Why You Are Losing Money Every Month You Don’t Fix Your CV

Most candidates think getting hired is about luck. It’s not. It’s about conversion.

Here is the math of recruitment:

1. Impressions: How many people see your profile?

2. Conversion: How many of them call you?

3. Close Rate: How many interviews turn into offers?

If you are sending out 50 CVs and getting 0 calls, you don’t have a "bad market" problem. You have a marketing problem.

You are a product worth €80,000 to €150,000 a year. But you are trying to sell that premium product with a brochure (your CV) that looks like it was made in 10 minutes.

If a company tried to sell you a ship, and the brochure was full of typos and bad formatting, would you buy the ship? No. So why do you expect them to buy you?

Here are the three reasons you aren't closing the deal.

1. You Are Selling Features, Not Benefits

Most maritime CVs look like this:

• “Responsible for drydocking.”

• “Managed crew.”

That is a feature. Everyone has that feature. The employer doesn't care about what you did. They care about what they get.

Change it to a benefit:

• “Completed drydock 4 days ahead of schedule, saving $200k.”

• “Reduced crew turnover by 15% in 12 months.”

Features tell. Benefits sell.

2. You Are Ignoring "Risk"

The number one reason an employer doesn't hire you is Risk. They are terrified you will mess up their operation.

Your job in the interview isn't to look smart. It is to de-risk the purchase.

You do this by talking about problems you solved.

• "Here is what went wrong."

• "Here is how I fixed it."

• "Here is why it won't happen again."

When risk goes down, value goes up.

3. You Are Invisible

The best product in the world goes broke if no one knows it exists.

You are waiting to be "discovered." Hope is not a strategy.

The Fix

You have two choices.

1. Keep doing what you are doing. Complaint about the market. Stay where you are.

2. Fix your marketing. Optimize the CV. Learn to sell the interview.

The market rewards the people who can communicate value, not just the people who have it.

Be the person who communicates value.