“Should I change the colour concept of my application?” This was the question of a client who had rarely received an interview invitation in response to her applications. This question is an extreme form of the tendency of applicants to care too much about the form and too little about the content of their application documents.
Job seekers are sometimes justifiably confused by the many suggestions on the subject of job applications. The many tips could give them the impression that the fundamentals of the application have changed. The newness is then seen mainly in the form, i.e., in the presentation of the information. The design of CVs is subject to trends. Today, modern-looking CVs, as colourful as possible, seem to be particularly in demand.
Application serves a purpose
It’s high time to take some time to think about what an application is actually about. For companies, filling a job is a demanding business with far-reaching consequences. They depend on suitable employees to compete in the market. They have to make sure that applicants meet the requirements of the job and that their personality fits into the environment. In the first part of a multi-stage recruitment process, the application documents should show whether applicants meet the basic requirements of the job and will therefore be invited for an interview. Applicants must have relevant work experience as well as suitable education and training. And this is where, in my experience, the shortcoming of many CVs lies. This in-formation is often poorly prepared.
Content before form
So, the content of the CV is paramount. A company will invite applicants for an interview based on their suitability and not on the visual appearance of their application documents. Of course, these should leave a well-groomed impression, but above all they must ensure that recruiters and hiring managers can quickly find and understand the relevant information. Therefore, I advise against fancy CVs that ultimate-ly distract from the content. Moreover, with the many CV templates on offer, the information can be found in different places. This makes it difficult to review the CVs. There is a risk that recruiters overlook relevant information because it is not to be found where they expect it.
A comparison: What makes LinkedIn a popular recruiting tool for companies? Besides the abundance of interesting candidates, it is the simple presentation of profiles. All members have to fill in their information in the same format. LinkedIn does not offer any formatting options. The content is in the fore-ground and the profiles are thus easily comparable.
Do exactly the same with your application documents: focus on the content and present it in a readable way.
And you only need to worry about a colour concept if you are applying to be a painter or a colour consultant;-)