What should you highlight on your CV that will attract the attention of the recruiters?
Did you know that at an open day, recruiters will need to sift through more than a thousand CVs? When Emirates or Qatar or any other airline hosts a recruitment event aka open day in one of the big cities, more than a thousand people show up. Did you know that only 30 or less gets selected for the final interview? This means that 97% of people will literally be sent home after several rounds on the first and second day of the recruitment event.
So, how should you present your CV to ensure
You get shortlisted on the day.
Your CV does not look like everyone else.
Your CV stands out in the Top 3%!
Difficult isn’t it? Well not really if you know what they are looking for, and tailor your experience so that your suitability stands out. Only tailor your last job to fit in with their requirements. Use action phrases that represent the key requirements of the role.
You must appreciate they care about the safety and security of their customers on every flight so show that you have knowledge of this in some shape or form. Anyone who works in retail, office or in a building needs to be aware of safety and emergency procedures so try and phrase a line or two on awareness of such a procedure.
You are passionate about excellent service delivery. In any role that deals with customer service, from food, retail to even non-tangible areas like dealing with insurance products, would need to ensure excellent service delivery. Ask yourself what you do in your present role to ensure highest standards in service delivery.
You truly enjoy customer interactions and place the customer in everything you do. Even with this requirement, we would expect any customer role (from retail, food, delivery and any sales role) would have procedures in place for putting the customer first. Again, ask yourself instances in your present role when you had to demonstrate the customer comes first.
You are confident, adaptable and confident to deal with challenging and difficult circumstances and show resilience. Think about an instance or two in your present role when you encountered say a difficult customer or an unexpected event, and explain how you handled and adapted to the situation and dealt with the situation in a calm manner and resolved it successfully.
Able to show respect and understanding for different cultures - Always include a line or two in your CV on this. Think about your work colleagues and your customers - how you adapt your style to show respect when interacting with people from different backgrounds.
Able to build relationships in a team - Think about your team working skills, how you helped each other to achieve tasks and place the customer first.
They look for a person who is an effective communicator - Show your soft skills here, how you communicate difficult or bad news to a colleague, co-worker or customer.
They want a person that has respect for rules and to follow procedures - again, no matter where you work and what you do, we all know that we have to adhere to standard operating procedures and regulations. Include a line or two on this and how important this is for you to be successful in your role.
You have a “can-do” attitude. I can say that all managers like to have employees that take initiative, show energy and enthusiasm in what they do. Mention a line or two on this.
We provide a full CV review, correction and writing service. Use the button to send your CV to us and we are happy to advise on where you stand with your present CV. We may suggest you take-up our CV correction / re-write service to stand a better chance at being that 3%. Do write a cover note when sending your CV.
Our client, Pavlina, shown above, used our CV correction and rewriting service and one-to-one training and passed both Qatar and Emirates at first attempt. It’s not luck, it’s adequate preparation.