How not to be Arrogant on your CV

Question

What can be done to avoid coming across as arrogant on a CV?

Answer

During the application and interview process it is important to showcase your skills and achievements to highlight to the interviewer your qualities as a potential employee. However, this should be done in a way as not to appear arrogant or attempting to belittle other candidates, and this can often appear difficult. Every good CV will contain an element of boasting as it has to sell yourself and all of your qualities and achievements so you stand out from the crowd. Arrogance, however, is not something that should make its way on to your CV. As long as you are aware of how you convey your achievements they should not come across as arrogant, try and avoid an overuse of ‘I’s’ as this is often seen as a key indicator of over confidence. Another way to sell your skills without coming across arrogant is to highlight where your skills have been useful in past employment. You could discuss how knowing a second language helped you converse with foreign investors, or how your education in marketing helped increase your companies online exposure by X amount. By selling your skills this way not only are you showcasing your skills in a clear manner you are also showing your potential employer you have used these skills before to your advantage This will not come across as arrogant but will show the reader that you have previous experience utilising your skill set.

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