Profiles
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” - Leonardo da Vinci
On Monday morning I clicked my inbox to be faced with 87 emails, the majority of which were from individuals seeking work.
One email had two attachments including a lengthy cover letter and an eight page CV that included an “executive summary” that was almost a page of A4. It took me some time to work out where this individual worked and which industry he was in. The CV included this person’s marital status, religion, children’s names and details of achievements at high school, over 20 years previously.
If you would like your job application to be successful, please keep it simple:
- Keep your CV to no more than two sides of A4
- Use correct spelling, grammar and plain language
- Your cover letter should be clear, brief and in the body of the email
- Summarise your experience and achievements in bullet point format
- AUA – Avoid Using Acronyms. These can betray ignorance not sophistication
- Please exclude irrelevant information including details of employment from many years back.
If you wish to be sophisticated – keep it simple. Remember the Da Vinci quote.
4 Comments for The Da Vinci Quote
Leonard Yuen | July 10, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Barry | July 12, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Couldnt agree more in fact for the last position I was looking for I stipulated
No Resumes I challenged the candidates to wow me with why they
should work for me. Only three managed to comply and they were
outstanding so I employed 1 of the three
Damian Rhodes | July 12, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Leonard,
Thank you very much for this. It was a pleasure to work in partnership to identify a new position for you.
Damian Rhodes | July 12, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Barry,
Thank you for this. It is clearly unusual to dispense with the CV / resume altogether but it sounds as though this worked for you.
What did the three who complied, do to wow you?
Thank you Damian,
I appreciate your advice given both on the blog and in person. Your suggestions to me were very helpful.
Leonard