Writing a CV is all about trying to match the skills the employer has requested on the job posting, but there are also some hidden skills that you will rarely see an employer ask for. Knowing this little secret could be the key to getting your CV noticed amidst the hundreds of other applicants the hiring manager has to sort through.
Here are two important skills an employer wants to see on your CV, even though they have not requested them on the job advert.
Commercial awareness/industry knowledge
No matter what the industry or role you’re applying for, an employer will always value an applicant who shows commercial awareness within their CV. This can be demonstrated in a number of ways – customer knowledge, trends in the market, the product or service, and so on.
If you already have this knowledge through prior work experience, then great! Make sure your CV oozes this awareness and uses the right jargon to clearly showcase your knowledge and expertise in the industry. If you don’t have the experience, you can still however create a commercially aware CV.
Conduct plenty of research into the company to find out who their customers are, what product or service they sell, what their goals are, and so on. Read social media feeds and website to gain a better understanding of how the business speaks with their customers, how they advertise, the company’s culture, and to get a good grasp of how they function.
With this kind of perspective you are in a much better position to write a CV that clearly shows you know what you’re talking about. Instantly the employer realises that lesser training will be needed, and you’re potentially someone who can walk straight into the job and get started.
Team working skills
Pretty much every role you enter will have some kind of interaction with other co-workers, managers or departments. Typically you could assume ‘team working’ would mean around 4-6 people, or even more – and in some cases this may be true. However, even working with one other person for just a couple of hours a week would require you to have good team working skills.
If the role you’re applying for means you will be running solo most of the time, then maybe showcasing your team working skills is not of high priority. This doesn’t mean to say however you should completely remove all mentions of you working well with a team in the past, but it may not be at the forefront of your CV.
If however, as most people will find, that the role will require great team working skills because of the daily interaction between co-workers, then clearly demonstrating your team working abilities on your CV is a huge factor to consider.
Adding this skill to your CV doesn’t need to be done in such a way that it almost spells it out to the hiring manager, but instead can be subtle with lots of examples provided.
Explain certain projects you took part in that were successful, and detail how your interaction and working as a team brought you success. Be careful not to make it all about yourself though, as this will come across as arrogant and over confident. A great team player will contribute accordingly, listen to co-workers opinions and make joint decisions. Think about how you can incorporate these key points into your CV by using your work experience.