Are You A/B Testing Your CV?

You know as a candidate your CV has one objective.  To get you invited to the job interview.

Sounds really simple in theory.  In practice it’s a whole lot tougher.

Creating a good CV is difficult.  There’s plenty of advice out there.  Yet for some accountants and professionals it can be a struggle.

I’ve reviewed a lot of CVs over the last 25 years.  The standard can vary greatly.

Some are pretty good.  Some are okay.  Some are really poor.

I’ve noticed that those who are more senior aren’t necessarily much better at creating their CV than those earlier in their career.

Of course the ultimate test of your CV is whether you are getting interviews.

If you are not getting invited to interviews, you might be lost as to why.

Getting feedback on your CV from employers is rare.  They simply don’t have the capacity to do it.

As a result you need to consider doing A/B testing of your CV.

Now you might be thinking, what’s that.

It’s commonly used in marketing and after all your CV is your marketing document.

In simple terms you create multiple versions that are slightly different.

You set up a job application tracker on Excel.

You try different versions of your CV for different roles.

You measure which is getting the best results.

You use the version more that seems to be getting the best results.

Think of this as a bit of a research that helps you make better applications in the future if you aren’t getting results at the moment.

So often people get caught up in things like the best format and the length of your CV.

This might be important but unless you test, you are never going to know what’s working and what’s not working.

Give it a try.  What have you got to lose?  Very little in my view.  On the other hand it could help you significantly in getting more job interview invites.

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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.

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