How to tailor your CV for your industry sectors

The qualities that an employer will look for in an applicant will vary between industry sector. By tailoring your CV to the specific industry to which you are applying you can greatly increase your chances of securing an interview.

When you first write your CV you should include every achievement, omitting something only if it is out of date, unimpressive, irrelevant or for the purpose of space conservation. The document you create will be your core CV, which is never sent to anyone. From your core CV you tailor for each audience by choosing only those pointers that will interest the receiver.

The main areas of your CV that can be tailored

Introduction
Sum up your key qualities emphasizing those that you know the employer wants to hear. Do not include strengths if they are not particularly relevant to the job. Write a brief career aim, obviously stating that the industry that you are applying for is where you want your career to be heading in the long term.

Previous employment
Whilst you cannot alter for whom you worked and for how long, you can edit your role and responsibilities within those companies without the need to fabricate. For example if you are going for a managerial position you should emphasize that your previous jobs entailed considerable responsibility including decision making duties. Draw focus to a specific project that encompassed many of the skills you perceive to be important attributes for a manager to possess - delegation, meeting deadlines, consistency, teamwork. Describe your role in the project, your actions and the resultant positive consequences for the company, use quantitative reference if possible.

If you are applying for a sales position highlight your powers of persuasion with reference to your achieved monthly targets, name drop prestigious clients and include details of how much you earned for your last company. Your potential employer wants a sales person who gets results.

In essence, think of what the job you are applying for entails and what the employer wants from the successful candidate to that job. Then highlight areas or projects from your previous positions that required you to use those desired skills, emphasizing how successful you were at achieving results.