Switched many jobs? Easy CV and interview tips

Gone are the days of people spending their entire professional lives at one organisation. In these days of constant change, professionals don't stick around for too long, jumping profiles and companies at regular intervals, constantly on the look out for a better offer or a more challenging environment.

However, from the company's point of view, the recruitment and training of employees costs a lot of money, thus making them cautious while hiring new candidates.

While looking for suitable candidates, companies refrain from hiring professionals who frequently switch of jobs understanding the constant job switches to mean:

• Lack of commitment
• Inability to stick to one role for long
• Being unreliable
• Being money-minded
• Inability to get along with people
• Lack of clarity in job profile

If the prospective employer suspects that any of these statements holds true for you, the chances of your CV getting shortlisted for an interview become bleak. Somehow, if you do manage to get an interview call but are not able to satisfy the interviewer's curiosity about your job switches your chances of getting through are again meager.

So, if you have switched many jobs recently, here are some tips on how to write your CV and handle the interview questions.

Writing the CV

Your CV is your ticket to the job race. It is the first thing about you that the prospective employer looks at. Its purpose is to fetch you an interview call.

The recruitment team gets hundreds of CVs in response to one job notification and spends a few seconds on each CV, while screening. If your CV can't impress the selectors in 30 seconds, its purpose is defeated.

• 12 things your CV should NOT have

Keeping this in mind, you have to draft your CV in such a way that the prospective employer first gets to see the most relevant and positive information about you. This can be done if you follow the following simple tips while writing your CV:

~ Focus on your skills

If you have switched jobs very fast (less than one year), keep the focus of your CV on the skills acquired rather than the jobs you have done. This can be done by listing your key skills on the front page immediately after your career summary.

~ Write about your achievements

Your achievements during your last jobs communicate that this is what you did for your last employers and this is what you can do if they hire you. So, write your achievements immediately after your skill set in your CV. Use some figures wherever possible. For eg, if you were responsible for recruitment in your last company, you can write: 'Recruited 35 employees over a period of six months to match the company's target of 80 per cent growth in terms of Human Resources.'.

If you worked as the purchase manager in your last jobs, mention any formal recognition received from your former employers for your role.

~ Mention your qualifications

Your next weapons are your qualifications. So, if you have good professional/ educational qualifications, write about them after your skills.