Creating a Great CV. Preamble:- The following are thoughts and ideas that I have encouraged people to use, and have seen some outstanding results. They are not the typical way of doing a cv, and if you want tradition – do not follow these suggestions!! J There are two things to remember and only two things:-
How peculiar – what the heavens is this woman talking about? Let’s start with the “7 second” thing. Play along with me … You are a secretary and you have seen an ad in the paper, and you decide to answer it. You update your regular cv and submit it. You may have done it via email to the HR Manager of a large company. Are you aware that the HR manager may receive 250 cv’s for that job? It may be more … Why do you think out of all of those cv’s she should pick yours? If you are reading this you are most likely a human being …. Say there are an average of 4 pages per cv, which is a very small number for the average cv – that means that she is reading 1 000 pages of all the same stuff. If you read a book with 1 000 pages of all the same stuff – what do you think you are going to remember at the end? Say she is very good, and she makes notes along the way, and she is able to break it down to 100 cv’s that look as if they could be interesting … Now she starts again … If you were that HR Manager, do you honestly think you would go thru 250 cv’s? Do you think that she could concentrate thru 10 cv’s? It’s mostly likely that she will grab the first 4 or so that she remembers, and have made sufficient impression on her that she will pass onto the manager who is looking for the secretary. He is most likely to run thru those 4 cv’s and choose to interview 2 of them because he is busy. What are the odds now that you will even have a chance to get into an interview?? Think about it! You are a Bookkeeper or Accountant or Financial Manager – how much of your job do you think the HR Manager knows and understands. If you’ve been working on Pastel, do you think that the HR Manager is going to know that working on QuickBooks is also most likely going to work because the cross pollination of knowledge between the packages is really not going to be a big thing for someone who really understands the basics of accounting? Are you getting the picture? Do you really think our HR Manager understands the essence of what a programmer, or a Web Designer, or a Web Developer, or an Engineer, or Project Manager, or a Business Analyst or a … or a … or a … does? Really does? The facts are that most HR Managers sit with a list of what they should be looking for per position, and they are inclined to tick off on a list of items whether the candidate has those things. Often the list is outdated or the manager or system has been changed and she is unaware of it. One example, a number of years ago we were asked to place an accountant in a fairly large organization. This accountant amongst the skills had to be able to take the books through to Balance Sheet stage, be able to analyse the figures produced and then pass them onto a Financial Manager who finalised them for Board presentation. We presented an absolutely brilliant candidate – with everything in place, and she was rejected. I couldn’t understand what was going on and got hold of the HR Manager, and she had rejected the candidate because in her present company she was called Senior Bookkeeper, and not Accountant. This lady just could not “get it” that in the one company the job title was Senior Bookkeeper and in her company they had labeled the position Accountant. Both positions had identical candidate requirements right down to a B.Com. I sound as if I am hammering HR Managers – but let’s have a little understanding here. They have been trained to understand other things which are pertinent to their positions – we really cannot expect them to understand the nuances of every position. Now are you starting to understand what I am talking about? Don’t you think it would be a good thing to submit a cv that stands head and shoulders above all the other cv’s - something that stands out – really stands out – and catches that HR Manager’s attention – something that motivates her to get it through to the relevant line manager – something that by the end of his reading it – he can’t help but pick up the phone and set up an interview with you? In Australia – we were experiencing 38% unemployment in our area and I wanted a job, and answered an ad in the paper – and the guy had received hundreds of cv’s. All I wrote on the letter was “Everything you need to be done in this position I will do for you better than anyone else … Phone Lin on …….” I got the job! No - I’m not suggesting that you do this – but the point is that I did something different and got his attention! You are the Message – Getting What You Want by being Who You are is a book written by Roger Ailes many years ago – and is one of my all time favourites. Roger’s first story basically is this:- “Ten minutes later, in prison, I was face-to-face with Charles Manson, the cult leader serving nine life sentences for his role in what some consider the most gruesome and bizarre murders in history – the killings of actress Sharon Tate and six others. … It was 1981 and I was executive producer of NBC-TV’s “Tomorrow Coast to Coast,” starring Tom Snyder … it was the first network interview with Manson in thirteen years. Manson was housed in a maximum security prison for the criminally insane at Vacaville, California. I had read all the books and background about Manson but was unsure of exactly how the interview would go. I knew that we were dealing with a person who was, at best, completely crazy. … we were led through a labyrinth of steel gates and cement block hallways until we ended up in a holding cell about twelve by fifteen feet. The library was across the hall and Tom was asked to wait there while Manson was brought up. … The camera crew was setting up in the holding cell, so I decided to leave Tom, walk across the hall and make sure the camera angles and lighting were right before Manson arrived. … As I walked out of the prison library and made a right turn, I bumped directly into someone. My eyes focused as this person bounced off my chest. From a distance of six inches I was staring directly into the eyes of Charles Manson He was small, wiry, and mangy. He looked like a quick, dangerous ferret. I was momentarily shocked. As our eyes locked, I at first said nothing. I realized that a very primitive confrontation and mutual assessment were taking place. Then I said, “Mr Manson, I’m in charge of this interview. I’d like you to come with me.” For a split second more he stared at me. Then he lowered his head, backed away, and suddenly acted very obsequious He was happy to meet me, he said, and wanted to know what I would like him to do. … In that first five to seven seconds, we had tested each other. I knew he loved to puff himself up like the Wizard of Oz and frighten people around him into doing what he wanted them to do. Since I didn’t budge, he backed off and lowered his head, much as a dog does. They say a dog tests you by coming at you, fangs bared, head and tail up, and if you continue to show no fear, he will back off. Humans do this in their own way. Charles Manson was like a junkyard dog. Once he backed away, I knew I had control for the rest of the day.” Roger continues to talk about the interview and how Manson was all over the place, even making a noose out of the microphone cable – but each time they stopped to change a tape, he would come over to Roger to ask how he (Manson) was doing – almost trying to get Roger’s approval. The point of this story is that within the first 7 seconds you have to grab the person who is reading your cv for the first time’s attention – then you have to keep it right up to the end of the document; and then you want to leave them with an action step!!!!!!!! This 7 second phenomenon has been proven time and again. One of the tests that has been done is:- they have taken prisoners out on the pavements walking through crowds of people, and the prisoner telling the interviewers which people they would mug and which people they wouldn’t touch; and this all happens within a matter of seconds of the perpetrator feeling whether the victim would play the victim role or not. 7 seconds guys and girls – 7 seconds! Now let’s look at the W.I.I.F.M. Do you know what W.I.I.F.M. stands for? What’s in it for me! I cannot think of anything as I am writing this that we do as a people that if we are honest does not lead us back to W.I.I.F.M. Oh, I can hear you shouting “That’s preposterous! I have been working for 40 years to feed my family, there was nothing in it for me.” or “ I have been taking care of my sick aunt for 10 years when no-one else in the family would!” or “I gave to the beggar on the corner today!” or “I went to church and prayed for the world yesterday!” On the surface we feel there is nothing W.I.I.F.M. in there for the person. Now let’s think about it. The person who has slaved in a job that he hates for 40 years to feed his family – why has he done that? Maybe it was because of his conditioning, his belief system that says that is what he must do – that is what a man is expected to do. Imagine him when he dies he goes to the grave saying to himself – “well I was good I did as my father expected of me - I supported the family, etc. etc.” Well now – there’s a lot of W.I.I.F.M. in there. He’s able to satisfy his belief system, or feel the victim in his story, or play the hero in his story…. Let’s look at the person who prayed for the world yesterday .. Why did they do that? Maybe s/he has felt righteous about doing that, maybe has felt that s/he have contributed to the upliftment of the planetary vibrations – whatever it is – they’ve done it for themselves and for their own reasoning….. Now let’s put ourselves into the shoes of the manager who is going to be reading your cv. If everyone is looking at life from a stance of What’s In It for Me – then don’t you think that the Manager is doing the same thing as he reads your cv????? Don’t you think that he could possibly be looking at it – even if it is at a subconscious level – thinking, if I were to employ this person, are they going to relieve the pressure from me here? OR Are they going to save me money there? OR Am I going to be able to become more efficient and effective in my department? If I can get my department running better – I think I will be up for a promotion …. Are you getting the idea? So we don’t write the cv that the manager is going to die of boredom while reading it – but put it in such a way, that he is hooked on what you can do for him. Your cv is not about you! How can she say that? Of-course it is about me! NO – Your cv is not about you, it is about how by hiring you that manager’s load is going to be lightened! Are you getting it now??? So now you’ve got it. You are going to market yourself. You are going to grab the reader’s attention, and you are going to keep his attention right until the end of the cv, and in the main you are addressing and assisting him in alleviating some of his challenges. Marketing your talents in a CV. Oh but I don’t know how to market my cv! I’m no good at marketing! I’m not creative! … Stop your excuses! I’m not wasting my precious time by putting this down on paper, if I didn’t think that EVERYONE has the innate ability to market themselves if they just give themselves a bit of time. It’s not difficult!! You must not try and be someone different than who you are! You must be yourself! You must present on paper who YOU are and WHAT you can do! Who better knows you than you? Who better knows the things that you excel at, the things that you shy away from – YOU! So let’s first of all get the theme of your cv! Think about it – if you are a secretary – what are you trying to prove that you are for a future boss? That you can type? So ensure that your typing is superb, that the layout is excellent that it is faultless, that anyone reading it gets the flow of the document – that nothing jars the senses because the fonts don’t gel! You want to ensure that the spelling is perfect!! All the way through!! You organized diaries – think about it how did that help your current boss? Was it just a chore for you or by your doing that did it save your boss time and effort and frustration so that he knew he could rely on you 100%? Etc. etc. Now you are thinking W.I.I.F.M. from your future boss’s point of view. You are an engineer? What describes you best? Your accuracy with details, figures, measurements? Show that on your cv. Line it up the way you think. Factually, boom, boom, boom! Don’t mince your words, don’t get all airy fairy – it’s not the way an engineer is. Think about the projects you’ve worked on, think about the size of them, think about the monetary value, think about the numbers of people you’ve had working for you, think about how you have come in on time and budget, think about how this is going to affect the guy who is reading your cv. You are who you are! He wants to read that in a way that he thinks by employing this engineer my problems here and here are going to be eliminated. You are a web designer! Or a graphic designer! You are supposed to be creative – be who you are! Be creative with your cv stick in a picture, stick in a design, do something that catches the eye of the reader. Refer to your portfolio that can be seen online. Think about your clients. Think about how satisfied your clients were. Think about how they insisted you always work on their projects. These are the things that your future boss is going to get excited about. The key is to let the look and feel of the cv reflect who you are. For this exact reason we do not change any of our candidate’s cv’s for our clients! Educational Details. This is something that amazes me! The number of cv’s that I see like this … Can you imagine a cv that is 5 pages long? The first page is the Front page with CURRICULUM VITAE for JOE BLOGGS. The next page is the person’s details. The next two pages are the educational details, and he has a Matric with every subject and every mark against it, then he moves onto a Certificate or Diploma course, and puts in every single subject that he has attended and past over a 3 or 4 year period. The last page covers 7 years of work experience – listed in 3 lines, and one referee with details. Just think about this for a minute. The person who is going to employ you, most likely has the same educational background. Say you have a B.Com, he may have a B.Com an MBA and a Ph.D – don’t you think he remembers what the subjects were in the B.Com? Don’t you think that listing all those subjects is going to bore the heck out of him? YES – I don’t deny that may have been an incredible experience for you. It may have built your self esteem. Your family belief system may be that you are nothing without an education – but really think about it – how is that information going to get a future boss excited? Surely it is better to let him think that your education is an added benefit of having you on board, besides all the wonderful things that you can do for him? Remember - Your cv is not about you, it is about how by hiring you that manager’s load is going to be lightened! I like to see education listed towards the bottom of the cv, put down short, sweet and succinct. Put a comment that you had an “A” grade pass, or you were head of the class, or 5 distinctions and 3 credits – whatever. If you have done an MBA – mention the MBA pass and a mention of your dissertation underneath it – this gives the reader an opinion of the things that interest you. Personal Details. This is another thing that amuses me…. Invariably the second page is the candidate’s details – and they list everything about themselves, name and ID, and addresses, and driver’s licences, and marital status, and the name of their spouse, and the name and ages of their 6 children, and their church and religious beliefs, and on and on it goes. (I nearly fell off my chair laughing the one day when this guy put in that he is ‘heterosexual’). Really! Think about it! We’re all in a hurry, all pushed for time, all want to grab the information that is presented to us, and we want to move on. Do you really think that by listing in full down to your dog’s name that this information is going to excite your future boss, when he has never met you – you haven’t grabbed his attention within 7 seconds – why should he go on reading? Remember you are marketing yourself in on how by employing you this new boss is going to be better off having you on board. These details are of no interest to him at this stage. I like to see a couple of personal details listed at the very bottom of the cv, and ending off with your phone numbers and email address. Personal Interests and Hobbies. Only include these if they are pertinent to the job you are trying to get. If you have taken 6 weeks running over the Gobi desert, if that is not going to add value to your future boss – leave it out! If you are trying to sell in that you are disciplined, self-controlled and great tenacity, then add something like this in as a comment in the body of the cv, proving these characteristics! Flow of the cv. The following is what I have seen time and again and it has worked brilliantly for the candidate. Start off your cv with the title Curriculum Vitae – Joe Bloggs just as you would a title in a Memo. Give a one, two or three line opening paragraph that is punchy, full of information about who you are and what you have achieved for your previous companies. The second couple of paragraphs are about proving your opening statements. If for example, you have said that you are a cost conscious Project Manager in the 1st paragraph then here you mention how for such and such a company you were able to bring this project and that project in on time and within budget without losing quality. If you say in paragraph 1 that you are a great team motivating manager, here you state how through your management skills you managed to grow a cohesive team, who were always willing to go the extra mile at such and such a company, and the company’s public approval rating went up by such and such. If you say that you are a brilliant CFO in the 1st paragraph, here you are relating how through your financial guidance you were able to take such and such a company onto the JSE. If you say that you are a conscientious payroll clerk in para 1, here you prove it by saying how you discovered that UIF deductions had not been done correctly in the past, and you picked it up, and did new reconciliations and sorted it all out for the company. I strongly suggest that you do not say that you are a dedicated employee for example. This becomes a motherhood statement, and 950 people out of 1 000 describe themselves as dedicated. Your new boss could quite easily interpret that as ‘this person arrived on time 4 days out of 5 so felt that he was dedicated.’ If you use descriptions that are broad like this – again prove it in the next couple of paragraphs. Say for example you are an IT support person who handles queries telephonically and your call center is open 24/7. Prove your dedication by something like an example of how you were on an early morning shift, and because of the taxi strikes the next team was not able to get into work, and how you stayed on through the afternoon and evening shifts because you wanted to make sure the service lines were open for the client’s customers! That’s dedication! I hope by now you are getting the drift! The next portion of your cv is made up of a BRIEF, detailed, punchy, abbreviated cv. This can take any format you wish that fits in with your particular style. Eg Bloggs & Bloggs 5 years (2004 – 2009) as Snr Project/Programme Manager, managing multiple teams of up to 25 per team, with smallest project value R2M and highest being R50M, all contracted into the Financial sector. All projects finalised successfully, with client accolades and R650K incentive bonuses paid to myself for ….. Company’s profits grew by 120% because of these projects. Bloggs & Bloggs 5 years (2004 – 2009) moving from Receptionist, to Secretary within 1st year, and then being head hunted within the company by the MD and becoming his Personal Assistant. Mr Bloggs traveled extensively and relied heavily on my organizing ……….., this saved him ……… Are you getting the picture? Use your imagination, think about all the wonderful things that you have accomplished in each job, and how it has helped your manager or company. Never, never, never tell a lie. Never, never, never say something in your cv that cannot be referenced accurately. At the bottom of this page put in your couple of personal details and your contact numbers. By now the future boss has been hooked by your opening paragraph. You have given yourself credibility by proving your opening statements in the next couple of paragraphs, and your final synopsis on the companies and achievements in those companies has kept his interest. He is now feeling that he wants to meet you. He is subconsciously working on how you could fit into a particular position, how if you were to bring this personality and skills to his company he is going to benefit. Your name is there and your contact details are easily available for him. The document has flowed; it has been easy to follow. He is excited – now you want him to pick up the phone and get you in for an interview. He may ask you to send through a more detailed cv – have it ready but remember my comments earlier about educational and personal details. In essence you are merely expanding this cv with more details in the next cv. Instead of emailing it through to him, ask if you can’t rather visit him and bring it with you …… PS – a couple of final pointers:-
Good luck! Give it a whirl.
©1999-2008 The - National Employment Center .