you. Again, take a helicopter view.

Has the revision improved readability? Has it improved your credibility? Is there any more toxin? Likely. But there is probably less now. You are heading in the correct direction. Congratulations.

Samuel Goh‘s forte in executive search is for business leaders for satellite offices, and IT roles across industries.

Samuel has a 21 year career in the IT industry before he added executive search to his portfolio in 2004. Since, he has successfully placed talents in IT positions for some of the leading blue chip companies in IT, life sciences and financial services industries. Today, he is a partner of Daulfin Grey, a HR Recruitment entity.

Copyright (c) 2009 daulfingrey.com. All rights reserved.

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