- Using NLP to Write Your CV
You can use NLP techniques to write and improve your CV; the techniques you will learn today are simple, effective and are often NOT used by other job hunter’s which means you will have the upper hand on job applications.
We recently delivered an Interview Techniques Training Course using NLP techniques to secure you more job offers. During the course I was asked about using NLP on your CV and thought I would write this article to help you improve your CV
Today you will learn about influencing language and anticipation loops, but more on that later.
- What doesn’t work?
Well, first if you are applying for a large number of vacancies with your current CV for positions you know you can do and you aren’t securing job interviews then you need to change your CV, as we say in NLP “if you want a different result, do something different” as a good CV is a CV that secures you job interviews.
Thinking about NLP, I would stay away from using hypnotic language patterns from the Milton Model technique, as these suggestive language patterns are to vague for CV’s and wont really make sense to the employer.
- The Power of CV Words
Words are powerful because each word has a different meaning and emotional attachment. Take these following statements, which statement has more power?
- “I don’t like my job”
- “I hate my job”
- “I detest my job”
They all have the same outcome, but the wording has different emotional attachments, “detest” feels stronger or more emotional than “don’t like” this works for positive sentences to:
- “I am a good team player”
- “I am a great team player”
- “I am an excellent team player”
Remember the words the employer reads on a CV helps them create an image of the person who wrote the CV, it is just the same as when you read a novel and the author describes a character, you quickly form an image of this character in your mind, from the words you read – the trick here is for this image to be powerful, the more powerful words you use the more powerful the image of you will be.
Down the FREE CV Writing e-book for more CV Power Words
- Employer Values
Now you understand the power of words, you can write your CV and then edit the words replacing weak words with powerful phrases, but what will really get you noticed is when you meet the employers Values and Beliefs.
When applying for any position, you will generally receive the initial job advert, followed by the job specification and you will also have access to the Company Website
By reading these documents and visiting the company website you can get a real feel of the company values and beliefs (some websites will even show you the company mission statement or list their core values)
Write down a list of company Values
| Company Values example | Company Values |
|
If you know what values the company value, you can add these to your CV and Covering Letter, as an example: “throughout all my roles I have had a consistency in the quality of my work” – you are now speaking the employer’s language
The job speciation will be full of company “key” words, ensure all the job skills and qualities especially from the “essential criteria” section are referenced on your CV and Covering Letter. Also don’t use abbreviations’ that are unknown to your future employer.
It’s like when you go and buy a car, nowadays most new cars run well and have air-con, stereos and electric winders etc. and you generally will have a car type in mind; sports car, family car, which matches your budget.
But instead of buying any new car, you will also have a list of criteria that you require; I want a Blue car and it need to have an IPOD holder or The care must be red with a big boot, you wont just except any car (even though they all run well and cost similar in petrol and tax) as you want a career that meets your criteria and this is true for employers they wont just take on anyone even though they have the experience needed, they will want to recruit someone with A, B and C criteria, which means you need to highlight you have A, B and C criteria on your CV and Cover Letter. We call this in NLP Matching and Mirroring
- Anticipation – get the employer to want to know more
Why do TV soaps always end on a cliffhanger? Because you want to know what will happen next, so you tune in next week to find out. Imagine you could use the same anticipation on your CV; this would lead to an increase in job interviews as the employer will want to know more about you.
On your covering letter a CV use bold statements that sell your skills and experience without giving too much away, you want the employer to read your statements and think “wow that’s amazing – but how did they do that?” as an example one client I knew wrote “in my past three roles I have took over the management of underperforming restaurants on the verge of closer and within 12 months turn each of them around increasing profit to 125%”
Explain how you can easily complete the task on the job specification by giving real life examples, builds up the anticipation by keeping the example short and to the point, which also helps to keep your CV to the required two pages.
- See it form the employer’s point of view
So, by now you have written your CV, change the wording to make it more powerful. You will have read the job specification and looked on the company website and used your research to edit your CV to match the language and the values the employer uses, making your CV even more targeted and personalised.
Finally you have added real life examples to match the required essential criteria without giving too much away adding anticipation loops.
Often people write the CV from their point view, recording what they want the employer to know about them and their achievements, we are generally proud of certain achievements and want other employers to know about them, but you need to ask yourself – are they relevant?. People can easily get caught up in their own view of world when writing a CV adding down the details of what they feel is important, not what the employer feels is important.
To add real value to your CV, clear your mind and imagine you are the employer (you can get an insight to the employer’s world through their website, linked-in profile and news articles), imagine you could see the world from the employer’s eyes, seeing what they could see, hearing what they could hear and feeling the emotions they feel. How do you act as the employer? What do you say? How do stand and tilt your head? Become aware of your gestures and body language? Notice how you – the employer would act and what you would say to yourself?
As the employer, ask yourself, what type of person do I want to employee? – write this down. What skills, qualities and experience do I require? Again write these down. What personality am I looking for in my new employee? What attitude, values and beliefs do I want this person to have?
By looking at the potential employee from your employer’s point of view will give you a better understanding of what the employer requires. Ensure you have described the side of you that matches the employer’s specification, record what skills, experience and qualifications the employer requires and don’t be tempted to record other achievements that are not relevant.
NLP techniques can help build up your interview confidence as described in The Secrets of Employment, with CV writing it is not about feeling confident it is about knowing what the employer requires and values in their employee, if you can match these few elements on your CV you will win more interviews.
Take your time and target each application; short term this is more work and I would add long term this work will pay off with an increase in job offers, this means if you cant be bothered targeting your applications use a CV writing service to target the applications for you.
If you enjoyed reading this article you will also enjoy reading
- How Influence and persuade your managers, employees and colleagues
- Career Coaching Questions
- Reducing Negative Self Talk
Thanks for your instructions, which have helped me focus and prioritise more precisely. I would like a copy of the cv writing ebook.