Are You Writing a Future-Focused CV?

We have all done some remarkable things in our careers. Some days, we have smashed it out of the park and gone home with a grin so vast that our cheeks have hurt. But a future-focused CV needs to have one eye on what is to come.

Those cherished memories last a lifetime and carry us through our darker days. 

When the time comes to consider a job search, these moments are at the front of our minds. We sit down to write our CV with a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Surely employers will be falling over themselves to give us a job if we distil all those moments into a two-page document? Writing a CV can become a labour of (self) love when you press the replay button on all your past glories. 

However, here is the unwelcome wake-up call: 

A hiring manager won’t be interested in the exquisite details if they are not relevant to the job that you will be doing. Let’s be honest; they really won’t. 

Why a future-focused CV?

Particular career highlights might not paint the most suitable picture of the employee you want to become. Consider leaving them out or toning them down. “But, but, but…. I was so awesome,” I hear you plead. 

In the fight to retain the hiring manager’s attention on your resume, you have to be brutal in choosing which stories to tell (and which to cull). If you write a resume that dines out on your past glories, you will likely get the same sort of job offers. That, my friends, is the road to stagnation and career crisis. 

To keep growing, you have to look for jobs that will offer a step up or a step across. Staying in a comfortable position is always an option. If you want to make a profitable move, you must focus your resume on the future rather than the past. 

Writing a future-focused CV starts with thinking about the sort of job that you would like to get. Then crafting your CV around that narrative. It might mean that certain cherished achievements lurk in the shadows more than you would like. Every word is a chance to influence your future boss. Don’t dwell on details that make them feel “meh.” 

CV direction

As the first activity in a job search, writing a CV is a crucial step in shaping your future direction. Form your mindset for the task ahead. Hiding behind the easy “wins” of the past will not see you make the most of your potential. Sit down, draw a spider diagram (or whatever works for you) of all the things you would like your future role to include. Be obsessive in writing your resume around that vision. Do not stray from that path. 

Your vision of your future will change over the years. Your 40-year-old dreams will be very different from your 20-year-old dreams. A job search is an excellent opportunity to take one extra step towards whatever driving forces are in your life at the time. 

Not allowing the past to unduly influence your future is a sensible place to start. 

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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists.

Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).