Getting selected for interview starts with your CV

The recruiters at ‘Australian Elite Private Staff’, headquartered in Sydney Australia, are recruitment agents on the domestic and international scene.  They also recruit for the international yachting scene.  They review hundreds of CVs each week and say that it’s rare to find one that doesn’t need some improvement before its ready to put forward to a client!  Donna Morris, the Director: “I can honestly say, over the years that I have been a recruiter I have never seen a CV that I couldn’t improve in some way!”

 

Donna has also been a vocational trainer for Superyacht crew for over 10 years and she spends a lot of time with students to help them to understand why your CV is so important to get right!  So what’s the problem with most of them?  

 

Here are 5 suggestions that will really help:

 

First of all, you need to understand the purpose of a CV!  The truth is that a CV is a form of personal marketing! You are the product that it’s selling! You need to be sure that you are presenting yourself in the best possible way!  So your CV should be presented in and easy-to-read style containing the required information.  It should also be ‘appealing’. Many CVs fall far short of the benchmark.  

 

Although it’s not usual for land-based role to have a photograph on your CV, we highly recommend it for ‘domestic’ CVs as it can help to portray you as a neatly presented professional.  In professional yachting a CV photograph is expected.  However this is the part that most candidates get wrong!  Nine times out of ten it appears that the candidate isn’t smiling in their photo and hasn’t bothered to take a neatly groomed shot. The photograph is not to prove that you’re human – it’s to say “Hire me – I’m the friendly professional team member that you want to employ!”  It’s not a beauty contest either, but it is a ‘professionalism contest’.  

 

So now ask yourself honestly if there’s improvement that can be made on your photo!  Does it have dark shadows or shiny patches? Is your head tilted too much to one side? Is the photo too small or far away to see the whites of your eyes?  Is it blurry – not high enough resolution? Are you dressed the part? Is there too much hair? and does the background help or hinder? Please avoid a ‘selfie’ at all costs! 

 

Secondly, since there is a lot of competition for good jobs your CV needs to stand ‘head and shoulders’ above the rest!  At this elite level it is of the utmost importance to give the very best possible ‘first impression’ to whoever reads your CV.  It can mean the difference between being invited for an interview or being passed over.  So think about who is reading it and what they want to see.

 

Checklist:  

1. Is my CV working for me?  Does it line up? Or is it a (formatting) nightmare?  Remember: the eye loves symmetry!  If word-processing is not your thing then get someone to help you so that your CV is presentable. 

 

2. Use the spell-checker and grammar-checker!  There is no excuse for spelling mistakes!  The most common are: using ‘roll’ instead of ‘role’, ‘defiantly instead of ‘definitely’, ‘there’ instead of ‘their’, 

 

3. Are you featuring your skills and experience? Or is what you did lost amongst the word jumble?  Don't put the dates first.  Dates don't impress but the job title might!

 

Thirdly, your choice of words is very important.  Remember that the words you put on paper represent you! Your CV will either show you as a person who attends to the detail or someone who lets mistakes get by and doesn’t notice…  Which one do you think the employer is looking for?  Studies show that people respond best to positive language so your word choice is crucial.  So don’t use apologetic language and don’t draw attention to negatives. An example would be “you won’t regret hiring me….” as the word ‘regret’ is the negative that stands out.  Better to spin positively:  “My enthusiasm and energy contribute to….”  

 

For the staff that we put forward for jobs we spend some time with them to help enhance their CVs – eliminate the negatives and apologies, correctly order their information and we find that it makes a huge difference!  We are frequently congratulated on the calibre of our candidates.  So for all crew looking for a job we recommend ‘tweaking’ the presentation of your CV to make it more appealing and ensure that it features your skills and experience and actually SELLS your skills rather than just making it just an ‘account of your time’!   If it features the dates above all then it’s failed to do its job.  

 

Fourthly, we recommend photographs! People respond to the visual. Pictures do say a thousand words – it’s true. So put in some good ones of you ‘in action’ if possible.  Do overdo it but having 3 or 4 is definitely a plus and helps your CV to get read and remembered! It could be of a floral arrangement you’ve made, or a tree you pruned, or a table setting you made, or a dinner you cooked… the list goes on!

 

Fifthly and lastly, we recommend that you invest in yourself.  Our recruitment agency experience has given us unique knowledge – so we know what clients/employers will respond to.  Everyone respects someone who is ‘into’ their career and tries to up-skill and improve continually.  So whenever possible you should get further training.  

 

If you’ve understood our message and agree that there’s room for improvement, that’s great. We’d love to have you join our staff database with your new improved CV and we hope it results in a better job for you.  If you need assistance and want to enlist our help in revitalising and increasing the appeal of your CV, please contact us via phone or email. Admin@Elite-Domestic.com.au or 1800 792739. We charge a modest price for our “CV Surgery” service which is amazing value and an excellent investment in yourself. You will be provided with an invoice and a copy of your completed CV in (editable) Word format.  This would be a tax deductible expense in most cases.  Going forward you can simply makes changes your CV to add any further skills and experience, as your CV is always a ‘work in progress’.