★ Keep, Ding, Ghost CV Review Sessions
Everything you need to know about the Keep, Ding, Ghost CV Review Sessions in one place
This post provides everything you need to know about this newsletter’s flagship feature, the Keep, Ding, Ghost CV Review Sessions, in one place: an overview, essential reading, and indexes.
Remember that company that rejected your job application despite your strong CV? This newsletter will show you what probably happened.
Welcome to Keep, Ding, Ghost! A (roughly) weekly newsletter and podcast that provides feedback to graduate job applicants through FREE CV reviews.
Founder/Author: L. C. Serrão
Click here for FAQs. Click here for the Master Index.
Keep, Ding, Ghost CV Review Sessions
Overview
This newsletter, Keep, Ding, Ghost, provides feedback to graduate job applicants through FREE CV reviews.
The feedback will be shared either in written form, audio form, or both, through posts categorised as ‘Keep, Ding, Ghost CV Review Sessions’ (hereafter referred to as ‘CV review sessions’), which you should consider as test runs before you apply for your ideal graduate jobs.
In these sessions, CVs submitted by subscribers will compete in head-to-head simulations to mimic the rigorous, fast-paced, competitive CV screening round conducted by top graduate employers. This process will result in one CV advancing to the next round (i.e., keep), one receiving a soft rejection (i.e., ding), and one receiving a hard rejection (i.e., ghost).
Hence the name ‘Keep, Ding, Ghost’.
The CVs will compete against each other throughout the ‘season’, which will typically run from September to June.
While the career services team at universities and grad schools can help you craft a solid CV, this newsletter takes it a step further by providing candid CV comparisons and nuanced feedback from a recruiter’s perspective through the CV review sessions.
Whether it’s your CV or the CVs of other subscribers that are being reviewed, the head-to-head simulations provide you with a unique opportunity to be a ‘fly on the wall’ and witness the behind-the-scenes process that can lead to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ decisions on your job applications.
Moreover, the rare insights you’ll gain about the factors that come into play when CVs are reviewed will help you understand why even an excellent CV might miss out on graduate job opportunities and what you could do to become a more strategic and, thus, more competitive applicant.
Rules for Assigning Selections:
There can only be one ‘Keep’ selection.
There can only be one ‘Ding’ selection, and only if there is a ‘Keep’ selection.
All CVs can be assigned as ‘Ghost’ selections.
Possible Outcomes:
The CV review sessions will each consist of three CVs. Based on the rules, the possible outcomes for assigning ‘Keep’ (K), ‘Ding’ (D), and ‘Ghost’ (G) selections to three CVs are:
KDG: One CV is assigned as 'Keep', one CV is assigned as 'Ding', and one CV is assigned as 'Ghost' (this is the ideal outcome).
KGG: One CV is assigned as 'Keep', and two are assigned as 'Ghost'.
GGG: All three CVs are assigned as 'Ghost'.
Outcomes Explained:
Keep Selection: A CV assigned as a ‘Keep’ selection is considered to have ‘successfully passed the CV screening round’. These CVs will be eligible to compete for a spot on the Top 10 ranking of all ‘Keep’ selections from previous and future CV review sessions. These CVs could also earn points for the university the CV owner is currently enrolled in or most recently graduated from for the Univeristy CV League.
Ding Selection: A CV assigned as a ‘Ding’ selection is considered to have received a ‘soft’ rejection. This means the CV will have another opportunity to compete for the top spot (‘Keep’) in the immediate next CV review session. In this post, I outlined the top three reasons CVs are rejected. CVs that receive a ‘Ding’ selection represent the second of these three reasons: Your CV is good, but not good enough to beat the competition; i.e., if it were possible to increase the number of recruits, you may have been advanced to the next round of the application process. This is why the rules for the CV review sessions dictate that there can only be a ‘Ding’ selection if there is also a ‘Keep’ selection.
Ghost Selection: A CV assigned as a ‘Ghost’ selection is considered to have received a ‘hard’ rejection. Hence, it is dropped from the process. CVs that receive a ‘Ghost’ selection represent the first of the top three reasons CVs are rejected, as mentioned in this post: Your CV is poor; i.e., it's a hard 'no’.
CV Updates and Resubmissions:
Each CV reviewed for the CV review sessions will receive detailed feedback on how the CV could be further improved. Hence, the owners of the CVs participating in the sessions can submit an updated CV at any time during the process. The updated CV would replace the existing CV or, in the case of ‘Ghost’ selections, allow the CV to reenter the process.
Click here to request a FREE review of your CV and for a chance to have it (anonymously) featured on one of the CV review sessions.
Click here to read the post outlining the top three reasons CVs are rejected.
Click here to learn more about this newsletter and the motivation behind the creation of the CV review sessions.
Click here to learn more about my profesional background, including what graduate job programs I joined and my experience in screening candidates for internships and full-time graduate roles for top employers.