What is the purpose of your CV?
On intention over optimisation.
We are obsessed with optimisation and productivity. We are constantly told that to get and keep what we want, we must do more and do it faster. We believe in clichés like ‘no pain, no gain’. There is truth in it. Most things that are fulfilling and worthwhile do require effort and often consistent effort over time. The part in dispute is how that effort should be applied.
As a recruiter, I have seen the hard work and effort of candidates applied in ways which actually undermine their intended purpose. That being, to secure interviews and get hired. So often I see candidates whose main focus is figuring out how to optimise their CV/resume for the ATS, or using keyword searches to reach out to as many hiring managers or recruiters as possible. I’ve seen people apply for so many roles that when they do secure an interview, they need to ask the recruiter which role they are being interviewed for - not a good first impression.
This quantity over quality approach is likely making you less competitive rather than more competitive. The answer is to redirect your effort and time in a more intentional and deliberate direction. A less is more approach. Opting for targeted precision rather than spray and pray. In short, quality over quantity.
An obvious starting point for this perspective shift is in the CV. Your CV does not need to be optimised to beat the ATS. While using industry-specific language and keywords is an important aspect of a well-rounded CV, it is not the primary function. The primary function of your CV is to create an impression for a human reader.
A well written CV should be a clear and concise summary of your career progression and your technical abilities. Your goal is to trace the arc of your working life and show how your experiences enable you to contribute to the company, team, role, or project to which you're applying.
If you prioritise beating the ATS at the expense of the human eye, you may very well beat the ATS and still get rejected the moment a human looks at your CV. If you create an intentional and selective CV that is easy to read and balances the appropriate language with your technical abilities, you will have a CV that passes the ATS and then goes on to impress the human reader.
Your CV creates the first impression of you as a candidate and a person, in the eyes of a recruiter or hiring manager. It should demonstrate that you have the required skills and that you have successfully deployed them in a commercial environment. Beyond your technical skills and experience, a great CV gives some personal context. It indicates the kinds of work you enjoy and find fulfilment in, and points to what you want from the next phase of your career.
A CV needs to stand out. It does not necessarily have to stand out in the way it looks, though that is one lever you can pull. It does, however, need to stand out in its readability and in the quality and depth of the information it conveys. Your CV is foundational to your job search, but do not focus on it exclusively, at the expense of the other tools in your toolbox. You don't build a house with a hammer alone.
Your CV demonstrates your abilities and experience. Your cover letter tells your story and shows the alignment between you and the company you are applying to, and your professional narrative tells the story of your career through the lens of your personality. All three have to work in unison to create a meaningful impression. This is not the full list of tools at your disposal, but more on that in another article.
The format of your CV matters. Your CV should be easy to read. It needs to be scannable, perhaps by an ATS, but more importantly by the human eye. The dot point is useful, but do not overuse it. Dot points exist to communicate key information quickly. Long dot points, too many dot points, or both, defeat the purpose. Three or fewer is ideal; never more than five.
Your CV should also be compartmentalised, so that key information is grouped to communicate the maximum amount of information in the shortest period of time. Each role you have held should carry a brief summary that gives the reader context. You can describe the role, why you were hired, or the impact you made. Follow it with a few specific achievements, and then the tools or skills you used to achieve them.
The effect is that even a busy recruiter or hiring manager can focus on one or two of your experiences and get a comprehensive picture of what you did, how you did it, and the impact it made. If that snapshot aligns with their internal understanding of the role, team, or project you hope to join, your chances of making the shortlist improve.
If you do not group information this way, and instead list your experiences in one section, your skills in another, and your tools separately again, the recruiter or hiring manager has to scroll through your CV to find what they need. Even if your CV is short, that extra effort can be enough to motivate the reader to move on to the next candidate. If that candidate has made their CV easier to read than yours, they are more likely to be shortlisted.
Less is more when it comes to your CV. Most of us, even senior candidates, need only a page or two to communicate our abilities and experience. Everything on your CV has to earn its place. If you are selective and intentional about what you include, the reader will feel it. A selective, intentional CV transfers the relevant information efficiently, and, as a bonus, it shows that you are an effective communicator, which is an important skill in any job.
The best way to improve your chances of progressing through the interview stages and securing a role is to leave volume behind and get more intentional and deliberate about your search. This means being clear about what you want, and then targeting and tiering your market appropriately. In terms of your CV, it means crafting a thoughtful and targeted CV/resume that is written to be read by a human.
The good news is, if you can do that, you will probably beat the ATS by default.
