Is a good CV really that important?

1st Dec 2009

I raise this question having done a CV clinic at a recent careers fair in Sheffield. The event was attended by hundreds of young professionals and recent graduates who had invested thousands of pounds and three to four years in gaining a degree.

At one point we had people queuing out of the door to receive a free appraisal of their CV. At this stage, I was encouraged to think that these young professionals were serious about giving themselves the best chance of securing a foot on the career ladder, but as I spoke to people, my positivity turned to concern over the price that job seekers were placing on their CV (and subsequently their career).

Let's be honest, the average person has no idea what to write in a CV, and you only have to ask yourself why many large employers now ask candidates to complete an application form to realise that the average CV does not give an employer the information they need to make effective hiring decisions. With this in mind, I found it difficult to understand how a young, career minded person could walk into the careers fair with a laptop, iPod, mobile phone, designer clothes (the list goes on) but feel negative about paying a couple of hundred quid to have their CV professionally written. On further investigation, it was nothing to do with the value they placed on the amount of work that we would do to provide them with a new CV; their reservations were more focused around a lack of understanding about how important a CV is.

This has been real food for thought for our organisation and we have shifted our focus to explaining the benefits of having a CV professionally written rather than trying to sell ourselves as a company. My message to the next generation of Richard Branson's is very simple, a good CV is your ticket to your career! You are destined to spend eight, nine, if not ten hours a day at work, so my advice is to invest in your CV so that you can secure a job that you enjoy, one that will enrich your life rather than leaving you feeling depressed and miserable; the alternative in the current economic climate is not a positive one!!