How to Get Your CV Noticed Online

Online job boards are a quick and easy way to promote yourself when looking for a new job, but to make sure you get the best results, its vital your CV is optimised for online databases. 

Almost everything is online now a days- and recruitment is not an exception. Job boards and online recruitment companies are thriving and the place to be if you’re looking for a new job. This guide aims to show you how to get the most out of signing up to job boards by writing a CV optimised for an online database.

In order to write a great CV for online, it’s key to understand how recruiters use the online databases to search for CVs.

How recruiters find CVs

Recruiters are usually pressed for time as they get paid on commission, so in order to make money they need to place candidates. As a result their search will be quick depending on how specific the search terms they have come up with are and how many CVs each delivers. For example a recruiter looking for a niche key phrase like “Biztalk Software Developer” may only return a few CVs whereas a recruiter entering “developer” may receive hundreds of CVs. 

A professional recruiter will normally scan the job description and search for a variety of keywords dependent upon the sector, job title and alternative job titles, key skills, qualifications etc that are essential to the role.

It is vital that you ensure your CV contains the key phrases that a recruiter would search for, as without them your CV will not show.

How to optimise a CV for online databases

To make sure your CV contains the correct key phrases for the ideal job you are looking for; you need to put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes.

You will need to imagine what search words the recruiter would use to find someone just like you for the job you are aiming for. Think outside the box – a new company might not use the same job title as your previous job role, so you need to ensure that you include different variants on your CV to eliminate the possibility that you are overlooked as the recruiter has entered in an alternative job title. This is particularly common within IT jobs. For example your last position may have been as a web developer, however the recruiter is looking for a PHP engineer – a role you would be ideal for but because neither of the keywords appears on your CV, it will not show in the results sent to the recruiter.

By investing time in making sure your CV is well optimised for online databases, you are opening yourself up to a whole host of opportunities – including some that may never actually be advertised.

If you want to give your CV a professional edge, why not see what the experts think by getting a FREE CV review from Top CV? Click here to make your CV the best it can be.

Good luck!