6 Best-Practice Tips for CV and Resume Refinement: The Competitive Advantage

CV and resume refinement is an art. You want your document to reflect you and your abilities while standing-out amidst the masses of on-line applications. Refining your resume is well worth the result. Below are refinement techniques that add professionalism to help you stand-out above competing applicants.

1. Sanity-check: Visually scan your CV/resume (in print view) for mistakes that immediately pop out. Look for formatting mistakes and misspelled words.
2. Buzzwords: You have heard it before: Do not use buzzwords. Buzzwords are also called Key Words Key words and buzzwords change with the trends of the marketplace.  The activity result remains the same. CRM (customer relationship management) used to be called customer data base or tickler file.
3. Ask a friend: A sanity-check is not good enough. Ask a friend who will read every word to review your document. Have your friend be brutally honest, tighten-up and add wording edit notes, suggest format changes and whatever they feel might be relevant. Immediately make your refinement changes and send it back to your friend for a second review. Once you are satisfied with the edits, send the document to three professionals to get feedback. This action not only gives you great change suggestions, but puts your resume on the desk of possible hiring professionals and referrals.
4. Attend free workshops: This is a great way to get professional opinions and network while at the same time. The more people who read your resume, the better. The more people you know the better. It is most likely that your next career move will not be made with the people you already that are currently in your sphere of influence.
5. Update your resume monthly: You build skills daily and monthly on new projects whether you are in school or on the job. You may feel that gaining skills in Excel or Power Point are minor and everyone has them, but your new skill may make you an expert. Be sure to add it to your CV and resume.
6. Create a personal logo: A logo will set you apart from others. Keep it simple. Keep it professional. Your logo should include your name. It can also include a simple photo incorporating your qualifications. The best place to start is a web search. Be sure not to be too personal with your logo. Do not add tattoo-looking designs as the basis for a logo. Look towards companies like Cocoa-Cola, Pepsi, Pillsbury, etc. Each has a stylized logo that is clearly legible and you know exactly what they are selling. Your logo is trying to sell you and your personal brand.