Over
the past few months I have been giving advice on executive CV’s and how to
improve them. What I’ve learnt is that just because you earn a six-figure
salary shouldn’t assume you have a great resume – in fact in some cases, these
have been the worst!
The
resume is a sales tool – it is a preview document with the aim of winning an
interview so you can provide more information, demonstrate competencies and
ultimately win the job. The resume is
not a document to tell the interviewer everything about you. It’s a preview, a summary and a taste of what
you have to offer.
My
quick tips to a winning CV include:
Short
& sweet
– maximum 5 pages in my opinion is enough to demonstrate skills, experience,
competencies and achievements. Anything longer tends to suggest waffle and
giving away too much information ie: there is no reason left to interview you
as you have already told us everything! Use a crisp font size and type, use dot
points and short sentences.
Sections – a good resume will be
divided into key areas such as personal details, career statement/overview,
career summary, experience and achievements, qualifications and awards. Avoid long narratives about going back to your
very first job – keep it relevant and current.
Dates – a resume without specific
dates (months and years) is frustrating, as we can’t determine length of
service in each role. Being clear about
employment dates and gaps is critical in producing an honest and up to date
document.
Achievements – including key achievements
in each role demonstrates you have performed well in the role and what you
contributed in your time there. Where possible use as many facts and figures as
possible such as sales results, cost savings etc.
Company
descriptions
– not everyone has worked with high profile brand names like Coca Cola or
Google so I always recommend 2 – 3 sentences saying who the company is, the
turnover of the organisation, the industry, number of staff etc. Any
information that makes it easy for the reader to make a connection and
understand the type of organisation that you have worked for.
Referees – to include or not to
include? You will get different advice on this one, but in my opinion you don’t
need to include them as I always ask for them at the interview. You could always have them on a separate
piece of paper and bring them to the interview.
The referees are not always relevant and I like to be more specific
about who I would like to talk to eg: direct reports or team members or
clients, depending on the role and the requirements.
Reasons
for leaving
– including these explanations at the end of each role can give some context to
career moves and also demonstrates motivations for particular changes. It also gives you an opportunity to explain
shorter stints or unfavourable roles (just remember not to be negative).
Covering
letter – is essential, even if an advertisement says ‘send your CV’ not an
application letter. Most Recruiters will
read a covering letter first and we look for simple things like have you
addressed it correctly to us by name (and spelt correctly!) and why you have
applied for this job and not the other 100 in the market. This motivation for applying can be a make or
break reason for getting through to first round interview.
Opinion
vs. fact –
try and avoid as much opinion as possible in a CV. For example saying you are a
great communicator, you have fantastic attention to detail and you are a gun negotiator
can come across as self-promoting. Of course you are going to say these things
about yourself – prove it in facts instead.
For example, list a significant negotiation that you won and what was
the outcome or quote a referee. This way
you are still demonstrating your success and competency without the ego
attached to it.
Positions
– remember that titles are funny things and in different organisations they do describe
different roles. Helping to clarify
levels and seniority can be achieved through showing your direct report eg:
Reported to: Chief Executive Officer and also showing who reports to you eg: 6 Team
Managers, 32 staff.
Remember
that just by looking at a piece of paper, we can’t tell exactly what your
strengths, weaknesses, significant competencies and motivations are. The resume
has to give us a taste so we pick up the phone to invite you for a face to face
where you can then demonstrate these in a verbal context.
Too often resumes become versions of war and peace and you loose the reader by
confusing them with too much irrelevant data and information that takes away
from your core skills, experience and achievements.
Getting
your CV noticed is like hearing someone speak at a conference – you want it to
be concise, informative, entertaining and relevant with real stories and
information.
Nicole Underwood understands what it takes to
create, build and grow a successful business. The essential ingredient is recruiting, engaging and retaining people.
Great people. Top talent. High performers. As a previous finalist in the
prestigious Telstra Business Women Awards, a regular blogger and entrepreneur,
Nicole works with organisations to improve through results through hiring and
keeping the right people. 
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