Recently, a conversation with a friend who is a Careers Advisor about what to wear to an interview sparked this line of thought. After a two-hour trip, she was sent home without an interview because her intelligence level wasn’t high enough. Evidently, not every business operates in the same way, right?

 Bad advice is easy to come by. Candidates often tell me things like, “There is no need to change this section; my colleagues have looked at it, and they think it’s great” or “The job centre looked at it, and they couldn’t find anything wrong,” which is frustrating because I make my living writing CVs.

 Well, what do you know? There is no value in what they have to say. The opinion that counts is that of the hiring manager at the company where you really want to work. Therefore, the only reason to seek advice is to discover the seeker’s goals. If they aren’t in the know, their thoughts don’t matter.

 Writing a CV is a common topic for advice columns. Think about it this way: Have they already begun hiring for the position you’re applying for? Can you describe their function within the market you’re trying to break into? These are clues that point you in the direction of credible sources of information. While it’s true that a market research firm wouldn’t intentionally ask the wrong people to rate a new product, the same can be said for your career research: you should seek out the opinions of the right people.

 It’s comforting to know that your resume contains no errors or omissions, as I’ve mentioned in previous threads. However, that will not be enough to land you a new position. Just how convincing is it? When compared to what, if anything else, does it offer that’s different from other people’s experiences? You might be surprised to learn that there are additional things you can do to improve your resume.

 Don’t believe any advice that says this or that should or shouldn’t be included. A simple litmus test for inclusion is whether or not it provides information that is both positive and relevant to the position being sought. This shouldn’t be done unless it satisfies both of these conditions. Nothing on your resume should be included just because you feel like it ‘ought to be,’ but rather because it actually adds value to what you are trying to convey.