Can anyone be a CV Expert?
People often send me their CV for review and when they do, I try hard to be as helpful as I can and i record a detailed video review completely free of charge that they can use or not as they see fit. The free CV review is of course part of a sales funnel as I write CV’s for a living and need new business all the time to be able to continue living my life and paying the bills.
I had an example today where I did just that, i.e. recorded a helpful free CV review and the response I got is written below word for word: The first comment they made was this: “Two pages is not a lot of work in anyones book” and the second was their expert opinion regarding what needed to be done: “It needs formatted correctly & more eye catching. I have a friend in Recruitment who does CVS all the time. She will do it for me.” 
Initially I was quite taken aback and then I reflected to try and understand why someone would respond with what they believed was the right way to take their career forward. The comment “Two pages is not a lot of work in anyones book” is of course true and pretty much anyone can write 2 pages of text without breaking too much of a sweat. The caveat though is whether or not that text gets a result, i.e. get’s the individual interviewed for roles that they want to secure.
Is everyone a CV Expert and does everyone have an opinion?
I love the following quote from Brendon Burchard: “The top experts in the world are ardent students. The day you stop learning, you’re definitely not an expert.” I try hard to learn from every experience I have in life and whilst I am am by now a little disappointed that I didn’t secure some business, I have reflected and learned some new things. 
People plough their own furrow’s in life and if someone genuinely doesn’t believe that something is worth investing in then of course they are free to choose their own path. Getting a recruiter friend to write a CV for you for free is of course an option and I genuinely wish this person all the best.
Do people really value themselves?
Reading back through the CV that was originally sent to me, I looked through the work experience and it was evident that this individual had moved from one job to another and done pretty much the same thing in every single job. It is certainly true that many people will go through life doing the same thing for multiple reasons and of course, it’s not for me to judge why someone would carry out similar roles nd have very fixed views about things. I guess that it is true that if you always do what you’ve always done then you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. Apparently this quote appeared in “The Milwaukee Sentinel” of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1981.
My view is that people generally do not value themselves and don’t invest in their personal development. I genuinely don’t care one way or another if someone wants to use the service that I provide as I’m only really interested in seeing people fulfill their potential and being happy in their lives.
Do I need the help of a CV Expert?
The answer is “yes” if you are not getting interviewed for the sort of roles that you should be getting interviewed for. A professional CV expert or professional CV writer can definitely help you as they will work with you to make certain that your CV or resume is going to meet the two audiences that the CV needs to get past.
Who reads your CV?
The first audience or filter that a CV needs to get through is CV parsing or scraping software. A CV or job application can also be scanned by ATS (Applicant Tracking Software) when you apply for a job. The first audience is therefore an electronic or automated audience or system. 
The second audience is a real person. When your CV has been found or successfully passed through automated systems then the CV is going to be read by a Recruiter, Hiring Manager or someone else in the recruitment or hiring process. On average, people read CVs for around the six second mark so employing the services of a CV expert can really help to get passed the rejection pile and into the “maybe” pile. Even better, the CV has worked when your CV is going straight into the “for interview” pile.
Summary
I will never find out what happened to the individual who prompted me me to write this article today so I guess I’ll never find out just who (if anyone) was actually right. What I do know is that I really could have helped this person to find a new or better job and that’s the only part that I’m just a little sad about. More information about CV’s can be found here.
Helping people get new and better jobs in Newcastle, Pontypridd, Neath, Barry, Aberdare since 2009.
Author: Glenn Hughes
I’m a professional CV writer who also writes website content, LinkedIn profiles, helps people with bespoke job applications and more. I’ve been writing for the internet since 2009 and have many published articles.
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