How to market yourself through your horticulture CV
Laura Sullivan at TopCV, the largest CV-writing service in the world, shares her advice on how to ensure your horticulture CV captures the attention of your dream employer.
As we break into a new year, the job market is bursting with brand new opportunities for horticulture professionals.
Utilise the following tips to market your talent and capabilities effectively through your horticulture CV and persuade employers that you’re the professional they need to join their business in 2018.
Identify your relevant skills
To market yourself effectively through your horticulture CV, you must first work out what you’re trying to show your prospective employers. The bottom line is always going to be your relevant skills. But relevant skills are relative to each employer and their vacancy.
Before you submit a job application, spend some time analysing the job description, pulling out the essential candidate criteria. Your CV must echo these details, or the recruiter will have difficulty identifying why you should be invited for an interview.
Make the hiring manager’s life easier by mirroring the language used in the spec to show that you’re both on the same page.
Construct pithy, persuasive points
When writing your skills, experience, and achievements on your CV, you must do so in the most digestible way.
Short bullet points are your best friend here. When constructing your points, use powerful verbs and figures to ensure they’re pithy and persuasive.
Some great verbs that show you’re proactive and effective include managed, created, developed, increased, decreased, supported, and negotiated.
When using numbers, consider quantities, percentage changes, and any other figures that quantify your achievements. Use them to support the value you claim you can bring to the role to convince hiring managers why you should be hired in 2018.
Consider the structure
Another way to market yourself in your CV this year is by using CV experts’ number one rule: your most important and relevant skills and experience should sit in the top third of your CV. You may have to alter the structure of your CV if you want to show off your best bits.
Start by looking at your qualifications and your employment history sections. If you’re just entering the workplace, your education may speak volumes over your experience, and so you should place this first. However, if you’re a more seasoned professional, the opposite may apply.
If appropriate, you may also like to include a key skills section just underneath your profile detailing a snapshot of your achievements that are the most valuable to the prospective employer.
Craft a first-class finish
To make sure you leave a positive lasting impression, your CV must be perfectly polished and error-free.
When you think you’re about ready to submit your CV, proofread it thoroughly. If you’re worried you won’t catch every mistake, read your CV aloud as you’re more likely to stumble over and notice the typos. Alternatively, use a spelling and grammar checker like Grammarly which is more competent than your word processor’s spellcheck.
A perfected CV is sure to convince employers that you’re the horticulture professional they need in their business this year.
TopCV offers a range of CV-writing services including expertly-written and keyword-optimised CVs, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles. It is currently offering a free CV review to help you land your dream horticulture job.