If you’re still pulling your hair out wondering why you never get called in for an interview, then you need to take a look at our 4 top tips to get your CV shortlisted.

Employers can end up with piles of CV’s that they need to sift through for any one vacancy, so to ensure yours makes it to the top of the pile read on and you might just discover where you’ve been going wrong.

Keep it focused
If you’ve been sending out the same CV for a multitude of jobs, then it’s pretty much like throwing a handful of darts at a dart board hoping that one of them will hit the bulls eye.

Generic CV’s only prove to the employer that you haven’t really put as much time, thought and effort into your application, so you really need to make the most of the job description and tailor your CV to show that you meet the criteria the company is looking for.

Give more detail
When discussing previous roles or acheivements, giving details of what you did and the impact it had for the business will really help towards getting your CV shortlisted.

For example, if you helped create a new sales script then consider something like this:

Assisted in the creation of a new sales script that resulted in a 13% improvement in outbound sales figures in 2016.

The more information you give and can qualify, the better.

Nail automated screening keywords
Some larger organisations use software that screens your CV looking for important keywords to assess your suitability for the role. You can often pick out what these keywords are by taking a closer look at the job advert and job description for any phrases or words that relate to the role.

Make sure you include as many keywords as you possibly can to give you the best possible chance of getting your CV shortlisted.

Cut out the waffle
Some of us can get carried away when revising our CV’s and attempt to cram as much information as possible into the document – usually resulting in page after page of irrelevant information that the employer has to trawl through.

If you can, try and get hold of the job specification, job description and advert. If the information on your CV doesn’t directly relate to anything the employer has mentioned in these documents, then leave it out.

For more expert knowledge and insider tips on how to get your CV shortlisted, make an appointment at our free, over the phone CV Surgery and let Appointments help get your CV to the top of the pile.