You Are Not a Template

The internet is full of sites with CV templates, downloaded daily by thousands of people from all walks of life. At Visualize, we believe your CV is as individual as you are. That’s why with our CV writing service we tailor your CV to suit you.

At Visualize we will write your CV from scratch, not using any templates – whether you have an existing CV or no CV at all. Our CV compilation skills are internationally acclaimed.

The below was extracted from a publication by the undercoverrecruiter…

Ever wonder why you don’t get responses from recruiters or calls for interviews? It could be that you are using a resume or CV based on a template. Perhaps the same template used by an agency out to make a quick buck by copying and pasting 10 000 customers’ details on the same boring template without taking into account that everyone has different skills to sell and different achievements to highlight.

Your resume gets about 10 – 30 seconds before the person screening it decides to read on or to chuck in the bin. HR people, recruiters, hiring managers see hundreds of resumes every day and nothing bores them more than another template resume, that states exactly the same skills for every second person.

The goal of your CV is to stand out from all the other job seekers and be picked for an interview; if you are using the same template as all the other hopefuls you will achieve neither objective. Still not convinced?

Here are a few reasons not to use a CV template:

• » Same as everyone else
• The two benefits of using a template is that it requires little time and effort to write your document. Basically, it’s the lazy way of doing it. What type of signal do you think these copy and paste skills send to the hiring manager? I would think that this applicant, if hired, would always look for quick and dirty ways of solving problems. I might be cynical here but can you afford to risk that?

• » A lot of the templates out there are sub-standard
• Who created all the templates on the Internet in the first place? Nobody knows, but the templates are highly recommended and are supposedly written by an expert. Whoever these ‘experts’ are shall remain one of mankind’s great mysteries; I can only establish that most of the templates are very poor.

• » You are selling yourself short 
• Surely you deserve the best resume there is and not just a run-of-the-mill template ripped off from the web or someone that labels themselves a “professional CV writer”? It will take a couple of days to make a great CV with the assistance of one of the Visualize CV writing experts, but the finished product can be used throughout your career (just have it updated every now and then!).

• » Recruiters scare easily 
• Recruiters work hard to maintain good relationships with hiring managers and providing bad candidates can seriously damage those relationships. For this reason, recruiters are very careful about which CVs they recommend for positions. Things like lazy template typing, gaps in employment, spelling mistakes and sloppy formatting can be enough to worry recruiters into leaving you out of the shortlist. Don’t give recruiters any chance to doubt you; ensure that your CV looks professional and has no deal-breaking mistakes.

SO WHAT IS A JOB SEEKER TO DO?

1. Go out and Google resumes in your field, both templates and resumes from actual people who have posted their documents publicly. Save up to 10 decent ones and start reading and getting a feel for the language, layout and formats. Then delete all the saved resumes and start with your own from a blank canvas. I assure you that you will be full of inspiration from others and instead of copying what they have written, you will now cherry pick their components and putting them on paper with your own words. Writing a resume from scratch is hard work but it’s doable for all of us and one thing is certain: it will get noticed.
2. Allow a Visualize Professional CV writer the opportunity of doing all the hard work on your behalf and supply you with a one of a kind CV that includes infographics, a 1 page summarized resume, and personalised cover letter that will elevate you above the rest!