Ex-Amazon VP shares the top 6 CV mistakes and how to correct them

Ethan Evans says that CVs often fail to list activities instead of presenting impact results.
Recruitors quickly escape CVs, so clarity and conciseness are crucial for success.
You must also list your education and certifications correctly and include your interests.

I reviewed over 10,000 CVs and performed over 2,500 interviews in my VP career at several companies, including Amazon.

I ran for recruitment to three startups, and now I train individuals through their job search. I know what the recruiters and hiring managers want in a CV -and what mistakes you could cost.

The problem and the goal

I often see six mistakes. The first three are the most harmful, and 90% of CVs contain at least one of them.

Recruitors and managers are under extraordinary pressure and usually examine CVs as soon as possible. Your CV must be optimized to attract its attention quickly. The purpose is for them to relieve him and believe that he would be worth interviewing you.

Here are the three biggest mistakes that you could cost you for.

1. No results, only activities

This is the most common mistake I see on CV. People write down what they did saying “wrote code”, “managed employees” or “worked on project X”.

However, senior interpreters know they are appreciated for their impact and make a point to show the results of their work.

You can rewrite almost every bullet on your CV in a way that describes why your work matters and shows that your presence has made a positive difference for the team, product and the bottom line.

Here are some tricks to help this:

If possible, connect to your results.
The human eye is automatically attracted by boldness. Bold selectively a few words or phrases to make sure that the strongest achievements are observed.
Use action verbs such as “owned”, “built”, “led” or “delivered”. This suggests that you have actively done something rather than to witness it.
People believe that specific numbers, including numbers in dollars. Use it when possible.

2. No goal

Without a goal, recruiter or employment manager must guess if you want the job. If you are a recruiter with a lot of CVs, you will not waste time by guessing.

An objective states clearly what kind of role you are looking for in your next job, and an excellent objective is enough formulation and short to be read in a single look. Don’t just talk about you in subjective terms.

An example of a formula for a Senior Engineer’s role would be “”Looking for a role of Sr. engineer in which they can apply proven skills to deliver the scaled services to provide a valuable innovation for the business.–

The first part simply states the role you are looking for. This is particularly important if you want to do something different from your last job.

The second part allows you to mention the highest qualifications for a role. Highlight the top reason to put your CV in the “call” pile.

The third part shows that you are there to help the manager and the company. While looking for a “good job” for you, the manager is not focused on “providing someone’s job.” You want to convey that you are not only interested in yourself, but that you are dedicated to giving value to your new manager.

Here is my own goal in my cv of executive trainer as an example:

Objective: Offer professional development on scale, guiding transitions to executive management.

Proven executive management of multiples $ 500 million+ businesses On games, video, applications and music. Global leadership experience of 800+ teams. Technical inventor; 60+ patents issued.

3. Too many words

Many CVs are long, lasting three or more pages or using a tiny font to cram the page.

The mistake is to write about what we want to write rather than what the reader needs to know. I call these “happy words”. They appear when a CV opens up with the candidate who writes positive sentences about who I think they are. Looks like that:

“Motivated self-starter in search of a positive environment in which I can bring my skills and technical passion into a worthy project. Collector and big mentor. Adaptable, fast student.”

It is natural to want to share what we see as our most positive features. Unfortunately, managers who look at dozens of CVs daily will ignore this, because they do not say what the candidate can do.

The rule to follow is “display, do not say”. If you are a quick student, include bullets on your CV that shows this. For example: “He learned and applied X to the Y project, starting from the first effort to send customers in nine weeks.”

The purpose of your CV is to put the best achievements in front of the manager. If you write too much, they will escape your greatest achievements. It is best to keep your CV under 1,000 words.

My CV has 700 words and covers a 30-year-old career, and I created Microsoft Word in two hours.

After writing a solid CV, look for three other mistakes before applying at any job.

4. Optimizing Applicant’s Tracking System (ATS)

Many CVs try to cram keywords at the top to go through the applicant’s tracking system. There are two significant problems with this approach.

Over 80% of all jobs are addressed to someone with a network connection to the role. Focus on passing through ATS means that you focus on jobs where you do not have a network connection and, therefore, compete against all others.

The second problem is that this causes the CV to be difficult for a man to read and buries the strongest achievements in the body of the text.

The ideal approach is to write your CV for human eyes, then use your network to put it in the hands of someone who will read it. If you want to include keywords, place it at the end of your CV in a “skills” section.

5.

If you are a new graduate, the expected CV format is to list your top education. If you have work experience, your education should be under the work history.

Another element of your education section is your GPA if you do not list your GPA, the reader will assume it is weak. You are better to list him if you did well (over 3.3).

While you can safely remove GPA once you have 10 years of school, if you have graduated honors, it may be worth keeping yourself forever.

The bottom of your CV is the place to list the most certifications, unless you have a critical attribute, such as the security authorization or an expected certification for the role you are looking for. You can put the people close to the top.

6. Excluding hobbies and interests

There are two advantages to end your CV with little hobbies, charitable activities and interests.

These interests humanize you. If someone has read at the bottom of your CV, you have earned their attention. Giving a small personal texture at the bottom helps you to be memorable.

Secondly, managers and recruiters are looking for ice robbers if they call you. Maybe ski or have a dog, so listing things like this creates more chances to connect emotionally.

Next steps

After you are confident in your CV, do not postpone yourself by continuing to polish it. Focus on the network to get a good reference for a job.

One last mistake I see is that candidates who fail to use their CV language carefully on LinkedIn. To benefit from the maximum of LinkedIn, place the crisp objective statement in the “about” section of the profile. Then, copy the work bullets into each section of the “History of work”.

Complete the education and other information and keep it up to date. This way, recruiters can find you while sleeping.

Ethan Evans is a vice president of the retired Amazon, with over 23 years of experience as a business executive.