To Move your CV Up from entry-level

Look, let’s be honest, if you’ve spent the last year or six months working in an entry-level position or in an internship, the chances of you having an impressive CV by the end are going to be pretty slim. This is probably why people are inclined to lie on their CV, to make it sound more impressive. Don’t do that. Recruiters can spot a resume lie easily, in fact a Harris poll found 58% of hiring managers have detected a lie on a CV. So when you’re preparing your CV after you’ve finished your internship, don’t talk about the projects you’ve led because you won’t have. And even if you did lead a project, a recruiter might just assume you’re lying. Avoid the nonsense and fill your CV with information that will get you to the next level.

1. How you helped

As we mentioned above recruiters are unlikely to believe an intern or entry level employee will have been the lead on a big project, so you should instead focus on how your efforts helped the team reach their goal / finish the project / come in on budget etc. But, just because your position is lower on the ladder doesn’t mean your efforts didn’t contribute; highlight how your effort, work and input all contributed to the end goal.

For example, don’t focus on how you prepared spreadsheets – hiring managers don’t care that you helped with Excel, they will however care that your effort to create a streamlined and automated spreadsheet helped your team to beat the deadline or increased sales etc.

2. With whom you worked

Being an intern doesn’t mean you will only work with other interns (hopefully), in fact you’ve probably worked with a lot of different people with varying levels of importance. When writing what you did and with whom you did it, be sure to include the person’s title and responsibility – it may seem obvious but it won’t sound very impressive if you just include the name. Beef your resume up and show a recruiter who you rubbed shoulders with. For example you might write how you assisted the head of sales on a weekly basis, which helped us reach our target.

3. The feedback

With the new realistic information you’re now including in your CV, it’s probably looking rather impressive. Now you should look to include any kind of praise your supervisor might have given you. Although, the important thing with this step is to ensure you keep a record of all positive feedback you receive. That way, when it comes time to put in your resume, you’ll have it on hand – no chance of forgetting. If you include a statement from your supervisor about how you take the initiative and always meet the deadline, this will look great on your CV.

4. Raw numbers

There’s something to be said for showing rather than telling and a great way to show your CV story is with raw numbers. Include the numbers when highlighting your workplace successes. Everyone knows you probably worked 9-5 or that you extracted data – what they don’t know and would be interested in finding out is how much. How much you worked and how much that work impacted the end result. For example you might want to say how you extracted three data reports every week and this lead to a 5% increase in productivity.

5. References

”Wait a second, didn’t we already cover references previously? Sounds like it’s time to pack it up, Guy.” Slow down there, we’re talking about references, not feedback. When it comes to formatting your CV there is some contention as to whether you should include a reference at the bottom or not. Some schools of thought say yes, others say no, we say – maybe. As in, there are times when you should and times when you shouldn’t. Most of the time you can get away with saying References available on request, but if a job vacancy specifically asks for a reference, you better include one. But only list the person as a reference if you have their permission.

With these tips in mind, now you can go back to your CV, have a read and then edit it so you standout. Sell yourself, but don’t oversell, just show a recruiter what you did and what you achieved in a simple manner and you’ll greatly improve your chances of moving up from your internship.