Recruiter's tips for a good CV

Tailor your CV for the position

You cannot go wrong with a short, concise, and clear CV. Few employers want to get to know your entire life story through a CV - instead, you gain points if you have managed to include information that is essential specifically for the position being applied for.

Include only relevant work experience. The more jobs you have behind you, the less space should be given to your first summer jobs, tasks in a completely different field, or degrees from your teenage years. Experience from a few years ago usually does not need to be explained more deeply than the title and years - which also applies, for example, to high school studies if you are already in higher education or have graduated with a bachelor's degree.

Optimal length of a CV

Resumes are usually a maximum of two pages long, and readability is definitely at its best at a length of one A4 page. As the name suggests, it is a list from which the employer should be able to form a picture of your skills and potential at a glance.

A good cv does not require visual tricks, a fancy headshot, or color optimization - instead, you should highlight your skills suitable for the position, for example, by using italics or formatting. Highlighting the right things also serves as a work sample of how well you have internalized the requirements mentioned in the job advertisement.

What is most important in a CV?

Pay all your attention to the readability of the cv. Remember that the recruiter does not know you, they cannot read between the lines, and they cannot make assumptions. All relevant information must be found in the CV, and the most important things (e.g., relevant work experience, knowledge of a certain system, or the right educational background) must be found in the cv in seconds.

In summary: avoid extra tricks, make sure that everything important can be found in the cv easily and quickly, and ensure that your CV is up to date.

Start with the groundwork

When applying for a job, read the job advertisement carefully and think about whether you have the suitable education and work experience for it. Also take into account the location of the workplace and the duration of the employment, and realistically evaluate whether you can commit to the terms. After this, personalize your CV to meet the requirements of the task: go through the list of requirements in the job advertisement and make sure they can be found in your CV.

With or without a photo?

The applicant's appearance has no significance regarding performance in the work. In a modern and non-discriminatory recruiting process, a photo is not needed - when applying for a position outside of Finland, a CV with a photo may even lead to automatic rejection.

If you are applying for a field where providing a photo is required (e.g., work as a presenter or a model), you should take a few basic rules into account. You should pay attention to the quality of the photo, and like other parts of the CV, it should give a professional and serious impression of you.

Visuals of a CV

There is not only one right way to build a good cv. Some of us want to invest in the visual look and put our creativity into play, while others feel that a simple, black-and-white cv is most suitable for them. Both are good cvs as long as (as mentioned) the readability remains excellent.

Even if you do not cover your CV with colors and visual elements, you should still pay attention to text formatting. Italics and sufficient line spacing are easy ways to improve the readability of the resume.

Tip: give your cv to someone you know to study for 30 seconds, then take it away from them and ask them to tell who you are professionally. If they can name the most relevant things after only 30 seconds of looking, the readability is at a good level. If, on the other hand, they cannot say what you have studied or what your central expertise is, it may be that your CV still needs refining.

You should also ask recruiters for feedback on your own CV, for example, in a job interview or at recruiting fairs!

Language of the CV

A good rule of thumb in choosing the writing language for the cv is to look at the advertisement for the job being applied for. If the job advertisement is in English, the CV must also be in English. If the advertisement is in Finnish, both Finnish and English CV's are acceptable unless otherwise stated.

References

You can mark the names, titles, and organizations of your references in your resume in advance. If for some reason you do not want to state the references yet, you can mark in the CV, for example, "Contact information for references available upon request." When applying for a job, please check the job advertisement to see if the contact information for references is requested separately elsewhere. Also remember to ask your references for permission to use them as a reference!

One or two references are quite enough. If your list of references is longer than this, or if the CV is starting to run out of space for other reasons - it is completely acceptable to write "References upon request".

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CV's in different life situations

Student's CV

You probably have much more experience than you think! Have you worked at a cash register, as a waiter, or at a market stall? Customer service experience is useful in many jobs! Have you acted as a tutor or been active in a sports club? Organizational activities should also be mentioned. All work experience from part-time jobs to summer jobs and volunteer work are all valuable opportunities to develop your own skills and gain experience. Employers value motivation and the desire to learn, so they should be emphasized in the application through concrete examples!

If you have not yet chosen a major, briefly talk about your interests. It is definitely also worth telling, for example at the end of the resume, what you are like as an employee and why specifically you should be chosen. Sometimes a lack of experience can be replaced by genuine interest!

Recent graduate's CV

After graduating, you probably want to find a full-time job. Emphasize the skills and experience required for the task in your cv. Also mention summer jobs, volunteer activities, and hobbies, as well as projects and tasks included in your studies that are useful in the work.

Also describe your studies: major, minors, and other relevant studies. The cv must give as clear a picture of your expertise as possible. Work experience in your own field should definitely be emphasized if you already have it.

CV of someone with a little of experience

You no longer need to mention your first summer jobs. Emphasize your education as well as the knowledge and experience you have gained in your own field. Provide sufficient information about your previous employments as well as their duration and especially their content. Also mention if you are still employed.

If there are gaps in your work history, it is worth explaining the reasons for them (e.g., maternity leave, parental leave, sabbatical). Emphasize your previous work experience and tell in more detail about your most recent employments, such as what you have been responsible for and what you have achieved. Provide precise information especially about tasks related to the job you are applying for. However, the descriptions must not be too long.

Tips for different fields

Different requirements in expertise and daily work should be taken into account by industry. We have collected here the most important things that should be highlighted in a CV:

IT industry

• Completed projects and your role in them
• Programming languages (relevant to the task)
• Systems that you use fluently
• Completed certificates
• Working methods you have experience with or certifications in

Technical field

• Work experience, projects
• (Relevant) leisure time hobbies
• Certificates / qualifications related to systems and the work environment

Commercial field

• Completed university degrees
• Financial and budgeting expertise
• Projects and your role in them
• Social skills, such as leadership experience, presentation experience, or networking