Written by David
What’s in a song? Bunch of different instruments making noises and maybe someone saying some stuff over the top of it, right? I’m probably making some music students or musicians highly agitated right now, but please, bear with me.
CV’s …analogously, well, they’re kind the same (honest!) Think about it, you’ve got layers of content, instead of a strings, wind, percussion you’ve got a Profile and Interests and Achievements; we’ll call that bass – a CV isn’t complete without it but, lets be honest, most the time it’s barely thought out – keep strumming those root notes bro!
You’ve got Education and Work Experience that’s definitely the vocals and guitar, the melody that everyone hums along to (and then belts out the chorus before drunkenly going back to that humming verse section). It all ends with “References available upon request” (we’ll call that drums, its just kinda there, feels wrong without it, but no one thinks it’s all that important).
But you can’t just have a bunch of sections glued together and call it a song. It’s got to gel – it’s got to flow and it’s got to feel like a natural narrative that provides the reader with a comfortable experience. Most people don’t want to listen to songs that are just random instruments – like a bunch of beginner jazz musicians – you get it right through practice and then unleash it on people. A CV is the same. You get the basic message right, content – get those examples of skills, then you work out where they belong – Work, Education, Interests maybe even a Key Skills section. Wahey, getting there now! You pick the order of your sections – the form of the song, and you fine tune the wording so it flows, intro into verse, into chorus. There is form here now, there is structure. But it isn’t a finished song yet.
Let’s talk about post-production. Let’s talk about templates, stylistics and formatting. Let’s say, the tired cliché, less is more! What is a CV meant to do? It’s delivering a specific message to a specific reader: I am suitable for the job you are advertising. No, let’s go one further: I am the person you want for the job you must fill.
The content is what achieves this, but through style and formatting you can draw the readers eye to the right places, you can make the song feel natural, they’ll know when that chorus is coming because you’ve produced it right, they’ll know where to look for that hook because you’re a master at this, because, unlike music, writing a CV is easy. It just takes a bit of practice and confidence.
Our post-production comes in many forms – fonts, font-sizes, bold, underlined and italic, text boxes (and styling, colours etc). Just remember – Less is more. Use them for your subheadings, you want them to know this is the verse, this is the chorus. Use it for key elements – but don’t highlight bits that aren’t critical, and don’t accent it every time you drop the name of the key skill you saw on the job specification.
Minimise it and bring it in slowly, review it each time you make changes – ask yourself: Is it looking better? Is it helping me deliver my message? Is it still easy to read?
Does it sing?
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