Can’t get an interview?
3 changes to land your CV on the right side of a company's "pass-through" rate
It’s tough out there… High interest rates, layoffs and doom and gloom in the news, looking for a new job feels like it’s never been more difficult!
The term “pass through rate” refers to the percentage of candidates that make it through each stage of a recruitment process; for example, if 4 candidates are at first stage interview and two of them progress to second stage interview the pass-through rate for that gate is 50%.
Converting your CV to an interview will leave you in the winning percentage at gate one!
You’ve probably heard general advice about customising your CV for the role you’re applying to, however, I’m guessing nobody has spelt out exactly HOW to do that effectively:
1. Open the job specification. Compare the bullets in your CV with the bullet point requirements in the job spec. The general idea is that you want these two documents to align as closely as possible. For more junior roles and positions with hundreds of applicants, some recruiters and HR professionals are turning to AI and automated screening tools to filter CVs. Make their little ATS’s and GPT’s happy by hitting the keywords they’re searching for (caveat: do not insert skills you do not have just to tick this box, you can however list the skill as a development point and the AI system is unlikely to differentiate).
2. Trim the fat. Almost all CVs I read are too long. Americans have the right idea with a 1-page resume, perhaps supplemented with a deal sheet. The CV you’re using should be surgical, targeted for the specific role you’re applying to. There will be lots of things you’ve done not relevant to this end, remove or minimise them.
3. Clarify the opaque. I often see companies I’ve never heard of on CVs, a short explanation of who they are would be beneficial as it removes the extra step for me (and anyone else reviewing your profile) of Googling them, one sentence is sufficient. If you have a huge gap on your CV or any other question marks try to address them in one sentence, along with your key attributes in a brief summary above career experience.
Getting hired for the role you want is always going to be a numbers game no matter how perfect your application. If you don’t see immediate success that’s okay, trust the process, sooner or later things will click.
Ken Collins, is a recruiter with over a decade of executive search experience, specialising in senior legal and compliance hires across EMEA and the USA.