Thread by @Kianayema

I see we're doing the "if only people could write a good CV / resume" ritual again.

Sigh.

Fine, let's do this again.

The main thing everyone has to keep in mind is that recruitment is, by & large, a broken system.

The reason head-hunting firms make money, & the reason companies pay employees referral bonuses (do they still?), is that finding the perfect person for the job is really hard.

Across sectors - govt/quasi-govt, multilateral, big company, start-up, NGO, foundation/donor - only in 2 scenarios is hiring a simple & generally positive experience.

1. Done through referrals / personal contacts.
2. Standard, well-defined role, with clear metrics/certifications

What do these 2 scenarios have in common?

If you guessed "neither relies much on a CV/resume", congratulations!

So: if you are in the situation that you are relying primarily on CVs & cover letters - whether that's to find a job or to recruit - you're already trapped in a sub-optimal world.

Good news: good results are still possible.

Bad news: someone has to do a lot of work first.

Every time you see a recruiter or HR person or anyone on that side of the table plead / rant / argue that people should have better CVs, they're saying the same thing:

"My job sucks. I'm not paid enough to do this much work. Please make my job easier."

Thing is, they aren't wrong.

I've conducted my share of CV screenings, writing tests, & early-round interviews in this past year, & they are a pain.

I literally wrote a note to myself about how I was in a fiduciary role & should be conscientious, & re-read it every hour.

If you decide to do your job as a recruiter conscientiously, that means reading & extracting meaning from every CV & letter & test, no matter how poorly written.

The more there are poorly-written CVs in the inbox, the more the work for you.

No one is paid enough to do this.

In fact, even if you are very well-paid, your employer themselves may feel there are more valuable uses of your time than conscientiously sifting through every single CV received.

Even the employer wants you to be efficient, to use some heuristics.

Let's state the obvious: heuristics = bias. We inevitably look for "people we like", which typically means "people like us".

WILDLY IMPORTANT TO SET ASIDE THE "GOOD ENGLISH" BIAS.

Are you hiring the next AIR English newsreader? No? Then why are you impressed by good English?

Because you grew up in urban India & imbibed that bias, that's why.

Same reason you are impressed by certain school / college names & not others.

Not saying these things have zero bearing on job performance. Saying our subjective assessment hides massive class & caste bias.

All of this to say: if you are a recruiter, please be aware of your biases, & adopt methods to reduce their impact on your selection process.

You are in a position of trust, & you owe a duty of care to both your employer & the person whose livelihood & future is in your hands.

Second thing: if you're a recruiter and you want good CVs - what are you doing to actively elicit those? To make it easier for candidates to create them, & more difficult for candidates to make the kinds of mistakes that annoy you or make your life harder?

Other than the occasional rant on Twitter or whatever, that is.

Because there is a lot you can do.

Create an annotated template & share it along with the job description.

Include detailed instructions in the job description / how to apply sections.

You want strictly 1-2 page document with clear sections - education, employment history, full time / part time / intern / volunteer specified, duties & achievements under each job role, specific language & tech skills noted, no other personal info etc?

Say so. Clearly.

While we're at it: apply the same rules to your job descriptions.

1-2 pages max, & clearly specify:
- minimum & preferred education
- min, preferred, & MAX work ex
- preferred sector or type of work ex
- duties: be clear, specific, & realistic. No wish lists.
- *SALARY RANGE*

The job requires certain specific technical or language skills? Please specify.

The job is supposed to help the organisation achieve certain goals or metrics? Please specify. (This also forces people to make the "duties/tasks" section more realistic.)

In fact, it's entirely possible for you to go a step further: create a Google form (or whatever software for organisation uses / will pay for).

Most of the lathe multilaterals do this already, because they have mandates to treat applicants equally & fairly.

It's pretty easy to turn a template into a form.

It's pretty easy to turn form replies into a custom-formatted spreadsheet.

Let a computer do at least some of that drudge work for you!

*large multilaterals, not lathe multilaterals.

Trying to picture a multilateral lathe now, & failing, mostly because I'm not precisely sure what a lathe is...

Okay. All that said, now to the job applicant side: it is in your interest to make the recruiter's job simple for them.

There are limits to what you can do. You can't know or counteract their biases, for instance.

What you can do is present concise, clear, & honest information.

Start with the job description.

Use it to make a list of the following things:
- minimum & preferred education
- min, pref, & max work ex
- required sector experience, technical skills, or languages

Do you meet these criteria? No? Move on. No need to waste time.

The exception being if you're pretty close to the minimum work ex & otherwise a good fit - could still be worth a shot.

Maybe they'll offer you a role slightly lower than the one advertised & then promote you in the next appraisal cycle.

To assess fit, continue with the job description, & list:
- 5-7 tasks you'll have to do if hired to that role
- any specific projects or outcomes for which you'll be responsible

Have you done similar work before, or could you convince someone you could do it with some training?

If yes, great. You're at least arguably a fit for the role. (If not - you could apply, but think of it as a lottery ticket.)

Now take that list & start writing your CV. Split into the following sections:
- Header
- Summary
- Education
- Work ex
- Bling
- Tech & Language Skills

Going in order of sections.

Header: your name & contact info. (At least an email & phone.)

Summary: why you are a good fit for that job. 2-3 short sentences only.
(Roughly: "I am trained in ..., experienced in ..., interested in ...)

What you highlight here depends on the JD.

For instance: I'm trained in psychology, law, negotiations, conflict analysis, systems analysis etc.

I have experience as an editor, writer, policy analyst, design thinking facilitator, etc.

I'm interested in diplomacy, tech policy, etc.

I'll highlight what fits the role.

Assume I was applying for "Behavioural science research manager". My summary:

Psychologist & lawyer, experienced in policy analysis & systems thinking. Interested in applying behavioural science to public policy questions. I enjoy translating complex questions for lay audiences.

You can follow the summary with either education or work ex, doesn't matter which. (Prioritise whatever seems most relevant to the role - like if they say they want IIM grads, & you are one, probably lead with that.)

Education: college & above only.

Under education, you only need to specify the institution (University & specific college, if that's the custom at your school), degree, "major" subject, & graduation year.

Grades, awards, leadership positions etc. optional (that's what the bling section is for.)

Work ex is the most critical section of the CV.

DO NOT TURN IT INTO A MULTI-PAGE LAUNDRY LIST.

Unless you've worked for 10+ years or 6+ employers, this should be 2/3ds of a page at most.

That way, the core information - your name & contact details, summary, education, & work ex - are all neatly presented on page 1.

A recruiter who is pressed for time can get all they need from this one page.

How do you get your work ex to fit into less than a page while still showing you're fit for the role?

You prioritise & customise.

Go back to the list of duties & outcomes you made from the JD.

Are you showing relevant experience for each of those points? Edit till you are.

That's assuming you genuinely have that experience to show. Don't lie (duh). Don't even embellish. It's very easy to check.

/ Break - have to step away for a few hours, will try to come back to this tonight.

/ back!

To recap: use the JD to identify what the top 5-7 duties & skills for the dogs are, & make sure your work experience demonstrates you have those - assuming you do, honestly, have those.

Don't put a whole lot of stock in the whole "recruiters need to see impact, not activities".

Most recruiters can't tell the difference between "impact" and "numbers".

Besides, if you're early career or part of a big team, you may not have clear impact to show.

The way to deal with this is to have a standard 3 bullets under each work experience.

Start with org name, your designation, duration of employment there. (All in one line.) Next line, for each experience, list:
- duties: "responsible for..."
- activities*
- outcomes**

*activities: use a verb, simple past tense (e.g. "designed", "coordinated", "wrote" etc.) followed by details of the task.

If there are multiple tasks relevant to the JD, you may need 2 such bullets.

* outcomes (not "impact"): something you can quantify, e.g. new clients added.

I used to work as a web media assistant, where part of my job was posting news to the news section of the official website.

So that's what I used for "outcome" - "posted 8 stories/week on average to the official website."

This isn't impact, but again...

... most recruiters can scarcely tell the difference, & even those who can are probably still happy with the numerical estimate. (It shows I did that task frequently & regularly, which also suggests I'm reasonably good at it.)

This is also why I asked, way up in the thread...

... that recruiters should apply the same rule to JDs. Can you / your org specify (& quantify) what impact you want this employee to have?

No? Well then how the heck do you expect them to summarise this about their previous jobs?

TL;DR impact just means numbers, mostly

The golden rule for writing work ex section is: be specific.

If asked about a specific item in an interview, you should be able to use the language you wrote + a few additional details. Avoid vague statements like "Interacted with clients". To do what? Using what skill or tools?

Final point on work ex section: especially if you are early career, you may consider including a bullet on what you learnt, e.g. "rapidly learnt to use Salesforce & MailChimp for customer database management & outreach."

You're demonstrating aptitude & comfort with new tech.

In this way, every work experience you list will have 3-4 bullets under it: your responsibilities, tasks you did (1-2 bullets), outcomes (with numbers), & possibly learning / growth demonstrated.

5 bullets is the outer limit. That's 40-50 words. Very much enough to show fitness.

To recap, that's all of page 1: your name & contact info (no photo), customized summary, education, & work ex. Each work ex instance has 3-4 bullets under it, maybe 5 in a case where they're all highly relevant to the JD.

Before I get to page 2, a small note on the cover letter.

1. Always write a cover letter. Even if there is no way to submit it, it's good prep for interviews.

2. If you're in fact a bit short of required work ex, or can demonstrate most of the required abilities bar 1-2, this is where you address that. Make your best case for yourself.

Now back to CV, page 2.

Start page 2 with a "Bling" section. Don't call it that, obviously - call it awards or publications or recognition received etc., whatever suits the content.

This is where you list all awards, publications, etc. (Duh.)

I suggest start with most recent, then go back as far as you want. Ran a club or festival in college? This is where to list it. Ran a marathon & want to brag? This is the place for it.

Try to stay with official, verifiable stuff. No "I'm a great cook" etc.

This section is optional to begin with & may not get read. So length is up to you - my current list is about 16 items.

Finally, list technical skills & languages spoken. If you have certifications for these, list them here.

Voila! 2-pager clean CV ready.

Finally, as noted, always pair with a cover letter.

Let the letter complement the CV, not repeat it.

Always start by naming the position for which you are applying. (Simple, direct - "I am writing to apply for...". No "I deem it a privIlege to present my credentials...".)

...you're applying for a job, not being received as a new Ambassador.

After naming the post, rephrase & echo the summary: "I believe my training in...; skills in...; experience as ... make me a good candidate."

Then say why you're interested in the role.

That's para 1.

Para 2-4 should be 50-70 words each, & should complement your CV in demonstrating fitness for the role.
- one way is subtly demonstrate you understand the org & what it does
- another is to show how the role aligns with your career goals
- another is to demonstrate "soft skills"

("Soft skills" being communication & teamwork, basically. Things you can't easily display in a CV -- "Communicated well" looks funny as a bullet point!

Cover letter lets you write a proper sentence - e.g. how you practice active listening & have benefited from it.)

Final para just says your CV is also attached. If there are other documents requested, note those are attached too. Close by politely saying you hope to hear back from the org / hiring manager.

Voila! 1 page cover letter to go with 2-page CV.

Writing skills are still a real thing, so each person's CV & cover letter are still going to vary. Follow the outline in this thread, though, & you'll at least avoid making a recruiter's life overly complicated. The more stressful the process, the more they'll love you for it : ]

Two final thoughts: you'll note I didn't say "proofread" or "avoid typos".

This is is of a piece with the point that recruiters should get over the "good English" bias already. It has way less to do with "attention to detail" & way more with class/caste.

Here's a simple...

... fact about grammar & typos: I'm an editor myself, & @reeti or @pvissanji very generously proofread my CVs & cover letters.

I still find typos months after sending them in.

I recently signed an email "with beast wishes"

I once wrote "minotaur" when I meant monitor

Everybody makes these little mistakes. And then autocorrect gets into the mix.

If you're reading a CV (or anything else) & can understand what the writer means to convey, then they've done a good-enough job. Grit your teeth & give them the benefit of the doubt.

Final point is actually to repeat what I said at the top of the thread: recruitment is a miserable, broken system. No one likes it, & the first person to come up with a good alternative will become a millionaire.

The best way to get a job is still to know someone at the place.

The second best way is to work in a field where there can be an objective assessment of your skills & abilities.

If neither of these are true for you, best settle in for a long & miserable process.

Do try not to make it longer or more miserable for anyone else.

*for the role, not for the dogs

(As in, the more stressful the recruitment process in general, the more they will love you for making your part of it simple / smooth.)