CV rant! Why are most Cabin Crew CVs so bad?

Most CVs aren’t very good. There are the obvious reasons for this and the less obvious reasons which only an expert would spot. We’ll cover a few of each here.

Reasons most people spot..

• Formatting
  You have limited space to impress a potential employer. Why waste it with fancy formatting and big blocky headers which are only wasting space you could be using for words?
• Spelling
  It’s a first impression thing. If you don’t take the trouble to make sure your spelling and grammar is correct, what else will you cut corners on?
• Repetition
  If you say the same thing more than once it looks like you haven’t got much to say. Or worse, that you couldn’t be bothered to re-read your CV to check.
• Acronyms
  It may be obvious in your industry, but don’t expect everyone to know what a CSD II or a PJ4 is. You also need to make sure the recruiters are clear why on earth they should care either!

 

Reasons most people miss..

• Personal Statement
  Most people write very similar things. They say they work well both as part of a team and independently; they say they are hardworking and motivated; they say they have excellent customer service skills. If I told you these things about me, would you believe me? probably not. but if I explained why I can say those things about myself, providing evidence of when I have demonstrated those skills in practice, then you’ll probably be convinced.
• Work Experience
  You don’t have to go into lengthy detail about every job you have ever had- you can pick the ones that are relevant and use the space you have to discuss those in more depth. Cluster similar jobs e.g. ‘waitress’ together if all the tasks were much the same, listing employer and dates but avoiding repetition of the detail.
• CV vs Job Description
  A job description lists the tasks and responsibilities expected of the person doing the job. any person. A CV should explain what was special about how you tackled these tasks and approached your responsibilities.

So how can you make sure your CV is better than the rest?

Put effort into it! Lazy CVs stand out for all the wrong reasons. If you have a copy of our Cabin Crew Selection Day Workbook then use it! It’s easy to spot the ones who have applied this expert help.
Be more creative about how you present yourself. You are the product you are selling! So you need to highlight the advantages of having you as an employee, explain what makes you better than everyone else, provide evidence to support what you are trying to convey.
Think about what the airline needs from their staff as well as what you want from your career. However good a reputation the airline has for being a good employer, the bottom line is they want to find people who will help them meet their performance and profit related targets. Think about how employing you would be benefit to them instead of focusing on your own ambitions and goals.