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Job search systems for graduates in Africa
This CV looked strong. It would probably get rejected in 10 seconds
This CV looked strong.
But it would probably get rejected in 10 seconds.
Not because of experience.
Because of structure.
Someone recently asked me to review their CV during a job search.
At first glance, the experience looked solid. But the structure was hiding the value.
The document had:
• long paragraphs describing responsibilities
• no measurable outcomes
• no clear positioning for the roles they wanted
• a LinkedIn profile telling a slightly different story
So I approached it like an operations problem.
First, we mapped the person's core experiences and asked a simple question:
What signal is this CV sending during a 10-second recruiter scan?
Then we rebuilt the document using a simple structure:
Action → Context → Result
Example.
Instead of writing:
"Responsible for coordinating administrative tasks for the team"
we reframed it as:
"Coordinated scheduling and documentation workflows for a 6-person team, reducing reporting delays and improving internal response time."
Same experience.
Different signal.
What changed was not the work.
It was the structure used to communicate it.
Because most career problems are not capability problems.
They are structure problems.