 What are top three mistakes people make in the SCV? People are not hiring unless you're in the country. So anywhere on a job board, now job board means LinkedIn, Glastor, Indeed, Seek, for example, you need to be using an ATS-compliant ratio, mate. Hey, guys, welcome to AXI Vlogs. On this channel, I talk about life, work and business in Dubai. And today we are filming our next episode with Trisha. She is a consultant and she helps people to get a dream job in Dubai. If you haven't watched my previous episode, you should do it now because we shared a lot of valuable information. So this video will be about how to write a perfect CV and how to make it so it will go through the ATS system. Trisha, please, can you share more details with us and more tricks and tips how to write the perfect CV? Absolutely, with pleasure. How long do we have? We have a lot of time. So first of all, maybe we can start off and say, what is the ATS? Because it's probably something that a lot of job seekers might have heard of or maybe they're not really familiar. So ATS is applicant tracking software. So it's a program. Now, there are many different types of programs at the end of the day. But it's a program that utilizes software to be able to screen or shortlist candidates to make sure that they are a compatible match for the job. So every application, you need to make sure that you are tailoring your CV so that it has got the same keywords, phrases or job titles, for example, to ensure that your CV will pop up on the recruiter's shortlist or that it will scan and give you a strong compatibility match. So like a pair of shoes, they all get you to the same place. They all look after or protect your feet. They all do the same job, but you can choose different brands. So no matter what brand you are using, they do the same thing. It's the same with an ATS. Recruiters might use a different type of software, but at the end of the day, they facilitate making sure that the candidate is the right person for the job. So guys, basically in simple words, our recruiters don't have time to check millions of CVs. So they use the system that filters your CV based on specific keywords, right? Absolutely, yes, summarized it well. So what are the main sections we need to include in the CV? Yeah, that's a good question. So first of all, maybe a quick little tip and trick. I would really recommend for the Dubai market that you are located in Dubai. So don't have on your CV South Africa, for example, if you're searching for a job here. So try to have the location listed in Dubai that you are actually here. Even maybe if you're not, it could be a matter of two week flight or two week trip to be able to get organized. Because at the moment, people are not hiring unless you're in the country. So it's important to list on your CV that you are or you've got applicable time to be able to get here. So the location is something really important because again, on that software, on the ETS, the location will play a factor when they're screening for candidates. It's really important that your job title matches. So for example, that you are going for a sales role, but you're applying for a marketing manager role, but you've got sales listed as your title. So make sure that the titles match the position that you're applying for. Now, I think it's really important that you are using chronological CV. And what that means is that you are listing your most current job all the way down to your first employment, so in chronological order, making sure that you're including the months and the years. And this is something that a lot of people don't include, keeping it consistent with months and years listed. Guys, before we continue, I want to say that if you've been looking for a job in Dubai but you have no success, you don't hear back from recruiters and you feel desperate, Trisha can help you to get your dream job. Trisha, can you please introduce your services and how you can help? Absolutely. So we offer an array of personalized services. We work one-to-one with all of our job seekers. We support them with LinkedIn optimization, cover letters, and of course, CV writing. And for those aspiring leaders or people with more than 15 years of experience, we offer support with personal branding, personality assessments, and of course, interview coaching. And do you help candidates to connect with recruiters? Absolutely. So we've got a dedicated UAE job seeking package. It has a list of all of the available recruiters within the industry. There's over 50 listed in this package. And of course, cover letter writing and email pictures and CV writing templates. Oh, sounds great. Thank you very much. And also it's important to showcase your skills. So ensuring that they are relevant to the position that you're applying for and listing them in one single row. You're not splitting your CV into two different columns or even three different columns. I see. And so basically you put your title under the title, it should be description, brief description about yourself, correct? With the keywords. And then your, I don't know, competencies. Yeah, skills or co-competencies. Skills, yes. And then, so even the skills you need to write in one row, not two columns. Yeah, so the ATS doesn't really like or it finds it a little bit difficult to read tables. So, you know, in Word document, you've got the ability to insert or create a table. So I don't recommend this. I just simply would list them. As you would, you know, you can separate them with like an indent or a line in between them, but don't create a table. And then under the table is where you could list some significant workplace achievements. So like a summary of your achievements throughout your career. And then you can go into explaining in depth your career in chronological order and ensuring your education is down the bottom. If it's less than five years recent, like completed within five years, you can put it at the top. And how many pages your CV should be like one, two, three? Yeah, good question. So two is preferred. I think someone over 20 years, maybe even 15 depending on the sector. For example, maybe if you're in a project management position, you may need that little bit extra room to explain all the projects. But generally two to two and a half is acceptable. So what is important to put in your, let's say, job experience? It should be your achievements or just job description or your comment. This is a good question because, oh my God. So many people could be doing it better. So have a think about it. If I'm applying for, let's go back to the marketing manager position. If I want to know what job responsibilities are of a marketing manager, I can go to LinkedIn, type in marketing manager and you'll find on the left-hand side every marketing position available will be listed. And then you'll see the responsibilities. So recruiters know what the responsibilities are. And this is what will be a winning CV or an impressive resume. You will include quantifiable metrics as part of your achievements. So being able to identify what you've done in the past will be able to assist companies to realize what you can do for them in the future. So having quantifiable metrics listed under achievements or incorporated through the responsibilities is really what they're looking for. Can you give just some examples of quantifiable metrics because maybe for some people it's not clear. Absolutely, absolutely. So for maybe a sales role, we'll go for that example. So maybe you increased new market expansions and as a result you improved your company's ROI by 3% year on year or you overachieved your monthly target by 10% as a result of having roundtable discussions with key stakeholders. So clear metrics showing what you did. Some years ago when I was looking for a job and I was writing my CV, I was using Canva Photoshop because I wanted to create to make my CV look beautiful and attractive and stand out from the crowd. But apparently just didn't go through ATS. And I'm sure that many people still do the same because they think that the design of the CV will attract attention. But as you said, ATS doesn't read those CVs. So what would you advise to do in this case? It's a good question. So Canva is great, definitely. And you can make or create an ATS compliant CV with Canva. However, you just need to be careful. Remembering a computer is what screens the CV. So what I recommend is using Word and creating one that is completely compliant. Now it may look a little bit basic. So you're not going to have any infographics, no big blocks, no fancy logos, nothing like this. So create one through Word where you can send it through to the ATS system confidently. And then you can create one that's a little bit more visually appealing. Now that might be on Canva, but you're going to be reserving that document or that version when you're sending it directly through an email, okay? Or you're sharing it with one of your network. So those CVs utilizing Canva and they've got the graphics, they're only going to be used when you're sending it directly to someone and not through a screening process. I see. But what if you apply through LinkedIn, easy apply button? So what type of CV should you submit there? Yeah, so anywhere on a job board, now job board means LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, Seek, for example, you need to be using an ATS compliant resume. The difference between easy apply and apply on LinkedIn is that easy apply will screen your LinkedIn profile. Okay, you can upload your CV through the LinkedIn platform itself. Versus apply, you'll be taken to an external website. Now the external website is usually or it is the company or the outsourcing third party, internal software. So LinkedIn has its own ATS system, which is what I was mentioning. Everyone's got their own different programs. So LinkedIn is where it'll use, it easy applies where it will use their own internal. It'll screen your LinkedIn profile as well. And then apply is where it will take you to an external site and it's just using the resume. Today is quite trendy to create a video CV and even some employers that require video CV. So what do you recommend to do? Should you create both like in a word format and video CV and send them both to the recruiter? Or what should we do? Yeah, no, it's a good question. And it's an emerging topic at the moment. So I think video CVs are great. In fact, I've been working with a couple of clients lately on video CVs. So definitely they are becoming more apparent and frequent in job application. So for example, the job advert will say, please upload your answers to three or four of these questions. And you physically have to sit in front of the camera and answer the questions for submission. But it's not reliant or solely on your video CV. So you'll definitely need a paper CV that you can submit. But a video CV should be used when maybe you can attach it to your email signature and a networking event that you're attending to. So you can have both as an option, but you're only going to upload the video CV when it's requested. And what about color letter? Should you add color letter to your CV? Again, I think it's a tool that's fantastic and it can showcase some points or some factors, achievements that might not be relevant to be putting on the CV. But my humble opinion and suggestion is to only be uploading it if it's requested. Because I noticed that most people make a mistake. They just copy the information they have on CV and they put that in the color letter. Yeah. It just doesn't make any sense. Yeah, you don't want to be repeating the same information. So the cover letter is used for when you've got maybe achievements or experiences that are not specifically relevant to the position. But you still want to showcase them. So it's a complementary tool. What are top three mistakes people make in their CV? This is a good one. So I would, ATS, again, I know we've covered it a lot, but submitting a CV that looks great, but it just doesn't pass the system. So make sure that it's applicant tracking friendly. Not tailoring it to the position. So having one generic CV and just sending it to every single job. So this doesn't showcase a tailored approach. So that's definitely one mistake. And I think ensuring that the key words are matching. So for example, if the job is saying, they want to have market expansion or digitalization, that you're not showcasing what you have done in the past and incorporating that experience in achievement-based display. So that would be my tips. Thank you very much. It was very useful. So guys, hopefully now you know what type of CV you need to submit. You just need simple word document. Don't make it too complicated. Use the right key words. Make sure that you list your achievements instead of description. And I'm sure that you will get a better response from the recruiters. And again, if you need any help, you can always reach out to Trisha. The link is in the description under this video. And I will see you in the next episode.