A speculative CV is a document summarising your relevant skills and experience sent to a company that isn’t advertising any job openings.
Many companies hire by referral or through internal job boards before advertising openings to the public. So if there’s a company that you’d like to work for that hasn’t listed an open role you want yet, sending a speculative CV is a great way to introduce yourself to the employer and make a case for why you should be hired before they’re flooded with applications.
To write a speculative CV, you should:
- research the company to determine which of your skills and experiences will make you an attractive candidate
- tailor every section of your CV based on your research to show the employer you’re interested in working for them specifically and not just sending out a generic CV to many companies
- clearly state the role you’re looking to fill in your personal statement (if the employer doesn’t know what you’re applying for, they’ll bin your CV)