How to make your CV stand out?

In the past 15 years of working in the recruitment industry, I have read tens of thousands of resumes. Unfortunately, I found that not only those CVs of graduates or young professionals are full of problems, but many resumes of people who have worked more than ten years are also not good enough. Many Chinese CVs as well as a lot of English resumes from foreign friends are really puzzling.

A professional resume can not only help HR to quickly judge your matching degree with the position and the company in a short time, but also reflect your professionality, your logical ability and your orderliness 

Below, from the perspective of a talent sourcing consultant, I just want to share with you some suggetions about how to prepare a professional resume.

A: HR and headhunting consultants read hundreds of resumes on average a day. Campus recruiting or social recruitment may have to see thousands of resumes. The average time spent on each resume is about 10 seconds. If your resume looks strenuous, HR can't clearly see what he/she cares about, or it can't attract HR's interest, it will be directly passed away, because he/she has no time and patience to find the information little by little in your resume.

Therefore, if you are a graduate or a freshman in the workplace, it is recommended that your resume should not exceed one A4 paper. If you have been working for many years and have some work experience, it is recommended to limit it to about 2 pages, and no more than 3 pages.

A：A complete resume should have at least three parts: basic information, educational experience and work experience.

For foreigners who want to find a job in China, which country do you come from, what type of visa do you currently hold and when will it expire, your current city, your language level, your educational background, your work experience, your professional skills and expected salary are the informations that HR hopes to know in the first place.

Too detailed information such as residential address, family status, marriage and children, and reference check need not be directly reflected in the resume. If the enterprise cares about these issues, they will ask you later.

A：If you are very interested in the position you are applying for and have done special research on this company and position, then I would suggest preparing a COVER LETTER, in which can simply express your interest in the position and tell HR why you are the ideal candidate of this position, so that HR can feel your intentions and enthusiasm for their positions.

But we must pay attention to control the length of Cover Letter, a simple 1-2 paragraphs text is OK. Don’t write essays. As mentioned earlier, HR doesn’t have time to read so much content.

A: My personal suggestion is “yes”, but choose a photo that is as professional as possible, because both the HR and the head of the business department hope to see the photos that make a "first impression" of their future colleagues. If your photo is not professional enough, you 'd better choose not to show it. An artistic photo or a photo with a serious PS may directly ruin your  opportunity.

A: In addition to information such as name and contact information, for foreign talent, it is recommended that pay great attention to these information in the first place: nationality, current city, type of visa currently held and expiration date, language level, expected Information such as salary and work location.

A：For foreign talent who are seeking jobs in China, whether they can get a work visa is the most important issue for HR recruiter. Therefore, HR would very much like to use your resume to determine whether you are eligible for visa processing.

Therefore, clearly state in your resume the type of visa you currently hold and when it will be expired. It would be great if you knew that you met the visa processing requirements.

A：Many foreign talent can speak several languages, but companies are most concerned about your mother tongue, English and Chinese level, so please be sure to write clearly what your mother tongue is, what English level did you reach, what Chinese level did you reach, if you have taken the HSK test, please state the level, or at least whether it can be used as a working language. If you can speak other languages, also state how well you master it.

A：Compared with Cover Letter, I am more inclined to recommend job seekers to add a simple personal introduction to their resumes, which can help HR understand your core background as soon as possible. It should be reminded that this content can be controlled in 3-4 sentences, showing your work background, areas of expertise, professional skills and other related information.

And for some statments that can be placed on anyone, such as "good at teamwork, strong learning ability, and believe my ability will definitely contribute to the enterprise", are already numbed and thus unnecessary.

A：First of all, it should be written from the highest educational experience and till the undergraduate level. There is no need to reflect the educational experience of high school and below (unless the highest degree is high school). The school, major, academic qualifications and time period of study should be clearly stated. If you have not graduated, it is recommended to indicate the expected graduation time. As for the learning courses and other informations are needn't to be written.

Adding kindergarten information up like this 

will only make HR laugh

A:It should also be written from your recent job. The company name, your position, the time of entry and separation, whether it is full-time or part-time (foreign talents are particularly important, because this directly relates to whether you meet the requirements for working visa processing or not, part-time, Internship and freelance professional experience cannot be used as the basis for applying for a visa), the work place, the target of the report should also be clearly stated.

Secondly, if the job you have taken is a management role,  it is also necessary to add how many people report to you, and information such as job performance should also be shown in detail.

A: In principle, to prepare a complete professional resume first is enough for most situations. Because the resume needs to truly reflect your actual situation. However, with the rich work experience and diversified job roles, some people may be involved in different departments and positions in their past work. At this time, you can make appropriate adjustments according to the position you are applying for, focusing on introducing the most relevant part of your experience to the position you are applying for.

A：First of all, the resume does not help you to find a job directly, but it helps you get an interview opportunity.

Every year we've got too many resumes delivered blindly, such as fresh graduates applying for positions requiring more than 5 years of management experience; people from non-native speaking countries applying for a position requiring Arabic as native language; and an IT engineer applying for a TV program host... In these case, HR will not give you feedback, because your background is obviously too far away from their requirements.

Therefore, it is highly recommended that you read the job description and job requirements carefully before submitting your resume. If the gap is too large, do not try it blindly. In most cases, HR will not easily consider cross-border talent. A lot of friends who have many years work experience have consulted me about career change to another field. Frankly speaking, if you have worked in the current industry for more than five years, and then want to switch to an unrelated field or industry, the possibility of success is not without it, but it is very difficult.

Because the job search process itself is personalized, whether your background and traits are on the same channel with the company, or even the mood of Mr or Ms HR reading your resume that day will affect whether you have the opportunity to interview. Therefore, the above content is for your reference only, and I hope it helps you to optimize your resume.