Writing a CV for a SAP Role

As with most career paths, when applying for SAP jobs, it is essential that you have a well written SAP CV.

As your SAP CV is the first point of contact you are likely to have with a potential employer and the key to getting invited to interview and hopefully landing the job, you must make sure it is well laid out and portrays you and your skills and experiences in the best light.

SAP CV: The format

Regardless of industry or skill, the format of a CV remains pretty consistent; therefore you should try to include the following in your SAP CV:

Profile Summary
Education
Experience
Interests
Referees

With such a standard format and the current job market being so competitive, how do you make your SAP CV stand out from the rest of the pile?

Use creative layout or design

Keeping the format of your CV standard, doesn’t mean that you can’t inject a little bit of personality in to it. Pick an interesting font or style your page; however you should bear in mind the following points:

Hiring employers are likely to print in black and white, so a white background is usually best and be careful when using coloured text as some colours are hard to read.
Layout or design should be used to highlight your skills and experience, so make sure you don’t let it overshadow it.
Keep your layout or design consistent across your whole application.

Use keywords so employers can find you

With the rise of online recruitment comes the need to bear in mind that employers are likely to search online to find suitable candidates for their roles. As a result, it is important to ensure that you include keywords that will help your CV be found easily. You should also include keywords for the job that you are looking for as well as the key skills you possess as it will mean that you appear for the job you want, not just similar roles to that which you are currently in. Another important thing to consider is the different variants of your key skills that recruiters might search for, for example, if you just use “SAP” rather than the specialisation such as “SAP FICO” or “SAP ABAP” then you will appear low down in the results should a recruiter type in one of these variants instead of the wider “SAP” key term.

Be concise

We all know that when faced with a huge chunk of text to read, it’s a daunting task to read through it, the recruiter reading your SAP CV will feel the same, so it’s a good idea to keep your CV brief. Aiming to keep your CV short is also a great way of stopping yourself from being repetitive and ensuring that you focus on only the key elements of your SAP career to date. The ideal length for a SAP CV is around 2 pages of A4, due to this, if you need to use bullet points to list things such as qualifications or SAP software you are familiar with then you should use them.

Tailor your CV

By reflecting the Job description in your CV and explaining how your skills and experience match exactly what the employer is looking for can turn your CV from one in the pile to the one that wins an interview.

Really look at the key skills in the job descriptions and the priority that the recruiter gives to each. With this information you are able to position your skills and experience on your SAP CV in line with their requirements and therefore come across as the ideal candidate.

Use examples

Using examples from real life situations that demonstrate your skills can be very influential with recruiters as they add to your character profile and help give your CV personality. Be careful to keep your examples short as, long stories can be off-putting to your reader.

For more help and advice writing your SAP CV, we have partnered with CV Knowhow who offers a FREE CV Review by expert CV authors. If you would like to take advantage of this offer, click here.