#44: How to get shortlisted in 3 steps
It'll be music to their ears.
Hello reader!
This edition, I stretch out a musical metaphor to an almost painful degree to help you understand why you need to tailor your CV for every application.
That’s the TLDR.
Enjoy. and Learn. Or, buddy this article up with my free CV template and get shortlisted for interviews.
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I was stood playing a song in front of about 200 people in a pub courtyard earlier in the summer. It didn’t sound quite right, and I couldn’t put my finger (ironically) on the problem. I worked it out and quickly tuned the guitar string up again so it all sounded spot on.
You might know by now that when I’m not busy helping people live better lives, I play guitar and sing.
The thing about playing guitar (or any instrument for that matter) is that it only sounds good when it’s in tune. If not, it sounds bloody horrible. As it did on this occasion.
If you’ve never tuned a guitar before, the simplest way to do it is to put a finger on the 5th fret of the thickest (E) string, and pluck it. Then pluck the next thickest (A) string.
They should sound the same. If they don’t, the A string needs to be tuned so they do. You do the same (more or less) with the rest of the strings. Of course, the E string needs to be in tuned to E to start with, but that’s just details.
Then, when you play a chord, it all sounds good.
There’s 3 steps to getting your instrument ready to play live.
Step 1 - the instrument needs to be in tune with itself, and Step 2 - it needs to be in tune with the other instruments.
If I add a further complexity, often instruments need a different tuning. Whilst most songs would have you tune your guitar EADGBE (Every Alsatian Dog’s Got Big Ears, for the mnemonic fans), many are down-tuned to E flat. Like Guns n’ Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine, or You’re Crazy. Some (in fact many by Foo Fighters) have drop-D tuning, where the first string is D, not E, so it goes DADGBE.
So different tuning works for different songs, different feelings, different styles of play. There’s Step 3 then - it needs to be in the right tuning for the song or performance.
You’ve probably sat listening (or tolerating) a performer singing or playing way out of tune before. thankfully I didn’t get that far, I think only I picked it up.
If I played my guitar, badly tuned to EADGBE - when the rest of the band were playing in drop-D or E-flat - it would sound horrific.
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You’ve heard (or even said yourself), when someone says something that feels good to you, or reminds you of an experience - that it ‘resonates’ with you. This is EXACTLY the same, quite literally. The strings resonate with each other in a pleasing way, and those strings then resonate with the other instruments at the same frequency.
That’s why it sounds good and creates “the feeling” you get when you listen to a piece of music. It’s on your frequency, your wavelength and they all resonate.
So, imagine you’ve spent time writing your new CV, covering all your achievements in your current and previous jobs, added a smattering of context (scale of team, sales numbers, territories, costs reduced, whatever), and you’ve sent it off for the perfect job.
Then….. Zilch. Nowt. Tumbleweed. Nada. Zip.
Like sending it flying off beyond the event horizon into a black hole that sucks not only your CV but every bit of your will to live with it.
What are you doing wrong?
Chances are it’s out of tune - possibly with itself, but also with the expectations of the audience. They may well contort their face while reading it, like you might whilst sucking a lemon and listening to a 6 year old child play a violin at the same time.
Or, they might just move it to the “No” pile, and let it languish there, as other CVs that are more aligned/tuned/resonant with what they’re looking for land in the “Yes” pile.
Tune your CV in 3 steps.
1 - Is it in tune with itself?
Does the CV generally hang together well? Is there a story or thread that goes through the whole document, starting at the profile and going through your history that just makes sense?
Have you identified 9-12 keywords or short phrases you can call out as your core skills or attributes?
Have you included some context for each job - a sentence about the company, what they do, where they operate, their size? And the same for your role - the problem you were there to solve, the size of your team, or budget, or both?
Is the presentation balanced? White space around the words, no long paragraphs (3 lines max). Is it easy to read? Yes?
Good.
2 - Is it in tune with the other instruments?
What I mean here is, is it in tune with the market and what it’s looking for? I’m not talking about every job you apply for, I’m talking generally.
This is where a good chunk of the magic happens.
When was the last time you looked at a job advert, decided you wanted to apply for it, and punted off the recently dusted off version and hoped for the best?
Probably last time.
The thing is, your CV is likely a digest of everything you’ve done ever, so it’s all about you.
What if I said it isn’t?
What if I said it’s about what the market needs to see. Why do you think marketing budgets are spent working out how to press consumers’ buttons, rather than just saying “Here’s some new trainers with air in the soles, want to buy them?”
Begin with the end in mind.
Stephen Covey’s famous second habit of highly effective people.
If you’re busy writing your CV covering what you do now and everything about your current or most recent job, you’re missing a trick. Particularly if you’re going for a promotional step.
Write it for the job you want, not the job you have.
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This part is about upgrading your CV so it generally speaks to the market requirements (i.e. to recruiters) with the most resonance.
Gather 2-3 examples of target jobs.
I get my clients to do this as part of the discovery process before I write their CV. But you can do it for yourself.
The job location doesn’t matter, as this is for research purposes. So long as the job content and level is right for your next step, you’re good.
One at a time, put the job ads on your screen alongside your CV.
Do the words or themes in the job ad resonate with your CV and vice versa?
Is the language similar?
Have you made some assumptions that just because you’re a Process Improvement Specialist, the reader will guess you’ve run multiple Six Sigma projects that have saved the business £14m in operating efficiencies?
Or that just because you’re a sales director, they’ll know you also manage a set of key accounts, or that you manage a team of sales people, or made improvements to the client acquisition process? If these things are popping up in the adverts, make it plain as day that you’ve done these things, and articulate the results you’ve had.
Recruiters and hiring managers aren’t mind readers, and may come to the wrong conclusions. My advice is to be more explicit and specific.
Give it a tune.
A top tip is to not just focus on the “The ideal candidate will….” or “Essential requirements” bit. Though these are very important, the gold is often lying in the paragraph above, where it says what the job holder will be doing.
Demonstrate that YOU HAVE DONE THAT STUFF. The stuff in the main paragraph. The things they want you to achieve or deliver. Or the ways of working. Do they align with yours? Get that across. Make it relevant.
So, you can stop wanging on about the big deal you won in China if the business is looking to break into the Scunthorpe market. Or going into details about the six weeks of analysis you did if the job is looking for someone to take an oversight leadership role.
Those things would be discordant.
Heard the phrase “that’s music to my ears!” or “you’re speaking our language!”?
That. It’s that, pure and simple.
It might mean relegating what you thought were important details about your experience, and beefing up others. I don’t mean lying, I mean fleshing out. Giving more weight to. Providing more relevant details.
That might include mentioning that project you led and how you set up your people and project management structure. Or how you supported your boss in keeping track of their P&L, or ran meetings on their behalf, or whatever - if you’re going for your first formal management role.
You might be fluent in 6 languages. Your CV might state this in your profile, and in your core skills section. Great! If the job you’re applying for requires multiple languages and experience assimilating yourself to different cultures. If not? I’m afraid it’s just noise. Bad noise.
Like someone clanging a cowbell in the opening bars of Moonlight Sonata. It’s one situation where the good old “needs more cowbell1” doesn’t apply. Arguably, no cowbell, more piano, please.
3 - Get in tune for a specific performance.
So you’ve generally tuned up your CV at a basic level, then you’ve gauged against job ads you’d generally apply for. So now you’re ready to send it recruiters or upload it to TotalJobs or update your LinkedIn profile. This new version will suit most use cases.
But before you apply for a specific job… wait! There’s some fine tuning you can do.
Spend a few minutes tuning it up for a specific application, and the time will be well spent.
Put the new advert up on the screen, next to your CV. Copy the advert into a wordcloud generator if you like, that’ll pull out the key words used over and over again. But it won’t pull out the sentiment. You could ask ChatGPT to assess the job advert and tell you what the employer would look for in a CV.
But I find just reading it, and being objectively critical about whether the activities described and key skills required are reflected in the CV is usually enough to help me tune it to closely match the requirements.
Remember, don’t assume anything.
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And repeat.
I might be half way through my set and my guitar’s started sounding a bit shit because it’s out of tune. So I’ll stop, pause, and take a moment to tune it.
It doesn’t have too take long, but if you make a concerted effort to do the same thing before firing your CV off for another job, it’s more likely to resonate with them.
And that means getting the in the “Yes” pile.
Each time you tune it, you’ll also be improving the master version of your CV. Working out which bits of your CV really work and which bits don’t.
Final tip.
If you’ve gone to the effort of tuning your CV for a role, remember to save it somewhere so you can find it. It would be a bit shit to turn up for an interview having forgotten which variant of your CV you sent them.
Create a folder on your computer for the job, like “Sales Director, Bob’s Bits”. If you’ve applied for a Sales Director role at Bob’s Bits.
Drop in the CV, a copy of the advert (copy and paste it into a word doc or take a screen grab), the job description if you receive it, and anything else that’s relevant. Then it’s all in the right place ready for when you get picked for an interview.
Right, I’m off to drop-D tune my guitar to have another crack at Everlong.
If you liked this, and want more help with getting your CV in tune (or just replacing the strings and starting again) try my toolkit. I thought I’d mention it again, cos, you know. I want to be helpful and that.
>>Don’t want the Free template? Get a whole kit with template and step by step videos for £45 £27
It contains a marked up Word document template with loads of guidance on what to put in each section. It comes with a video showing you how to use it, and a series of other videos to help you nail the content - and help you remember what you’re good at.
Use it in tandem with this article and you’ll be well away.
Phil
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