I'd love to seek some opinion on CV's. How creative should a CV be and how long? Experiencing different feedback and opinions... Thanks W

Replies7

  • Bear in mind that a lot of companies and recruiters use AI to scan CVs now - don't create something so design led it's incoherent. I've seen job specs that specify a design led CV will be an advantage - I generally filter them out, if the client is only looking at pretty pictures and not engaging with the detail - I don't expect them to be a good fit for me (they isually have the word 'passionate' in there, somewhere). I've seen clients run through a stack of CV's at speed by highlighting the three key facts they are looking for with a yellow marker - if it takes more than a few seconds, they lose interest - make sure you get across what you want people to know in the fist instance.
  • No creativity. A CV is an informational document and should present as such. No one who has to look through hundreds of CVs for a position wants to have to look for information or become distracted because someone's overdesigned their CV. Keep it simple, formal, and clean.

    Length: 2pp A4 max. Again, no one's interested in trawling through a huge CV.
  • Not more than 2 pages long and creative enough to let your personality through. I personally like more clean and simple CVs with small touches (think about Easter Eggs) that you only discover when you read it.
  • Basically exactly as Daniel said below, but I was also advised in uni to have both your creative colourful CV that represents you (I did mine on InDesign) and also a plain word format one in case you need to upload it to for a specific job application website or its requested. I have also always been told the 2 A4 sides rule for any job application.

    Hope that helps :)
  • How creative it is depends largely on the type of position you are applying for or even the company itself. Be careful not to let your creativity obscure the bare essentials that a recruitment process may require from you. Having said that - I have seen some very creative CVs but mainly for very creative positions. Think about what your potential employer needs to see from you - can it be shown in a portfolio alongside your CV.

    In terms of length - the rule of thumb is no more that 2 sides of A4 - really, no more that 2 sides!!

You must sign up or log in before you 
add a comment.

Post reply