How to Make A CV Look Professional: 5 Best Tips

Is it reasonable to pay someone to write my CV?

Whether you are a recent graduate or an experienced professional, CV writing is always a challenge. You need to pack all your professional experience, skill sets and community activities into a one- or two-page document. Moreover, the CV should be clearly formatted and eye-catching. And deciding what to include, which resume format to choose and even which font to use can keep you stuck and frustrated about the process.

Luckily, now you don’t have to be a resume guru to land more interviews. There’s always an option of getting all your resume troubles solved by hiring a professional CV creator. An experienced career writer from Resumeperk.com will create a polished professional CV for you, opening the doors to more opportunities. And the small investment into a resume writing will pay off in 1-2 days after you land a job.

3 approaches to writing my first CV

If you’ve never written a CV before, the writing process might seem pretty confusing. Basically, there are 3 major ways to handle it:

• Trial and error method – you write a CV by yourself, trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. You write it, rewrite, edit and send again. While you’ll probably end up creating a worthy resume, this method can take you months and a lot of energy.
• Using an online template – this one might look as easy as pie. You download a fancy template from the internet and fill it out with your information. There are two downsides, though. Your peers might use the same template and you’ll end up submitting similar resumes. Or, the ATS won’t read the template correctly, and your resume will be trashed.
• Working with a CV writer – it might seem costly at first sight. However, the writer will provide you with a professional, submission-ready resume in a few days. And your resume will be written exclusively for you, helping you truly stand out from other job-seekers.

5 tips to create my professional CV  

Good resumes are always unique. However, they share a few common characteristics. If you want to give the resume a professional touch, be sure to follow these directions:

1. Keep it short and concise. One page if you have less than 7 years of experience, or two pages for more experienced candidates. More is not necessary and might turn off the recruiters.
2. Add a career summary. A strong summary explains how your experience translates to the role and outline your core strengths and accomplishments in just a few seconds. By the way, here’s our step-by-step guide to writing a killer summary: https://resumeperk.com/blog/how-to-write-a-resume-summary-statement-10-examples.
3. Leave no gaps unexplained. Significant employment gaps make the employers assume that you underperformed or didn’t get along well with the team. Reveal their doubts by explaining what you were doing then.
4. Tailor for each job posting. Use the same language that the job listing uses. Highlight the exact traits they are looking for in successful candidates. Do not forget about powerful words for the job interview!
5. Don’t leave errors a chance. Errors make the impression that you don’t care about getting the job. So, use an online spell checker or read it aloud. Edit and proofread several times until the content is flawless. 

These tips can improve the quality of your CV. Yet, there are many more subtleties to effective resume writing. A professional resume creator with an HR background can take care of all of them, saving your time and effort.

Top 7 skills every professional needs to succeed

Each industry and career path requires specific hard skills. Yet, there is also a number of universal skills that will turn you into an indispensable employee at any company. If you are an ambitious graduate looking to build an accomplished career or a mid-career professional curious how to overcome career crisis, take a closer look at the skills below. Building them will enable you to cope with any task with ease and accelerate your career growth.

1. Time management and organization
   Nothing will destroy your professional reputation faster than missing deadlines, forgetting about an important assignment or faxing the wrong document to the potential client. The ability to plan and prioritize tasks and deliver results in time distinguishes good professionals from mediocre ones. If staying organized in the workplace is not your strength so far, start by simply planning your day from the evening. Identify the top priority assignments and complete them first thing in the morning. Don’t overcommit or take more work than you can handle to avoid professional burnout.
2. Verbal and written communication
   As professional projects become more complex, employers need people with advanced communication skills to work with others on solving business challenges. Discussing, negotiating, presenting, addressing the objections or facing criticism are just a few examples of when a strong verbal communication skill will come handy. Correct and effective written communication is a must either. When creating a persuasive resume or writing memos, reports, or client letters, the prospective employer expects you to articulate your thoughts in a clear and error-free manner.
3. Initiative and problem solving
   These two skills mean going the extra mile and beyond your immediate responsibilities to solve a business problem or address a challenge. Not all employees have the right amount of competency and dedication to do research, brainstorm, analyze and propose a solution to a problem. Those who do are valued across multiple industries. To develop these abilities, start by considering the business challenging and proposing possible solutions. Don’t be shy to speak up and take on the responsibility for executing them. After all, it’s the most effective pathway towards getting a promotion.
4. Technology skills
   Listing the internet and Microsoft Word as tech skills on your resume looks a bit outdated. Indeed, as technology develops with unprecedented speed, professionals need more and more tech skills to stay competitive. Depending on the field you’re in, you’ll need to master industry-specific programs, word processors, presentation software, programming languages, and many more. It’s also helpful for your career to stay up-to-date with tech trends in general, such as cloud computing, cybersecurity and social media. One of the benefits of personal development and gaining new tech skills is the perspective of getting a higher salary.
5. Positive attitude
   During the interview, the company is trying to access your attitude to work. And they do it for a reason. Motivated employees with a positive way of thinking tend to get more things done and perform better than their peers who are skeptical about the project or assignment. A positive attitude means facing the challenges enthusiastically and approaching them with a ‘can do’ mindset. How to become more positive and resourceful in your work? First, try to focus on the solution rather than on the difficulty of the task. Check out these professional tips to use the power of positive thinking for your career: https://resumeperk.com/blog/how-to-use-positive-thinking-for-your-career.
6. Adaptability and flexibility
   The professions and the entire fields change dramatically, and will continue to do so. In the fast-paced and unstable environment, only those employees who can adapt and learn will succeed. Adaptability means adjusting to the turbulent environment, varying responsibilities and working styles and performing well in these conditions. The concept of ongoing learning is here to stay either. Be mentally ready to learn new software and skills, and retrain – it will give you a competitive advantage over your coworkers. Being flexible and willing to adapt to new conditions will also increase your chances to find a new job successfully.
7. Creativity
   Creativity is one of the skills where robots aren’t going to beat us anytime soon. So, it’s going to be in a growing demand for the companies across multiple industries. The term ‘creativity’ doesn’t mean professionals in creative industries only. Basically, it means looking at ordinary things in a new, out-of-the-box way. Identifying a new way of solving old business problem, introducing the ideas which might bring the company more money or improving the processes are all examples of workplace creativity. Struggle to come up with fresh, original ideas? Use these tips to boost your creativity: https://resumeperk.com/blog/increase-your-creativity-with-these-writing-hints.

Combining the above skills (and proving that you have them on a resume) will significantly increase your chance of getting the job. Moreover, demonstrating them in the office will help you move up the corporate ladder faster.

Get a professional review CV, for free

Not sure that your CV is ready for a job search? Then, why not to have it checked by a professional CV consultant? Email it to us, and the resume writer will evaluate its strengths and shortcomings, and recommend what to improve to strengthen the looks and content. You’ll also receive a 20% welcoming discount for the first order.

Looking for a place to create my CV online for cheap? Our resume can produce a custom resume for you in 24 hours only. Get your most notable skills highlighted and maximize your chance of getting noticed by the top employers.