CVs that I would pass on
And the Generic CV Bingo that helps you check your CV!
If you’ve been reading my newsletter for a while, you probably know that generic CVs are the enemy of the jobseeker, especially in startups. When you read a few hundred CVs every week, you realize that most CVs are scarily similar. If the recruiter only has less than 15 seconds to make a decision on each CV, it’s incredibly difficult to tell whether one person is really better than the other in the same field. If there’s no evidence that this person could be the hire, then the CV is more likely to be passed. After all, we have a few hundred more to go through.
What a generic CV looks like
Last week, someone asked me “What does a generic CV look like?” Based on the thousands of CVs I read this year, I made 2 examples:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 1 was too short and didn’t have enough information. After reading it, I could barely gain an understanding of who Joyce was. Example 2 was too long and too much irrelevant information. Jake didn’t need to tell me how good his Spanish was if he’s applying to web development jobs (unless the job clearly requires it), and he mentioned team work 3 different times but failed to show how exactly he was good at team work.
Both examples made a crucial mistake: they failed to explain why they were different and better than others in their field. Very little details were mentioned about their unique achievements or impact beyond a list of professional-sounding buzzwords. These 2 CVs are exactly what I’d call generic.
Note: I see the Europass template used a lot and I do not recommend it for applying to startup jobs. The template was designed to suit as many jobs as possible and offers a lot of unnecessary fields. It also does not allow you to keep formatting in mind when writing the content, and formatting is incredibly important when you only have 10 seconds to sell yourself.
The Generic CV Bingo
“So how can I avoid being generic?” You ask. Based on my 3 years of startup recruitment experience, I present you the 🧩 Generic CV Bingo 🧩
The rule is simple: if your CV contains any of these phrases or fit to the descriptions, cross that square out. If you have 5 crosses that line up, rewrite your CV 🙃
“Ok I get it, what am I supposed to do instead?”
Check out how these 5 people smashed it out of the park. Good luck!
