Your CV Is Not About You: Why Employers Stop Reading and What to Write Instead
Most CVs in Nigeria are written to impress, not to solve a problem. Hiring managers decide in seconds, and most documents lose them in the first few lines. Sir Brown AD explains what employers are actually looking for and a three-page structure that gets your CV read.
A hiring manager opens an inbox with a hundred emails in it. Each one has a CV attached. Be honest: how many of those attachments do you think get read from the first line to the last?
Very few. And the reason is not that the manager is wicked or lazy. It is that most CVs in Nigeria are written to impress, not to solve a problem. The writer is talking about themselves, while the reader is asking a different question: what can this person do for me?
An employer does not hire a person. An employer hires a solution to a problem they are already paying for.
The Ten-Second Reality
When you send a CV by email, you are not speaking to a crowd. You are speaking to one tired person with a full inbox and a long list of other tasks. That person is scanning, not reading. If the first screen does not show something useful, the document is closed and the next one is opened.
This is why so many qualified people are rejected without ever knowing why. They were not judged badly. They were simply not read.
What the Average CV Looks Like
Most CVs follow the same pattern, in the same order:
Name and address
Primary school, secondary school, university
Short courses and certificates
Hobbies such as music, travelling and reading
A skills list with words like leadership and teamwork
Now ask the question the employer is asking. How does a primary school name solve my problem? How does a hobby help me grow my revenue? Everything on that page is about the writer. Nothing on it is about the reader.
A CV Is About a Problem, Not About You
This is the shift that changes everything. A CV is not a record of your life. It is a short proposal that says: I understand a problem you have, and here is how I will help fix it.
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Compare two candidates for the same role. One sends a document listing where they studied and what they attended. The other sends a document showing that the company's website loads slowly, that competitors rank for hundreds of searches the company is missing, and a plan to fix both. Even if the second person has less experience on paper, who gets the call?
A Three-Page Structure That Works
Before you apply to any company, study it the way you would study for an exam. Ask yourself:
What are they doing poorly?
Where are they probably losing money or customers?
What are their competitors doing better?
Then build your CV around the answers.
Page one: The problem. What you found, with simple evidence, and how competitors compare
Page two: Your solution. The specific steps you would take, in plain language
Page three: Expected results. What should improve and a realistic timeline
Keep your personal details to the essentials: your name, email, phone number and links to your work. Your education and past roles can sit in a short section at the end for anyone who wants them.
What This Looks Like in Practice
If you are applying as a web developer, open the company's website and look honestly. Is it slow on mobile? Is the contact form broken? Does it show up when you search for its own services? Is checkout confusing? Write down what you see, and then explain how you would fix each issue and what result you would expect.
If you are applying for a marketing or SEO role, check page speed, keyword visibility, and what competitors are ranking for. If it is a sales or operations role, look at how customers are served and where the process creates friction.
Use only public information, stay respectful, and never insult the company. You are not there to embarrass them. You are there to show that you have already started thinking like someone on their team.
Stop Begging, Start Proving
A lot of applications are written like this: please help me, I am a hard worker, I will do anything, God will bless you. That may come from a real place of pressure, and Nigerian job seekers do face real pressure. But an employer is making a business decision, not giving charity.
Sympathy does not pay salaries. Solutions do.
Be Honest and Be Accurate
This approach only works if what you write is true. Do not invent numbers, guess confidently about things you cannot see, or promise results you cannot control. Say what you observed, how you would test it, and what you expect to happen. A careful, honest proposal is more convincing than a bold one that falls apart in the first interview.
Send It to the Right People
A general company inbox is often checked by someone who has no power to hire you. Where you can, find the person who actually owns the problem you are addressing, such as the head of the department, the founder of a small business, or the hiring manager. Use their official work contact or a professional platform, keep the message short, and put your strongest line in the first two sentences. Do not mass-email dozens of addresses with the same message. It looks careless.
A Quick Checklist Before You Hit Send
Does the first screen show a problem the company actually has?
Have I removed anything that does not help them decide?
Is every claim something I can explain and defend?
Is my contact information and a link to my work easy to find?
Is the whole document short enough to be read in a minute?
STOP APPLYING FOR JOBS. START SOLVING PROBLEMS ON PAPER BEFORE YOU ARE EVEN HIRED.
Conclusion
The market is crowded with people who describe themselves. It is much quieter on the side of people who describe the employer's problem and show a path to fixing it. That is where attention is, and it is where offers come from.
Your certificates and past roles still matter, but they work best as supporting proof, not as the headline. Write your next CV for the reader, not for yourself, and let it answer the only question that matters: what problem will you solve?
Platforms like Sir-AD Blog will keep publishing practical career and business guidance for Nigerians, because knowing how decisions are really made is the cheapest advantage you can give yourself.
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This article was originally written and published by Sir Brown AD.
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