Writing a human rights CV

You need to demonstrate more than just your passion for social justice and improving people’s lives when writing a human rights CV. Whatever your specialism – for example as a lawyer, policy maker or project officer – you need to show the reader the difference you can make. Either using direct examples of achievements or through transferable skills, provide clear evidence of the expertise required.

Keep the CV to two pages

When writing a CV, it helps to put yourself in the shoes of the reader. Less than 30 seconds will be spent on average reading a CV – and there has been lots of research to confirm this. Keep this in mind if you have let your CV drift to 4 or 5 pages. Overwhelming the reader with lots of detail may actually decrease your chance of interview. A long CV makes it much more difficult for the reader to focus on the salient parts. Make reading easier by keeping your CV to two pages and focusing on the most recent years of your career.

Think achievements not duties

Many job applicants simply state a list of responsibilities in their CV. Some even copy and paste a job description given to them by their HR department. A job description by its very nature is generic and impersonal. It is a hypothetical list of responsibilities that may bear little resemblance to the real experience of the job. For each employment tell your own story. Give specific examples of achievements that demonstrate how well you performed. If you can support this with facts and figures to show the impacts, then so much the better.

Tailor your human rights CV for each application

Even if you are applying for similar types of jobs, the requirements can be quite different for each one. It is often a cause of huge frustration when, having applied for 100s of jobs using the same CV, there is no success. It is vital to align and focus the CV to the requirements of each role. Mirror the language used and show empathy with what each employer is looking for. Spending more time on fewer applications and tailoring your human rights CV is a much better strategy for success.

Getting your CV Through ATS systems

Many organisations and job boards use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter CVs and rank them in order of preference. It is estimated that ATS filter 70% of CVs before they are even read by a human. They work by analysing the key terms and phrases in a CV to those contained within a job description. As all job descriptions are written differently so your CV needs to be tailored to each job. This is the best way of getting your CV through ATS systems.

This article is written by Neville Rose, Director of CV Writers. Please do connect with me via LinkedIn.

Check out our CV writing service with details of our packages that include LinkedIn profiles, cover letters and more. You can get things started with a Free CV review. I am also a qualified career counsellor and provide Career Counselling services for people looking to change career paths.