Maybe you've spent hours crafting your CV, adding every little detail of your working life, terrified of leaving out anything at all that could prove important to your next employer.
It is a true work of art, encompassing your whole working life.
Every task, every duty is listed in a career filled with accomplishments in many different areas.
With all that to recommend you, how could anyone refuse you? Yet, you've distributed it, you've waited, you've followed up to see that it has been received.
Still nothing.
The truth is that these days a lengthy CV won't be worth the pages it is written on.
In all but a handful of professions, brevity is crucial.
But for many talented and successful professionals, with years of outstanding achievements, skills and experience, it can be baffling to try to choose which parts to emphasise and which parts to dare to leave out.
The CV's job is not to declare every aspect of your working history - the interview stage will provide plenty of time to go into more detail.
Rather than a detailed portrait, showing every crease and pore, think of it instead as a carefully selective "sketch".
It's a crisply worded sales tool, plain and simple, and to be most effective, should be redesigned and targeted specifically for each role you apply for, giving just enough of the right information to get you to interview.
Two pages are an acceptable length - and this should include large amounts of white space.
With the number of candidates per advertised role reaching peak levels, recruiters have a tough enough job sifting through hundreds of applications and unless your CV is tailored, streamlined, and immaculate, the chances are you are heading for the trash.
Many recruiters scan CVs on digital devices taking just a few seconds for each, so to get to the shortlist of candidates, you need to make their job easy, by providing a document that is easily readable, with clean layout and fonts, using clear and simple language and avoiding jargon wherever possible.
Cut out any waffle and cliches and make sure every sentence is clear and relevant.
It must be proofread carefully to eliminate repetition and silly errors.
The key message is to be clear about what the recruiter or future employer wants and then to give it to them.
But of course, this is not nearly as easy as it sounds! So how can you become the optimum candidate? Whether you are a graduate just starting out and wondering how to present your minimal experience with optimum effect, or at the other end of your working life with so many decades of experience that summarising them onto two pages seems like an impossible task, a professional recruitment writer can be a godsend.
Helping you to define your image and present it accurately and in the most effective and current manner, using a professional recruitment writing service will give you peace of mind and the very best chance of success.
And for no more than the price of a trip to the hair salon, or a new shirt and tie, it could be the best investment you've ever made!