> bullshitting your way through the CV-based selection ... I don't think it's what you had in mind.

That's _exactly_ what I had in mind, though I might phrase it as "honing your sales pitch". On something like a CV, you should always be happy to lose a little accuracy and completeness to gain some clarity. That doesn't mean you can make stuff up, but you do need to phrase yourself carefully to highlight your strong points.

You'd be surprised at what you can quantify. See "How to Measure Anything (https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Measure-Anything-Intangibles-Bu... for some ideas. Measurables are the language of those who hire you (and decide your salary) so learning how to show this kind of stuff is essential.

* What was the conversion rate on that page you made before and after?

* How long did it take staff in your company to complete that process before and after you rebuilt it? How many hours have you saved the company?

* How many bugs were reported per day for that module before you fixed it, and how much did it cost the business to process them?

If you really can't find a way for your current job, then say how many downloads your open source project has got. Or how many comments or page views your blog gets. For some reason, employers get excited when I tell them "I'm in the top 3% on StackOverflow". (Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds.)

But that guy who earns twice as much you and does half the work? This is what he does. He talks in the language of the people who decide his salary, and that language involves specific numbers that matter to the business.

For the type of jobs I want, in London, I do need a good CV. I also need a StackOverflow profile, industry connections (which I tend to make through meetups and conferences) and a portfolio. I should really have a blog as well. But I'm simply too small a fish in too big a pool to get by without a good CV.