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Employers how would a Curriculum Vitae stand out for you and make you want to interview the candidate?

Public Comments

1. I evaluate resumes often for our company and reject so, so many of them. The reasons why some are rejected are: - Poor spelling and grammar. I don't want to see one single spelling mistake. Grammar should be good but not essential to be perfect. - Poor layout. As soon as I look at the CV, it needs to be obvious where things are, with correct categories and plain and simple to see. - Physical presentation. Should arrive without being folded and on normal printer paper. I don't want to see expensive paper with fancy writing. No graphics of any kind either. - A cover letter of about half a page that has been written specifically for this one job you are applying for.
2. I assume you're entry level, and just coming out of university. In addition to what HandyMan said (although for me, I don't care if you fold the resume), I also look for work and educational experiences that are somehow related to the job for which you're applying. In other words, I'm looking for you to show me that you've had an interest in this field, and you've proven that through work you've done in your classes, on campus, and off. Thus, if you have a related degree, make sure you show your major. If your degree is not related, but you've taken classes in the field, list them out. If you've done work for clubs or organisations on campus that relates to my job, show that. If you've done a related co-op or internship, list that. Ideally, you've got all three things: related coursework, related on-campus work, and an internship or part-time job that relates to the field. And, in fact, make sure you do some sort of real-world type of work in any field you hope to enter once you graduate. That could be an internship, or a part-time job, or a significant role in a campus club where you do that sort of work, or what have you. And again, ideally, it's multiple - more than one of these things. What you're doing is building a resume that relates to my job. Because if you don't show some past interest in my field on your resume, I won't call you. So as an example, I hate it when finance majors whose resumes are all about finance apply for my marketing jobs. Nothing on their resume shows that they're actually interested in marketing. But if that finance major had shown that he'd done marketing for his clubs, and held a marketing-related internship, and maybe had a part-time job in customer service? Whole different story.