Welcome to the CV Wizard podcast. This is the first in a series of podcasts that we will release over the coming year. Save our URL to your podcast receiver and you will always have access to our latest broadcast. The URL to save is www.cvwizard.com/podcast.mp3 

The purpose of today’s podcast is to talk you through creating a CV that captures the attention of the reader, secures interviews and increases your chances of getting the job you really want. If your current CV isn’t generation interviews, it’s not working. Also, a well written CV will clearly identify your target role. This helps sell you into roles before they are advertised because most recruiters scan their memories or past applications for candidates before going into the market. 

Before I start, let me introduce myself. My name is Peter Udall and I'm a professional recruiter. A typical assignment will see me whittling down two lists of candidates in order to get to my interview shortlist. I will get the first group of candidates by searching my database and databases on the internet for CVs. The second list will be made up of candidates who have responded to advertisements. 

Typically I reject 80% of all the CVs I review based on the contents of the first half-page. Of the 20% of CVs that I read in full, all but 2 or 3 are also rejected. My rejection rates aren't high, they are normal. If your CV hasn’t been written using some or all of the techniques I explain today, the chances are that your CV is one of the 95% that don’t make it. 

Okay, so how do you get yourself into the 5% of short listed candidates? I suggest that you listen to this podcast in full and make notes. Next, set aside at least of couple of hours to plan and write your CV. This may seem like a lot of work, but how much is that new job worth? How much time are you wasting with unsuccessful job applications? When you look at the time and money involved, investing in getting your CV right should be a no-brainer. 

If you are using our automated CV wizard, you can simply drop the information I will help you to prepare into the fields on the webpage. There are tips and hints and a Sample CV to give you further assistance. Our automated service will make the CV writing process easier and faster. In addition to automatically formatting your CV, for a limited time we will also generate a bespoke CV cover letter for you at no extra charge. 

There are five areas we need to prepare before we even start. The first thing we need to do is define what role you are actually looking for. Only think of one role. It may be called different things by different people but it needs to be one job. If you are targeting several very different roles repeat this exercise for every role and produce separate CVs. I want you to write down the title you would use for the job you really want. Write down alternative job titles for the same position. If the role is specific to a certain type of organisation or industry, or if you have any geographic restrictions on where you are prepared to work, write all of this information down too. 

You have just described the job that your CV will target. 

The second stage is to write down any facts that are likely to put you ahead of someone else applying for your target role. Do you have relevant skills that not everyone else will have? List them, but make sure they are really relevant to the job. So, if you have 9 years of previous industry experience, include that fact. 

The third stage is to think about what qualities an employer is most likely to require for the role. Examples are the ability to drive sales revenue or being able to make management Profit & Loss projections. Don't illustrate these qualities with specific achievements; we'll come to that next. 

In the fourth stage you need to illustrate every quality with a workplace example, ideally for every employer you are going to include on your CV. Your CV will only go back over 5 years or over 5 employers. If increasing sales revenue was one of the qualities you listed a good example might be that you increased store revenue by 20%. State facts. Make your achievements real by making them quantifiable. 

The final stage is to write down a list of keywords and phrases that someone searching a CV database might use to pull up matches for the job you are applying for. Register your finished CV on all the industry job boards and with recruiters specializing in your area of work. Make sure every keyword is mentioned at least once on your finished CV. 

We are now ready to put all this information together. 

At the top of your CV put your name, email address and daytime phone number. If you can't be contacted immediately you might not be contacted at all. 

The Summary section comes next and it should include only the information you wrote down in the first three sections. Look at our Sample CV to see how this should look. Emphasize the qualities you identified in the third section using bullet points. 

Now start listing your employers in reverse chronological order. Your current or last employer is the first on the list. The heading should include your dates of employment, job title, the name of your employer and your base location. The first paragraph should explain the nature of your employers business and how you fitted into the organization. Use bullet points to list the achievements you wrote down in stage four. Again, you will find it useful to refer to our Sample CV. 

Once you have done through your list of employers you can now write sections detailing your education, skills, referees and personal information. 

Finally, go through your CV checking that all your keywords and phrases are included. Take out any facts that aren’t directly relevant to the role you are applying for. Check spelling, formatting and grammar. Don’t save your CV in Adobe pdf format or as ‘read-only’, as agencies will take off your contact details. Don’t include photos or images as large files won’t get through firewalls when you apply for jobs by email. 

Your finished CV will be effective. It will generate more interviews. More interviews means more chances to secure your next role. 

Good luck and I wish you every success in securing your next job.