2023 CV and Cover Letter Health Check - What Are The Big New Trends Job Seekers Should Look out for?

New Year is nearly here! Bye, Bye 2022, Welcome 2023! As we spend time reflecting with friends and family, whilst being a little introspective about our own personal and professional successes or failures over the past twelve months, this is perhaps a great time to brush up on the next big trends to affect job seekers in an ever-changing employment landscape.

In this article we will highlight three major trends that recruiters are talking about in 2023. The first surrounds keywords and their role in your CV in a digital ecosystem. The second surrounds better utilisation of the ‘Personal Statement’ within your CV as a digital alternative to your traditional covering letter. Third and finally, the use of digital job boards and why understanding filters can help you save time and energy finding the right job for your situation and needs.

Why CVs in 2023 Will Need Keywords For a Digital World

In 2023, the new trends being discussed surrounding CVs and covering letters surround the digitisation of the CV and the covering letter. These trends surround topics like using “SEO” type keywords in your digital documents to help make it easier for recruiters to find you. What this means is that you will need to use ‘keywords’ that are visible both to the naked eye and digitally when uploading to a myriad of employment portals to help make searching/indexing your CV easier for both web bots and human readers.

Why Fewer Recruiters Are Reading Covering Letters and Why “Personal Statements” Provide a Digital Alternative to the Traditional Covering Letter?

Recruiters are still reading covering letters. However, as digitisation takes hold of the recruitment lifecycle, those recruiters with time limitations will sometimes avoid reading covering letters in favour of scanning CVs. As above we have highlighted how keywords can help your candidacy stand out. However, there is another means by which you could help make a real impact with a would-be recruiter.

This surrounds the changing nature of the ‘Personal Statement’ element of the CV. Originally, this was utilised as a statement-based descriptor of the would-be candidate. However, some are utilising the change in a lack of cover letters being read to imbue the personal statement with a precis of the covering letter. This personalisation can help individuals make a real impact during the early recruitment stage.

Filters - Why 2023 Will Find You Loving Filters

In 2022, social media users loved filters for their photos – dog eared selfies or selfies that make them look older were very popular. However, in 2023, a different filter will become popular with job seekers. As more and more digital employment portals and job service/boards go live the need to upload CVs and covering letters will multiply. However, filters – search parameter filters – provide job seekers with a unique resource to better identify, pinpoint and target their skills towards the right employers. Why is this critically important? Well job board platforms use popular filter systems that help employers to filter down information from a multitude of candidates to source a smaller pool of talent. This means you, as a job seeker, need to be aware of how your candidacy will digitally interact with this experience. This means looking at the job board and the preferences within your account to make sure you are in tip-top condition as a digital would-be candidate.

Disclaimer

The information in this guide is based on the personal opinions of the authors, and is presented in good faith. EuroJobsites do not accept any liability for errors, omissions or inaccuracies in this guide.

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