Get your CV working with ‘The Cheap Red Shoes Theory’

So, most of you are probably wondering what on earth cheap red shoes have to do with creating an effective CV writes Matt Craven, Managing Director at PCG Affiliate, CVIA.

How on earth does this relate to CVs? Well let me explain…

If you have a sudden and irresistible urge to go online and buy a pair of cheap red shoes you will probably head to your favourite search engine of choice and type in ‘cheap red shoes’. This will bring up a whole heap of search results, some of which will catch your eye and some which won’t.

The theory is that the advert which says ‘we sell shoes of all shapes, sizes and prices’ is going to be less effective in terms of catching your eye than the advert that says ‘buy your cheap red shoes from us’ or something which resonates with your original need. It is more effective because it uses some approximation of the words or phrase that you had in your mind when you started your search.

This theory works just as effectively on your CV as it does when searching online for footwear. Imagine if you were a recruiter who had been given the task of finding some suitable candidates for an IT Infrastructure Manager role. It is very likely that this recruiter will have the words ‘IT Infrastructure Manager’ at the forefront of his or her mind, so when someone describes themselves as a ‘dynamic and highly motivated IT Professional with knowledge of the entire technology stack in various industry sectors’ this isn’t going to do the trick. It’s just too woolly and ambiguous.

Conversely, the person who describes themselves as an ‘IT Infrastructure Manager adept at delivering high performing, cost effective and resilient IT Infrastructure for global organisations’ is onto a winner.

The Cheap Red Shoes theory is very simple but so many people get it terribly wrong and wonder why they aren’t getting any nibbles on their CV. Adopt this theory and I guarantee better success.

Now some of you will already know all this because you have seen one of our PCG webinars, but for those of you who haven’t, we are running another live, one hour, online session for PCG members on Tuesday 18th February at 7.15pm, which will cover all things related to writing a killer contract CV.

We also have a new webinar on Tuesday 25th all about maximising your LinkedIn profile. You can register for these events using these links:

CV Webinar

LinkedIn Webinar