How to Write a Rockstar CV

(+ 4 Free Templates from McKinsey, Harvard, Stanford and Goldman Sachs)

Paying it forward

This article is the first in a series of articles where I try to pay it forward to students and graduates.

There seems to be no greater cause of anxiety and stress among new graduates than the challenge of finding a job. And with good reason - it’s a big scary competitive world out there, and as a new grad you lack a lot of the skills and experience employers are looking for. I have been in your situation and this is a way for me to pay it forward.

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I have reviewed more than a 1000 CVs from McKinsey, Google, Goldman Sachs, Harvard, Stanford, INSEAD candidates.

As part of my role at Uber I was nominated as a “Bar Raiser”. These are people that have done extensive interview training and therefore act as an objective 3rd party on interviews and determine if a candidate should be let through.

Despite not being an HR professional by trade I have probably scanned more than a 1000 CVs in my career from some of the most talented people in the world.

It’s based on this empiric evidence that I have taken my learnings and also from here that I share the CV templates I have historically seen to be most successful (download them for free below).

Disclaimer: My CV guide is focused on folks with 0 - 10 years of experience that are trying to land interviews at the largest and most prestigious companies within Tech, Startups, Finance, Consulting, Strategy Roles etc. This might not be the best template for all kinds of industries (medical, education etc.)

Okay, lets start with the 5 most common CV mistakes I see

1. Having a CV longer than 1 page (never ever ever do this, unless specifically asked for)

2. Having a CV which is formatted in a unique way (I honestly have no idea how CV building companies are a thing. The only reason I can find is that people believe that the layout matters. It does not, but it can disqualify you)

3. Having a CV with a picture on (not a huge mistake, but personally I would leave it out - can vary from country to country)

4. Having a CV which is not to the point (think bullets not paragraphs)

5. Having a CV with bull shit experience on (write succinctly what you worked on and the results you achieved)

The 20-second rule

You might think that you are special, but recruiters reviews hundreds (if not thousands) of applications for each job posting. Making a strong first impression with your CV is vital. Most likely they wont look at your CV for more than 20 seconds before making a decision on whether or not to interview you.

Let that sink in.

Your job is to get to “Yes” in 20 seconds. Every second counts! Now let’s talk about what you can do to…

#1: Presentation matters

A major mistake and misconception I see is candidates trying to create a CV formatting that is unique. This might be okay if you are applying for design roles or other roles where creativity and design is highly valued, but otherwise it is about creating a neutral CV where the focus is on the experiences and achievements in the CV.

In a lot of companies having a very colorful or unique template will be a detractor. Its about what you have done in the past, not the way it looks.

1. Fonts. Use a readable and classic font. This could be: Times New Roman, Cambria, Garamond, Calibri, Arial or Helvetica

2. Size. 12.

3. Colors. Black and white. ALWAYS.

4. Styles. Alignment, line spacing etc. to ensure best possible readability.

5. Bullets, not paragraphs. No one wants to read a wall of text. As a rule of thumb, each role should have no more than 3-4 bullets.

6. Remove the objective and summary sections. These sections take up valuable space at the top of your resume, where your recruiter is likely to start reading.

7. Move Skills section to the bottom. If you have a Skills section, make sure it’s at the bottom of the page (don’t waste valuable real estate at the top).

8. Have someone proofread your CV. A spelling or formatting mistake might be the thing that means you don’t make it through

9. Save your resume as “FirstName LastName Company CV.pdf” (ie mine would be Palle Broe Templafy CV. Never save with the wrong company on, with a simple CV.doc/Resume.doc or with multiple versions (1) (4) (6).

10. Start early and update continuously. You likely want hit exactly the right tone the first time around so start early and keep improving and updating it as you gain more experience.

#2: Keep your CV to 1 page

Unless the employer specifically asks for it your CV should fit on 1 page. The reason recruiters want you to stick to 1 page is two-fold:

1. They only have 20 seconds and don’t have time to review multiple pages. Save elaborated details for the in-person interviews.

2. See this as the first test: Is the candidate able to be succinct, to the point and highlight the key achievements? If not this is probably not the right candidate

#3: Highlight any brand-name schools or companies

In reference to the 20 second rule above, you need to do anything you can do to get the attention from the recruiter.

Recruiters are biased towards big brands because they are easy to recognize and imply a certain level of credibility because you have succeeded in a competitive application process in the past (20 second rule).

1. If you have brand names on your CV. Have you gone to a top school? Worked at a brand name company (Investment bank, Prestigious consultancy, FAANG, Big 4, Fortune 500, Unicorn startup), make sure it is prominently displayed.

2. If no brand-names on your CV. If you previously worked at a startup or smaller company that is less well-known, don’t assume that the recruiter is familiar with it. You might want to include a brief description below your role such as: “Templafy is an Insight Partners backed startup with more than 2.000.000 paying users that focuses on enabling content for the future of work.” In this case, we’re highlighting the prestige of the investor (Insight Partners) and large user base.

#4: Writing to the point

All statements on the CV should be in bullet form. However not all bullets are born equal. You still need to make sure you avoid writing vague statements.

Some examples of vague statements:

• Created and drove product strategy based on market research and competitive landscape

• Researched, analyzed and launched new products to increase user growth

• Conducted market research and created presentations for senior management

• Used SQL queries to build a dashboard for tracking purposes

The common issue with the above is that they are not achievements. They are just tasks or projects written out in the past tense without any mentioning of impact.

A rule of thumb is that each bullet should represent a “big win”. This can be harder than you think and sometimes remembering exactly what you did and what the outcome was is not as easy as you might think.

#5: Back up your impact with metrics.

In order to turn vague statements into strong statements. We often need to quantify the impact we had using metrics.

Quantify your impact. Often candidates neglect quantifying the impact they have had because they don’t think it is possible to quantify. don’t forget that impact can come in many shapes and size.

• Financial Metrics: It can be straight forward financial impact metrics such as Revenue, Costs, Profit/loss, Investments

• Process/Productivity Metrics: Second order impact such as productivity for a process improvement, SLA for customer requests or CSAT.

• Leadership/Presentations Metrics: You can even quantify impact from topics such as Presentations (what were the results of your work? what decisions were taken, what feedback did you receive?) or Leadership experiences (how many people did you lead? Did you engage with cross-functional stakeholders)?

Examples of strong data-driven, impact-oriented statements include:

• Developed and launched a new pricing framework to improve the pricing of our sales reps, gaining a 4x increase in ARPU over 6 months

• Identified and sourced more than 20 new business (internal & external) to incubate at Uber. Successfully managed to launch 1 of the businesses leading to revenue in the first 6 months of $2m.

• Led cross-functional effort between Ops & Support to resolve top support issues in the UKI. Initiatives led to a reduction in inbound tickets of 30% equivalent to a USD dollar value of $1,5m

Your goal should be able to make all your roles and achievements as exciting as this…

#6: Tailor your CV for each role.

Many candidates don’t take the time to tailor their CV for each role. Always always always take the time to tailor your CV and application in general. Quality > Quantity.

• Use keywords from the role description in your CV. I often see candidates who might be pursuing two different career paths try and use the same CV (Banking and Consulting or similar). Similarly, candidates who are trying to move into a new domain (e.g. from a generalist role to a more specialized role) sometimes fail to frame their experience in the right way for the new role.

Most often recruiters favor candidates who have either (1) done the job before or (2) clearly demonstrated that they meet all the requirements (20-second rule).

• Omit irrelevant roles and projects. Companies won’t care if you have a part-time job flipping burgers at McDonalds. Uber won’t care if you were once a bartender. Take out anything on your CV that is not relevant for the role and that wont get you to “Yes” in 20 seconds.

The exception to this rule is if you have absolutely no professional work experience; in this case, keep them (and use metrics to show that your impact was meaningful).

#7: Use the best templates in the game

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. There really is no need to invent the wheel when it comes to CVs. I recommend using one of the below templates. If folks from Harvard, Stanford, McKinsey, Uber, Google and Goldman Sachs found them successful I’m sure you will as well.

And don’t forget it’s not about the CV but what’s on there that matters. So spend your time improving your experience vs improving your CV.

To sum it all up…

1. Presentation matters

2. Keep your CV to one page

3. Highlight brand names

4. Write to the point

5. Back it up with metrics

6. Tailor your CV to each role

7. Use existing templates

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Did this article help you improve your CV or land an interview? If so, I’d love to hear it! (Leave a comment below or message me directly on LinkedIn).

Have any questions, feedback or tips to add to this list? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Palle

Sneak-peak: The best way to apply for jobs

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is to apply through formal job avenues such as job boards etc. Here you get to compete with hundreds or even thousands of other candidates. This should be the absolute last resort for putting your name in the hat.

Particularly as you gain experience, Referrals, Networking, Meeting-up, Emailing, Linkedining etc. should be your key avenues when you try to submit your CV. I will deep dive into this topic in the next article.