Writing a Winning CV!

Writing a winning CV is as easy to get right as wrong. The good news is that it is acquired knowledge, quite straightforward really, and starts with putting yourself in the shoes of the person you plan to send it to…

Imagine you are a Production Manager in a busy factory. Christmas is approaching and you are already feeling the pressure from the supermarkets as the volumes start to build. You’ve arranged additional agency staff for the lines and you are running on Saturday mornings to increase production; perhaps you have even laid on an extra shift. Motivating your team is starting to become a struggle. Energy levels are starting to flag, the agency staff need greater supervision and support because they don’t know the jobs as well as the permanent operatives and you are spending an increasing amount of time on the shop floor propping up your team. During the summer one of your supervisors left and as volumes were low, and even with people on holiday, you didn’t notice you were a pair of hands short. You certainly do now! It is becoming increasingly difficult to find supervisory cover for overtime and tempers are starting to fray. With everyone back from their tea break and the lines running well you nip into the production office for a moment only to be greeted by another note in your tray from the HR Manager asking if you have looked through the CVs of Production Supervisors who applied to the recent advert. The reminders have been part of your daily routine for the past fortnight and while you find yourself feeling under siege, you know it needs doing so you pull over a seat and grab the pile of about 40 CVs from the top of the filing cabinet. You start to go through them and out of the corner of your eye you can already see one of the Chargehands striding towards you. Despatch have been putting your team under pressure all evening as trailers are starting to back up in the yard waiting for product and by the look on your chargehand’s face you suspect things have just come to a head...!

Now imagine that one of the CVs in the pile is yours. You’ve been in production a while and you certainly know what it’s like when volumes go through the roof! You also know that communicating effectively in that environment face to face can be challenging as everyone is so busy. So if it’s difficult to get your message across effectively face to face, how do you think the 2 pages of A4 that make up your CV are going to fare? Will they command attention, spark intrigue, get the Hiring Manager excited? Will they get you an interview or will you, like the majority, get filed in the bin?

The scenario above is not uncommon. If there is one thing all of our client’s have in common it’s a shortage of time. And the most common mistake candidates make when writing their CV is failing to take this into account! It is assumed that your CV is going to be read thoroughly, from beginning to end, and if you match what they are looking for they will invite you in for interview. The reality is that your CV will get nowhere near the level of attention you think it will. Hiring Managers already have full time jobs, reading CVs is squeezed in amongst all the other demands on their time, and there is not a huge amount of time standing between you and the bin!

Think about how much time you give a job advert – 10, 20, 30 seconds? If the advert hasn’t sparked your interest after 30 seconds it is probable that it never will and yet the job might be perfect, it might just be a badly written advert. Perhaps it didn’t sell the company, failed to tell you about the prospects for promotion, didn’t give you any indication of how senior the role was or what challenges you could look forward to getting your teeth into.

The advert that you reply to is the one that sells the company, and the role, to you most effectively – and in the shortest possible time! HR Managers and Hiring Managers are the same as candidates. The same things excite, interest or motivate them to take action that excite, interest or motivate you and I. Most CVs are simply a list of Qualifications, Companies worked for, Job title, some basic responsibilities in the role, contact details and hobbies. In the modern job market this is not enough to compete effectively for the juiciest roles!

Imagine you had 30 seconds to pitch face to face for a job. What would you say? Would you say you are highly motivated, work well in a team as well as on your own, are committed, dedicated, have good attention to detail? Or would you say that in your last role you reduced changeover times by 20%, increased efficiencies by 10% and successfully managed the transition from day shift working to alternating shifts? You can be/have done all of those things but only one of the statements is likely to make someone want to interview you, ask you about your achievements and try and find out if you could do the same for them. The first statement (motivated, team worker, committed) will be on every other CV in the pile. It will not allow the reader to choose you above the other applicants and will either be ignored or be taken to mean you lack imagination. Either way it is not a good use of space!

So what is? Let’s go through the basic building blocks of a CV.

Name & Address:Keep it clean, centred and basic (no crazy fonts, colours or pictures), first and surname only. If you are more commonly known by an abbreviated version of your first name put that. If, however, the abbreviation sounds too informal then go for the full version.

Profile:This is your first opportunity to grab the reader’s attention. We would recommend three sentences, each no more than two lines long. They should contain concrete, measurable facts about you that make it clear who/what you are and will make you stand out from your competitors. For example:

“A Food Science Graduate with 3 years NPD experience in Ready Meals, Soups and Sauces.

Proven track record of working closely with leading retailers including M&S, JS and Tesco.

Led Continuous Improvement team delivering cost savings of £15k per annum through effective process re-engineering.”

Achievements/StrengthsAgain, another opportunity to brag a little. Try and use percentages, £’s or numbers wherever possible so that readers can get a sense of the scale of your achievements. Avoid listing characteristics that all other applicants will use such as team player, motivated etc. Acronyms are also good such as HACCP, EFSIS, BRC, RFID or the names of specification systems such as Ramesys. The more specific the strengths the easier it will be for the reader to get a clear picture of what you are about.

EducationThis section could also appear at the end of your CV after “Employment History”. If you have some kind of relevant vocational qualification such as a Food Science or Engineering degree then this section should be on page one of your CV straight after “Achievements/Strengths”. However if your qualifications are general in nature and don’t strengthen your argument in relation to your ability to be a Production Supervisor, NPD Technologist, QA Manager etc. then bump it to page two and move straight to detailing your work experience.

Keep it short and punchy. Employers won’t need or want to know exactly what grade you received for every single qualification you gained. If you have a degree, providing some guidance regarding the modules can be useful. Just remember to use your judgement – as you career progresses this section of your CV should become more concise as achievements in the work place start to take priority. You have a limited amount of space on a CV, us it wisely!

Employment HistoryThere are two basic ways to present your employment history. The first is in chronological order, with the most recent first.

The second method is what is called functional. This is best suited for people who might have changed careers at some point in the past. Instead of listing a variety of jobs, ranging across two or three careers in straightforward chronological order, split your “Employment History” into “Relevant Employment History” and “Other Employment History”. “Relevant Employment History” should come first with the jobs listed in chronological order, and then do the same with “Other Employment History”.

Each job detailed should contain the Company name, Your Job title, the dates of employment including the month, and a brief outline of your duties/responsibilities/achievements. If the company used unusual Job titles, substitute these with the commonly used title which most accurately describes the role.

The duties/responsibilities/achievements are another opportunity to sell yourself. Keep them brief, and try and include as many numbers or achievements as you can to spark the interest of your reader.

Hobbies & InterestsThis is a key area and often doesn’t receive the thought and attention it should. There are the usual tips such as listing a team sport, charity work etc. and these are certainly valid.

What is more important is considering what you should avoid mentioning. Everyone is entitled to do what they want in their spare time but you cannot avoid people making judgements about you based on what you tell them. If you think that any of your hobbies or interests could be deemed as frivolous or inappropriate leave them out! Your CV is supposed to get you an interview and in most cases what you do with your spare time is your business, just bear in mind that not everyone will approve and if you are in any doubt – don’t include it!

The other thing to factor in is that you might have to answer questions about your hobbies and interests as it is an easy way for an interviewer to build rapport and try and relax you. If the last time you did any Judo was when you were eleven it might be time to consider trimming it from your CV!

Remember, your CV is supposed to be a discussion document not War and Peace! Don’t be afraid to leave some blank space, use bullet points to make it easy for the reader to scan quickly and hint at things you achieved to spark interest. If you tell someone that you have done something interesting/exciting and you haven’t told them how there is a very good chance they will get in touch to ask you!

Your CV is an advert which gets less than 30 seconds to sell you to a prospective employer! And while there are many different opinions about how to structure a winning CV the one thing they all agree on is the importance of taking the time to put together a good CV if you want to compete for the best jobs!

For more help and advice on Jobhunting skills click here to visit our “Tips” page where you can download CV templates as well as a comprehensive Job Seekers guide covering everything from where to find vacancies to answering the trickiest of interview questions.