When applying for an internship or job, nothing is more important than having a great looking CV. Research done by The Ladders in 2012 shows the average time a recruiter spends looking at a CV is 6 seconds, before they make the 'qualified or not qualified' decision.
But what do recruiters look at? And how can you make sure your C.V. stands out?
Be Brief!
A five page C.V. is just not done. It takes way too much effort for any recruiter to read all this information. Research shows recruiters look at:
Your name
Your current occupation and job role
Start and end dates of current position
Previous work experience
The two C.V.'s below show a heat map of the average recruiters eye movements.
Use Bullet Points
Bullet points are a handy way to get a medium amount of information across in an efficient way. When you are writing about your daily tasks and duties when describing work experience you should use bullet points.
Example how NOT to describe work experience:
My daily tasks and duties at company X are cleaning tables, serving guests, collaborating with manager on duty to arrange seating, front of house staff training.
Example how you should describe your work experience:
My daily tasks and duties are:
Cleaning tables
Serving guests in a quick and friendly manner
Made seating charts with manager on duty
Involved in giving training to new food servers
Know what you're applying for
Reading a description of an internship or job doesn't take too much of your time away. It's important you know what you're applying for so you can make relevant changes in your C.V. which benefit a specific application. You can also refer to the job description in your cover letter.