We all know that a CV is super important when it comes to being placed in front of a hiring manager. Do you know what recruiters are really looking for when examining this document?

That’s where StandOut CV comes in. They developed an infographic run down of what recruiters want to see when they’re reading over your CV, and the information might just help you pique their interest.

According to their data, a recruiter receives an average of 118 CVs per job advertisement, making it hard to find the time to read each and every one. So, how can you increase the chances that yours will be checked out? Start with your cover letter.

Keep it short and to the point in order to grab a reader’s attention. Somewhere between two and three sentences is sufficient. Next, match your skills to those of the ones required in the job advertisement. If it’s not a match, recruiters obviously won’t waste their time.

Lastly, for the cover letter, address the recruiter by name and use a friendly tone when writing. “Dear Sir or Madam” is a quick way to get your CV tossed in the shredder.

Now for the main event – the CV itself. Again, being that recruiters have so many to go over, they typically only spend six to 10 seconds on an initial scan to see if it’s worth digging deeper.

In order to pass the scanned exam, make sure that your CV is easy to read and that key information is highlighted. Use simple, clean text and clearly divide sections. You can also help ease the reader’s eyes by breaking up text with short sentences and bullet points.

When highlighting key information, relevant skills and experience should be prominent. It is also important to include how your work has impacted your employers.

Once this portion of the test is passed, the recruiter will then delve into more information regarding your current role. Elements they’ll examine include: your role within your current organization, the overall goal for your role, the people that you interact with, the tools and software you use, the work you’ve produced, and your targets and achievements.

Past this, recruiters like to be given numbers – this way they can see the value that a candidate would bring. Give them this information in the form of facts and figures (eg: ‘Cut department spending by 20%’).

Now that you know all of this, also know that recruiters scare easily; if they give a hiring manager one bad candidate, it can tarnish the recruiter’s reputation. Items that scare recruiters include unexplained gaps in employment history, spelling and grammar errors, and unprofessional formatting.

That’s all for now, candidate. Now, go out there and create the best CV you possibly can!