Optimize Your CV with Impactful Work Experience

Catch up quickly on my previous blog in the series: CV Tips, in case you have missed

CV Headline - Writing a winning CV headline
CV Formatting - Format your CV very well
Core Competencies and Career Synopsis - Make maximum use of the Keywords
Is my CV too long?

Your work experience is probably the most influential subheading of your CV, so it must be as perfect in every way.

CV Tips For Work Experience

1. Reverse Chronological Order

The last 10-15 years of your work experience or last 3 jobs (whichever is more) is most relevant. You should also keep this in mind when applying for jobs.

Keep your work experience to a maximum of 8-10 bullet points per job description highlighting most job or industry-specific keywords in every line. You may want to bold the word only.

Can all be used as long as it is kept as a standard throughout the experience?

2. No Work Experience

Everyone starts without work experience and everyone ends up having good work experience. What matters is who you work for, what you have learned and achieved, and how you have grown.

If you do not have work experience, focus on your bio, your education, the training and projects you have completed your skills, and make this sellable.

3. Use Bullet Points

Use the most impactful sentences with bullet points. Avoid being descriptive. Your CV is being read by professionals who know how to interpret it. You must use one very important industry or product or work-related "keyword". Your CV should not have too much information but just enough of the most important ingredients to warrant a call or email.

4. Keep it simple

Don’t use fancy words or jargon that appear confusing. You do not want the reader to get confused or not understand. This will defeat the purpose. Your CV must contain simple and professional words, industry, or product-specific terms and these must always be impactful.

5. State Facts and Figures

Maximize usage of numbers as digits and not words. The same with percentages. Graphical representation in charts, and diagrams creates an impression.

Achieved 95% results in my first sales quarter OR
Trained 150 staff over the first year OR
Sold AED 400,000 worth of medical supplies between 2019-2020

6. Substitute Experience with Achievements

Companies want performers. If you can highlight your achievements and accomplishments it is even better than presenting your job responsibilities (or a mix of both is best and most recommended). Besides your achievements are directly linked to your duties and the impact is even greater. You will have also designed an “achievement” based CV.

7. Use Impactuful Words

Often using detail-oriented, team player, and hard work is boring, monotonous, and vague.

But using words like a “strong leader”, “sales strategist” or an “effective communicator” are important characteristics you want to get across. Write down these words along with your keywords before preparing your CV.

8. List all your Work

All your work, whether part-time or full-time, whether paid or unpaid, whether charitable or project-based must be included in your CV in reverse chronological order. It tells a lot about you. Experience always counts.

9. Use a mix of Action Verbs

Every bullet point must start with a different word. Well almost. Using words like "Created", "Designed", "Accomplished", "Achieved", "Managed", "Trained", etc as the first word greatly helps. Your current job description will show these words in the present tense.

10. Optimise Keywords

Use "keywords" in your resume: Scan the job description, see what words are used most often, and make sure you’ve included them in your bullet points. Not only is this a self-check that you’re targeting your resume to the job, but it’ll also make sure you get noticed in applicant tracking systems. Try a tool (like SEO - keyword search) that will analyze and share the most used keywords.

e.g

ABS Shipping March 2015 to September 2018

Senior Accountant

Preparation of consolidated financial reports, working capital management, and control.

Processing vendor's payments, verification, and reconciliation daily.
Preparing and verifying all petty cash protocol and payments, and physical verification to maintain adequate liquidity.
Daily review & follow-up of accounts receivables (AR) and accounts payables (AP).
Preparation & Implementation of Internal control processes for daily accounting.
Reconciliation of Dubai Customs, DP World, Calogi, portal accounts periodically.
Filling of periodical VAT return & maintaining records in compliance with FTA regulations.
Preparation of MIS reports summarizing business financial position for management.
Reporting of profitability/contribution job-wise, custom standing guarantee used & rotation reports, the productivity of labor report for management.
Assisting in the preparation of cash flow statements, activity-wise reports, annual budgets, forecasting trends, capital budgeting& break-even analysis.
Variance analysis between budgeted & actual spending with reasons thereof.