A CV summary or profile can be a bit dry – name, role, location etc. One way to stand out a bit is by using this simple trick…
Turn your role into an attention-grabbing headline…
It brings focus to what you do and allows you to convey one or two critical points that might otherwise get missed.
How does it work
Let’s say you are a UI/UX Designer.
Well, you could simply write “UI/UX Designer” as your role and hope that someone drills in further to understand your qualities.
As its written that doesn’t really tell them anything they didn’t already know.
But what if you recently designed an award winning website? That is something you would probably make mention of somewhere further on, hoping people see it.
Or, you could also change your role, which is displayed right upfront, to say…
“Award-winning UI/UX Designer”
That immediately conveys a very important piece of information to the viewer in the context of what you do.
What about if you also have a lot of experience working with international brands? And that this is an area you would like to expand further into? Why not add that as well? So now your role could say…
“Award-winning UI/UX Designer specialising in international brands.”
Suddenly you have become a lot more interesting to an international brand looking for a really talented UI/UX designer.
One word of caution, be careful not to go overboard with too much information (see our tips below). Your viewer needs to be able to understand what you do at a single glance.
Tips for creating an attention-grabbing headline
Here are some tips for getting a viewer’s attention with your role …
- Keep it short and sweet – a single sentence requiring no punctuation. Aim for less than ten words.
- Be specific and avoid overused or cliche words (like driven, results-orientated).
- One or two points is enough. In the example above, we clearly communicate that the UI/UX designer is award-winning, and specialises in international brands.
- Only reference information that you are evidencing somewhere else in some way, e.g. by including an image of your award, or by mentioning some of the employers or clients you have worked for.
3 Step Approach
If you are struggling to make your role more attention grabbing, then follow this approach…
- Write down everything you are proud of achieving in the last couple of years (you can obviously go back further if you need to but employers will be more interested in more current info)
- Next, put yourself in the shoes of your ideal employer. Circle the things that you think would be of most interest to them.
- Then, choose your two most powerful points to construct your attention-grabbing headline.
Hopefully, this article helps you come up with an attention-grabbing headline, that gets you the cut-through you need.
Good luck…
