1 Attention to detail
A shoddy, half-hearted CV will simply not cut it. Especially during a recession, employers will have the pick of the best candidates with the best skills and experiences at their disposal. A CV that is not formatted correctly, is out of date, has spelling mistakes, lacks structure, and doesn’t include important additional sections such as hobbies and interests will surely not hit the mark.
We made that very point in our recent article focused on the top things to do during COVID- 19 to increase your chances of getting hired.
2 Quantify
On your CV, quantify the work experience that YOU have had and the specific projects and numbers that would matter to a prospective employer. Always emphasise what you personally did and the responsibilities that you undertook.
For example, the size of the tasks you did, the financial value of the business that you won, the number of people that you managed or the level of financial savings that your project delivered on. Prove your worth!
3 What recession-proof transferable skills should you highlight?
If you are currently searching for a job and finding that quite a few of the jobs that are being recruited for are asking for specific skills and experiences, there is a good chance that these are the skills and experiences that are more recession-proof than others. Therefore, if you have relevant recession-proof skills, but they don’t take pride of place on your current CV, this might be the time to consider moving them more to the forefront of your resume.
Skills such as managing costs, accountancy skills, managing people, basic-to-good coding skills, digital marketing, experience in multitasking between roles and departments, through to even taking on short-term work during COVID-19 could be skills that are currently more employable than in a normal buoyant economy.
4 Bespoke CV / Cover letter each time
This is not the time to apply for 40 jobs, and 40 jobs without consideration. A recession is a time to be more considerate of your application and to make sure that every application you make, shows respect and care.
Before you update your CV, make sure to highlight the key duties, experiences and skills that the employer is looking for, and write notes on where in your career history you can demonstrate your competence in these areas.
Of course, only then update your CV where you feel that you can justify and quantify those updates, but you should do this exercise for every job you are applying for. The same rules apply to a cover letter - make sure it adds value to your application, don’t just send a stock cover letter with little worth.
5 Continue to upskill and learn
Irrespective of whether you are working or not working during a recession, understand that your job and its security could alter at any moment. Now is the time to gain additional skills and talents - again considering the job skills that are often more recession-proof than others.
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TableCrowd Talent is a startup and scaleup focused recruitment agency based in London. If you’re looking for a role in a tech startup or a tech company, send us your CV.
