AIDA and Your CV
Your CV is your personal marketing document. If it’s effective recruiters will put you forward for roles. Employers will invite you for interview. If not it will end up the recycling or trash folder of someone’s computer.
AIDA is talked about in terms of marketing products and services. If you think about it you are essentially offering your services to an employer who has a need so the principle should easily apply to CV’s.
For those not familiar with AIDA it stands for:
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
So how might this apply to your CV?
Most of the time you will initially be a stranger to a recruiter when you first get in touch. So your initial aim is to get attention fast. By taking the time to crafting a good supporting email or supporting case in the free text box of an online application, you raise the chances of getting attention.
The next challenge is to get interest. The easiest way to do that is demonstrate you have the right skills, knowledge, experience and attributes for the role.
Having done this you want to create enough desire. What works best in my experience is to have plenty of business benefit orientated achievements on your CV.
Having done all of the above you hopefully get the recruiter or employer to take action. In this case we are talking about getting you to the next stage of the process, which is usually a telephone or in person interview.
Duncan Brodie helps accountants and professionals achieve more career success. Learn more here
About the Author Duncan Brodie
Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.