4 Essential CV Writing Tips to Pass Screening More Easily
A lot of students work hard and apply for many jobs but end up receiving very few aptitude tests and interview invitations. In fact, many companies have specific guidelines and ‘hidden’ requirements for the CV screening process, which eliminates many students at a very early stage. If your GPA is not high enough as per their benchmark/ you are not a Business Major/ you enrolled in an associate degree/ you have not studied in one of the target schools, can you still make your CV look charming enough for the recruiters?
✌️You are going to learn 4 essential CV writing tips to pass screening more easily!
1) Low GPA
The GPA score is a major litmus test of the academic calibre of a student. It is also an important screening criteria for many companies. Some companies have stated that they will only consider students who have achieved scores with a specific GPA range. For example, HSBC uses CGPA 3.2 as a cut off. On an average, most companies have programs that prefer GPA 3.3/3.2 or higher to filter out candidates.
If a student’s GPA is below 3.0, they can replace it with their Semester GPA/Most Recent GPA or Highest GPA. For example, if your CGPA is 2.96, but the last SemGPA is 3.19, the CV must highlight the SemGPA instead.
However, students should be careful about reporting the correct scores for their applications instead of misleading the hiring managers with wrong scores. It simply means, that if the online application wants you to fill in the CGPA, you have to fill in 2.96 and must not add the SemGPA just because it is a higher score.
2) Non-Business/Finance Major😯
Most MT Programs in fact welcome all students pursuing various Majors to apply, but some cutting-edge industries tend to favor only certain specialised graduates or those who have relevant knowledge of more than one industry, such as: Ibank prefers QFin/ Gbus, whereas IT Consulting programs will love IS students, who have solid background in IT.
If you are not reading any of these majors, there are 3 ways to help this situation.
The first one is to add some elective courses in your resume, that you studied earlier in your university, such as:
Bachelor of Social Science
Related Courses: Corporate Finance, Financial Analysis, Financial Modeling
The second one is studying some course externally and adding details of the certificate in your resume, for example CFA／Python／Accounting
(P.S. You can apply the government subsidy, Continuing Education Fund, worth around $20,000).
The third of course, is joining join extra- curricular activities (to show effective utilisation of time and leadership skill enhancement) and apply for more internships to gain further relevant experience.
3) Enrolled in an Associate degree/ did not attend target schools
It is very common for students to transition from an Associate degree to a Bachelor degree. Based on our past experience, there is no such difference between transferring from an Associate degree to Bachelor degree versus taking up a Bachelor directly after the public exam.
But there are some rumors that certain large banks screen out some candidates if they have studied an associate degree.
If you have a similar background, then it's a simple answer. Don't mention it on your CV. So there comes another issue related to this- what if you are awarded or get a scholarship during the period of your associate degree? Also, if you studied in a well-known secondary school, should you include it in the resume?
The answer is: It really depends on the situation. You can comment below or DM us if you have a question related to this. We can advise you based on your specific case.
If you are not from well known college, but you have lots of work experience and not academic achievement, you can put them above the ‘Education’ section in your CV. So people will focus more on the work experience instead of where you studied and your academics.
4) Should I include address/ gender/ photo on the resume?
A CV is meant to help in assessing candidate’s relevant ability and experience, so you don’t need to put unnecessary information in it, unless that detail helps you in any specific way. For instance, if you stay in a location like Mid- Levels, you can put it in your resume to set a project a specific kind of image. Apart from this, if you are applying front office role/ client facing position, or a position where your looks can play a role, adding your photo can be beneficial to show how presentable you are. Last but not least, as per our experience, Property related jobs hire more females than males in Hong Kong, with about a 7:3 ratio. For banking roles, it is more or less equal. But there is recent trend, in front office hirings where females are given a higher preference.
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