| The first person in most HR departments and | | | | whole CV/resume end up in the bin unless a full history |
| recruitment offices who touches your CV/resume will | | | | of the candidate is required. The CV/resume must be |
| not be the recruiter in charge of recruiting for that job. | | | | three or less pages, and ideally two. CV/resumes |
| In most offices - assuming they are not using a | | | | without an introduction or quick summary of the |
| scanning system, which serves the same purpose - it | | | | candidate and the skills or relevant qualifications also |
| will be either their assistant, normally called a | | | | get placed in the rubbish bin. Long descriptive |
| researcher, or an officer junior. They will have been | | | | paragraphs and sentences earmark the CV/resume |
| given a clear and precise brief to reject anyone who | | | | for the bin - ideally, keep sentences at 12words or |
| does not meet that jobs basic functional skills | | | | below. Poor formatting and grammar mistakes are |
| requirements. So that is what they search for, to | | | | also frowned upon. After the first glance there are |
| create a pile of CV/resumes for the recruiter to | | | | usually only a third of the CV/resumes left |
| review. This process will reduce the pile of applications | | | | - Second glance: now the recruiter will take their first |
| by around 2/3rds in most cases. | | | | look at each remaining CV/resume to establish |
| The recruiter in charge of the job will judge you on the | | | | whether the applicants skills, qualifications, career |
| appearance of your CV/resume. If it lacks signs of | | | | history and motivation match the job requirements. The |
| originality and creative thinking - such as the use of an | | | | recruiter must be able to identify this from the first |
| internet template - you may not get the interview even | | | | page of the CV/resume |
| when you are the best candidate for the job. A basic | | | | - The in-depth look: the remaining CV/resumes are |
| check here is to hold your CV/resume at arms length, | | | | visually scanned and then matched with all the job |
| so you can't read the words - too much white, or too | | | | description criteria. The applicants are no longer thrown |
| much black are both bad. | | | | out - these candidates could fulfil other jobs vacancies |
| Most recruiters still at this point have piles of CV | | | | - but the best possible candidates are picked for this |
| resumes to evaluate and have limited time for the | | | | job |
| assessment. They normally scan through the stack | | | | - Final examination: only at this stage that the recruiter |
| and throw out anything that is not interesting enough. | | | | examines the content from the rest of the CV/resume |
| Only the short list gets a second look, and hence a | | | | in more detail. They are looking for those skills, signs of |
| complete read through. The whole process is based | | | | innovative thinking, leadership, trustworthiness, and |
| on the content, format, lay-out and originality. It is thus | | | | specific achievements that make the candidate right |
| worth the effort to be original. | | | | for the specific job. |
| The four stages of selection can be summarized in | | | | As the candidate, you must ensure that your CV |
| the following way: | | | | resume survives the elimination stages and still stands |
| - First glance: if the office does not use a scanning | | | | out enough to get the interview. Relevance and |
| system, then a researcher will fulfil the same basic | | | | engagement within the first page is the assured route |
| purpose. The researcher will glance at the first page of | | | | to the final pile, the rest of the content and lay-out |
| each CV/resume and if it fulfils the basic skills | | | | determines whether you get a telephone call let alone |
| requirements it will be kept. They won't look at the | | | | the interview. To ensure your CV/resume reaches the |
| second page unless the basic skill requirements are | | | | final pile, make use of free CV/resume review |
| met on page one - a scanning system will scan the | | | | services offered by CV Writing professionals. |