The path to a great professional life is forged with an exceptional CV or Resume that catches the recruiter’s eyes. Though you don’t have to be a graphic artist to design your resume, still your resume must be an attractive piece that will get you noticed. Instead of trying to get the attention of a recruiter through all the visual bells and whistles, you need to focus on utilizing a resume design that focuses attention on the document’s great writing and stellar organization. Resumes or CVs that accomplish this are easier to read, appealing to recruiters, and more likely to survive an ATS.

We have outlined some tips for writing a CV or resume that will help you showcase your skills, experience, and education without compromising your resume’s visual appeal. Read, learn and implement!

Update your resume’s design

“Have you ever wondered; what do your phone, your laptop, and your CV have in common? They all require regular updates.”

If you want to draft your CV in the most powerful way, just give your resume a modern lift by updating the design. Old templates tend to be a bit clunky. Today, there are thousands of trending professional resume formats available online. Find the one that provides a pleasant platform to stuff your experience, skills along with giving a modern look.

Use a hybrid resume format

See, it is a fact that recruiters spend about 6-7 seconds glancing at resumes before deciding if the applicant has potential or not. That means you need to get to the good stuff which includes your abilities, experience, expertise, etc. A hybrid resume allows recruiters to see your skills at a glance and, it is the best resume format for the modern-day job application.

Start with an attractive headline

Well! We all know the importance of an attractive resume headline. It just creates they urge inside the recruiter to read your resume. Does this concept revolve around the fact that how would you describe yourself to a recruiter in fewer than ten words? A well-crafted CV headline will help you to frame your resume that will catch the eyes of busy recruiters.

Craft an impressive professional summary

A professional summary is described at the top of your resume beneath your header. It offers a quick snapshot of your experience and qualifications to the recruiter. A well-written professional summary also adds what you will bring to the table if you are hired. Summaries should be short (no longer than three to five sentences). The focus is to attract the reader in and make them feel compelled to read the rest of your resume.

Note: Don’t give your entire life story.

Use Reverse Chronological Format

The most common and the most appreciated format of writing a CV is the Reverse Chronological format. It tells the story of your work experience and academic history in a chronological way starting with the most recent one. All the employers prefer this format, as it gives them a historical overview of your career along with the recent skill you are involved with.

Don’t forget to add your remote work skills

In this Pandemic era, Remote working skill has become the desirable skill to be added in 2021 CV, when COVID-19 forced offices nationwide to close. Now so many employers are embracing remote working skills, and it’s a good idea to include any work-from-home skills while writing a resume. Analyze the job description to see if the company mentions any remote work collaboration tools like Google Docs, Asana, Trello, etc. so that you can include these keywords on your resume where applicable.
Highlight efforts during the pandemic

See, we all know, 2020 was challenging, especially for job seekers. Make sure to highlight how you worked through the COVID-19 pandemic; especially describe how resilient you were. You can add the following factors while writing a 2021 CV:

• How did you continue building on your experience?
• How did you help your business stay afloat?
• What new skills and tools did you learn?

Make sure that your experience section is easy to scan

This is the most challenging part of writing a resume. It is all about representing the amount of information that needs to be included with a balanced form making it easy to scan. As we mentioned above, recruiters spend only some seconds on each resume. You don’t need to include large blocks of text or too many bullet points in the content; just condense everything in an appropriate number of bullets to convey that you are the right fit for the job.

How many pages are good for the 2021 CV?

A one-page CV or resume is always proven to attract more recruiters. But if you have more than 10 years of experience you can include one page extra. But we recommend not to go over two pages, even if you have a lot of experience as it will be so lengthy and will fail to keep the recruiter interested.

Proofread Every Single Time

Even a professional resume design can’t save your resume from a glaring typo. Make sure that your CV has ZERO ERROR; not even a tiny typo, as it can land your resume in the recycle bin. Read your CV repeatedly and make all the necessary changes before submitting it. You can also give your resume to an expert proofreader.