Imagine meeting a stranger at a party. What makes for a successful encounter？ Lesson one is to heed the wisdom of a shampoo commercial from the 1980s： you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Lesson two is to remember that you do not need to wear a beret or a fur stole in order to stand out. Lesson three is not to forget that what you leave out matters as much as what you say.

想象你在聚会上遇到一个陌生人。如何制造一次成功的邂逅？第一：可以看下80年代洗发水广告所体现的智慧：你不会有第二次机会给人留下第一印象。第二：记住，显得与众不同未必需要戴贝雷帽或毛皮披肩。第三：不要忘记，未说出口的内容和说出口的言语同样重要。

These same principles， it turns out， apply to writing a CV. A resume is not a list of every job you ever had. It is not your autobiography. It is， like that haircare advert， a marketing tool. Your audience is made up of recruiters and hiring managers. Like cocktail-party guests， they do not take a long time to decide if they want to keep talking. According to one study， such professionals spend an average of 7.4 seconds skimming a job application. Here are a few tips on how best to ensure that these seconds count.

实际上，以上这些原则同样适用于简历撰写。简历不应该简单列出你曾从事过的所有工作，也不应该像自传那样详尽记录个人生活和职业经历的所有细节。简历就像那个洗发水广告一样，是营销工具，受众群体是招聘人员或招聘经理。就好比鸡尾酒会上的宾客，他们花不了多长时间就能决定是否要继续跟你交谈。研究显示，这类专业招聘人员浏览一份简历平均只用7.4秒。本文提供一些诀窍，让你的简历在短短的几秒内就能抓住对方的注意力。

The CV’s number-one task is not to put the reader off1. If you are thinking of adding a watermark with your initials think again： you are trying too hard. Use a clean， simple format and avoid fancy fonts （Arial or Helvetica are fine： Century Gothic is not）.

简历的首要任务是不要让招聘人员失去浏览的兴趣。要是考虑在简历上加上带有你名字缩写的水印，那请三思：这么做有些过了。简历排版应整洁、简单，不要用花哨的字体（Arial或Helvetica可以接受，但Century Gothic不行）。

Adding colour does not mean using a teal background. Nor does it mean using purple prose2. Cliché can be a reason you are passed over for an interview. So can typos; spell-check and proofread over and over. You would be surprised how often someone forgets to include their name and contact details. Dispense with hackneyed descriptors （“cultivated and passionate professional！”， “a keen eye for detail”）—facts should speak for themselves. But not all facts. You may think including your ranking on “Over-Watch3” is a quirky way to illustrate how quick you are on your feet4. A recruiter may conclude that it shows you spend hours on the sofa tethered to a gaming console.

增强简历的吸引力并不意味着要使用蓝绿色背景或过于华丽夸张的语言。