CV Advice

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[email protected] www.xceedgroup.com © Xceed Consultancy Services Ltd XIPXW16 : Version 1 – May 2013

OUR PEOPLE ARE YOUR ASSETS

Xceed Way

CV AdviceThe Resourcing team at Xceed is regularly asked to review CVs for Associates, Consultants, Contacts, Clients, Friends & Family. There is no magic formula for CV writing; ask ten people and you can easily get ten different opinions. However, with over 40 years of combined HR & Recruitment experience and having resourced for over 70% of the FTSE100 the Xceed team has reviewed more CVs than most.

Different industries, roles and aspirations influence the recommended style of CV and we recommend tailoring CVs for different roles and opportunities. However, the general sug-gestions outlined here are relevant to most roles but are specifically targeted at experienced professionals in IT, Financial & Professional Services.

Basics:> The majority of reviewers and search engines prefer Word

documents to PDF files. They’re faster to open, easier to view and are searchable by all search engines.

> Three pages is the optimum length for most CVs. Two pages is fine, five is too many.

> The first page is significantly more important than any other page. If the first page doesn’t grab attention quickly or shows errors, the CV will never be read in full.

> Internal and Agency recruiters can review thousands of CVs in a week. Many will spend less than 30 seconds on each before moving on.

> CVs should always be in reverse chronological order with the majority of detail provided for roles in the last 3-5 years, decreasing the level of detail as you go ‘back’, both in time and in the CV.

> Place the emphasis on recent roles, not on what you did in 1986.

> Bullet points triumph over paragraphs, every time. They’re more inviting and faster to read and understand. CVs aren’t narrative stories; they’re a set of headlines.

> First drafts are never the best drafts. Expect to write and rewrite your CV a number of times. Typically you’ll start with a longer version and then need to edit it down ruthlessly. If a word or sentence can be cut, cut it.

> If you have ever been approached by a former employer to return or to join them at their new organisation, this is well worth mentioning. “Approached by my previous boss to join him at x to manage/solve y” tells the reviewer a lot. At least one person who has worked with you rates you highly. The line ‘headhunted for’ carries less weight as it is often abused. Previous colleagues that want you to help them out are more valuable to reference.

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Look & Feel > CVs should always be inviting to read. This means having

plenty of white space and not cramming the page with small text. The worst way to reduce a 7 page CV to a 3 page version is to reduce the font size.

> A better way of saving space is to drop addresses and contact details from the main body of the CV and include brief contact details (email and mobile) in the Header.

> Another space-saver is to avoid explaining what each company does, unless it is directly relevant to the role being applied for. People often include paragraphs explaining what their previous employers do, even when it’s a well-known FTSE100 business. If the reviewer doesn’t recognise the company and wants to know more, they will use Google.

> Black on white is best; unless it’s a creative role in advertising or marketing then CVs are best in black font on a white background. Some very subtle and sparing colour can work but any gaudy colours for fonts, lines or boxes are more likely to work against you than for you.

> If used at all, photographs should be professional headshots, not the one you use for your Facebook profile. Our general advice is to drop the photos all together; they’re more often detrimental than advantageous.

> The same is true for company logos, they only add to the file size, not the impression the CV will make.

Language > Don’t use ‘We’ – the reviewer wants to know what You

personally did. This is as true on paper as in an interview.

> First person (“I am..”) or third (“John is…”) are both ok but pick one and stick to it throughout. Inconsistency jars and suggests lack of attention to detail.

> With the exception of the Profile section, where you’re talking about yourself in the present tense, CVs are best written in the past tense. You’re writing about what you’ve done and achieved, not what you’re doing and achieving.

> Use active verbs, lots of them, but use the past tense. Speechwriters and politicians know the power of active verbs and use them regularly. They’re descriptive and action oriented. Examples of past tense active verbs which describe work include: Illustrated, Delivered, Simplified, Measured, Supported, Communicated, Rationalised, Implemented, Provided etc.

> Let the personality out from behind the paper, but only a bit. There’s good research from the field of behavioural economics that shows people respond to personality and passion. CVs don’t have to be bland or anodyne documents. Judicious use of phrases such as “with a passion for… X” or “with a strong belief in the importance of..” or simply “particularly enjoy..” Naturally these should all be positive statements and related to work.

> Use spellchecker. Twice. It’s surprisingly rare to read a CV without errors. The most enjoyable error is when people miss-spell the sentence “I have excellent attention to detaial.” This happens, a lot.

> Use short, simple sentences and cut out the technospeak. Research has shown that use of overly complex words has the opposite effect that you’d expect. In a series of studies Daniel Oppenheimer proved that using long, complex or unusual words unnecessarily makes people view the writer as less intelligent than someone using short & simple words. His paper was pleasingly called “Consequences of erudite vernacular utilised irrespective of necessity; problems with using long words needlessly.”

Sell, Sell, Sell > Your CV is a sales document and you are the product. It is

normally the first impression you will make with a potential future employer and it matters, a lot, that you get it right.

> Don’t be humble – some people are uncomfortable talking about their successes and their strengths, seeing it as boastful. Being humble is a nice trait in a person; it’s terrible in a CV. One trick that can help is to think of the most boastful person you know, possibly a sales or marketing acquaintance, and draft your CV as if it was them writing it. This can, and should, feel uncomfortable for some people but it will help to tease out the headline achievements in a way that comes across powerfully on paper.

Achievements not Responsibilities It’s common to see a list of responsibilities for each role. This can be helpful in explaining the scale & scope of the role. However, it doesn’t tell the reviewer how well you delivered against those responsibilities. The best CVs emphasise the Achievements – the bottom line impact – of that persons work in each role.

For example, which of the below is more compelling?

> I was responsible for running a team of onsite recruitment Consultants at Phones4U. We delivered an in-house RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) service to fill all vacancies across Head Office functions at P4U’s Head Office in Acton, West London.

Or

> Managing a flexible on-site team of up to seven Consultants I was responsible for all head office recruitment at Phones4U. Within 12 months I increased Direct Hiring from 40% to 70%, reduced the average Time to Hire by over 20 days and the average Cost Per Hire by 25%. This resulted in a fourfold increase in profitability for my company and securing a contract renewal for a further three years.

Emphasise achievements that are attention grabbing but only ones that you can support in an interview.

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Example Structure

Page One:> Contact number and email in header &/or footer, can be

nice to add your LinkedIn URL

> Name in larger font, centred at the top of page one

> Introductory profile paragraph stating what you are, what you bring and what you’re looking for.

> Bullet points or table of key skills – technical and non-technical

> Bullet points or table of Key Achievements – focusing strongly on the bottom line impact or the business benefit of the achievements. Not just ‘what’ you did but ‘what it meant’ to the business.

> Précis of career history that shows roles, companies and durations of your roles.

A reviewer will typically have made their decision on whether to progress before turning to page two. Getting the maximum detail into the first page is key and headline achievements and capabilities are critical. Quickly being able to see the job titles, durations and companies worked for is very helpful.

Page Two/ThreeEmployment history with headline facts for each role, reverse chronological order with the majority of detail provided for the most recent (last 3-5 years) roles. A brief sentence followed by some punchy bullet points is a good approach. Recent roles may go into this much detail:-

2012-2013 Change Manager at Phones4U Approached to join my previous boss’s new transformation programme at Phones4U. This core platform replacement programme affected over 4,000 employees across the UK and EMEA. I was fully responsible for all change communications and user training.

Key Achievements included:> Designed Comms plan and toolkit which received

programme board approval within two weeks and became company standard.

> Managed a multi-channel communication strategy encompassing weekly and monthly eNewsletters, Intranet, Presentations, Workshops, and Social Media updates. This resulted in exceptional user and Exec feedback & engagement.

> Designed and delivered an employee survey to establish the most practical and efficient models for user training, based on varied user groups, locations, needs and availability.

> Delivered a variety of user engagement & training work-streams including; webinars, video tutorials, FAQs and Intranet help-pages, class-room, floor walking and 1-2-1 coaching for super-users. This was delivered ahead of schedule and under budget.

> Follow-up surveys and system usage reports demonstrated that all users had engaged with the training and system successfully.

> Upon successful completion of this transformation programme I was asked to take on the Change & Communication Management role for a new EPOS system roll-out.

Roles from over five years ago can be much more succinct.

2005-2006 Change Manager at Phones4UDesigned & delivered Communication and Training strategies for an EMEA wide platform replacement programme. Multi-channel strategies were executed on time and under budget. Many of my tools & templates were adopted as the company standard after delivering excellent results and receiving good feedback from users.

Page Three (or bottom of Page Two)> Brief Academic track record, including training & professional

accreditations, no-one needs to know your O’Level results.

> A couple of sentences on personal interests outside of work. Be honest but cautious – “I am a 9th Dann Black Belt and registered lethal weapon as well as being a fully qualified Shaman” is a real line from a CV, we didn’t interview her.

> References available upon Request statement – and / or links to any LinkedIn testimonials that you’d like the reviewer to check out.)

That’s it. There are lots of variations and different styles of template that can be used. This is simply a general framework that gets everything across in a way that’s easy to read and understand and markets your experience in a reader friendly way.

If you want to check out what other people have said on this topic then have a look through the links below. The Xceed Resourcing team all agree with what’s written above and would be very happy if all CVs we read followed these guidelines.

Unfortunately we don’t always have time to provide tailored feedback for everybody but we will if we can, just ask.

CV Advice Reference Sources: > http://cv.monster.co.uk/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_n=Srch_UK_SK_G_OTH> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15573447> http://www.businessballs.com/curriculum.htm> http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/mar/15/cv-tips-first-arts-job> http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/cv-templates/1661/top-tips-for-cv-writing/> http://www.alec.co.uk/cvtips/index.htm

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