The Perfect CV
ðə ˈpɜːfɪkt siːviːDoes the perfect CV exist? Are global trends more important than local requirements? Are there universal laws and rules? The answers to these questions are: yes, it depends, yes.
Career Angels has been supporting top managers and executives in their career moves internationally with a focus on Europe since 2010. Inspired by inquiries from our clients and Executive Search firms that do not offer outplacement services, we’ve decided to step into this market segment. Why keep our clients’ successes to the B2C market?
Allow us to be instrumental to your managers’ successful transition!
What are your strengths from an employer’s point of view? Why should they choose you amongst other candidates? Will they notice your uniqueness after opening your CV? Why should the main decision maker devote 15 minutes of their time to you, although their company does not have an open recruitment process?
Your CV is your business card
It is the first impression you will make on the recipient of your CV before they actually meet you. That is why the quality of the CV is so important. An ideal résumé communicates your personality and traits as an executive, and therefore its content should be prepared with the reader in mind and be relevant & concrete.
When preparing free CV Reports, we assess, i.a., formatting, language accuracy, overall legibility or punctuation consistency. Our clients, experienced managers and usually board members, are very often surprised by the low scores their CVs receive. One of them – a CEO from a heavy industry company – had an interesting insight after reading his report. He scored 12%:
“It looks like I am a good quality “product” packed in an inadequate box […] Let me say that it is better to have a good product in a bad packaging, rather than the opposite. I suppose it should be easier to upgrade the packaging rather than the content, which seems to be looking fine :). So, the future looks good.”
And he is right!
General CV writing tips
The structure of the traditional CV has changed over the last 10 years. On top of that, there is a difference between the CV of a student and the one of an executive. What often happens is that instead of completely re-doing their CV, top managers simply keep adding to their “student-versions”. The result: a hybrid CV that is not worthy of the 21st century.
Additionally:
- When preparing your CV avoid writing in the first person. It makes the whole text more difficult to read. We know that there are career coaches that claim otherwise. We’ve verified with HR Directors and CEOs.
- Ideal length: 2-3 pages. Additional, relevant information that does not fit onto that 2-3 pages, should be placed in another document that we call Project Portfolio.
Last, but not least: always make sure you double-check everything: formatting, grammar, spelling, etc. To get it right, read Getting it right.
Contact details
This section is important, but don’t let it occupy the first half of the page of your CV. We cannot underline that enough: avoid writing irrelevant information such as your birthday, marital status, number of children, etc. Your potential employer will not choose you based on the number of children you have, no matter how cute they are. They want to see how you can add value to their company first.
Make sure to include your first and last name and only relevant contact details without descriptive words. The name you use on your CV should be consistent with the name you use on professional social media platforms (e.g. LinkedIn) or the one you use in your email address. Why? Consistency. If you are applying internationally, people from other countries may not quite get that Przemek.Kowalski@gmail.com is actually named Przemysław, or that Pepe Martinez from LinkedIn is the same one that sent his CV under the name of Jose Martinez Sosa.
Your email address should be professional: preferably “FirstName.LastName@Domain.com”. It should be your private email address – your job hunting should never become part of your current job. Do not use the year you were born in to create your email address – trust us, there are plenty of other combinations that look much more professional. E.g.:
James Hugh Smith: JamesHughSmith@Domain.com, HughJamesSmith@Domain.com, JHSmith@Domain.com, JamesSmith@Domain.com, JamesHS@Domain.com, JH_Smith@Domain.com, SmithHughJames@Domain.com etc…
Profile Summary
A unique professional summary – this is where and how you can set yourself aside. Personalize it!
How do you know if your profile summary is good enough? Imagine that somebody visits your LinkedIn profile and says, “Oh, I like that summary. I will use it myself!”. If they can go ahead and simply copy-paste it to their own profiles with only 2-3 minor changes, then you know that profile is not unique enough.
Avoid using too many descriptive words (e.g. successful, motivated, etc.) and be concrete – give examples of your successes, include numbers.
Before:
Reach strategic sales, marketing and executive experience managing fast growth, entrepreneurial organizations in digital media, e-commerce and service b2b industries in Europe and United States.
After:
Success follows this CEO who is a graduated from the University of Maryland with an MBA from the New York University.
Company A:
- as the Marketing Manager responsible for making the CompanyA.com the #1 among websites for 12 months!
- co-developed the award-winning ad product “XXXX”
Company B
- built the 3rd biggest online media group in Poland with outstanding results
- effectively reorganized and consolidated digital and traditional media
- awarded “Person of the Year 2008” by internetSTANDARD
Company C:
- increased stock price from EUR 33 in 1Q 2012 to EUR 88 in 1Q 2015
- transitioned “from single to multiple product” in PL, CZ, RO, BG, SK
Built and fostered strategic, profitable partnerships with i.a.
Google | Microsoft/MSN | LinkedIn | Orange & World Internet Project
Led acquisition and investment processes in e.g.
Company B | Company C | Company D | Company E | Company F | Company G
Before:
Personal Profile:
19 years experience in global retailers (the Big 5)
11 years experience in operations
19 years experience in working within international business
International project – Russia, Ukraine
My strengths: strategic thinking, financial awarness, searching for challenges, team work, I am focused on delivering targets, people cooperation, customer focus.
After:
Operations & People
Company A (5000 FTEs; 4 bn PLN turnover, 130 stores (all formats, petrol stations, bistro)):
- Transformation of the weakest teams into the most successful ones
- Turnaround of unprofitable stores into profitable ones
- BPO: continuous optimization of processes & costs
- Compact Hypermarket (CHM): launched 16 stores of this format within 2 years
- Co-development of CHM concept in Europe (PL, SK, CZ, H)
- Post-merger integration of Company B
Company C: Sales Department Manager, Store Director
Active Investor and Consultant with e.g. Organization A or Organization B
Before:
Effective and creative Manager in marketing, with extensive experience gained in international structures
Broad competence in building branding strategy, supporting sales process.
Extensive knowledge in the field of marketing research
Very good knowledge of English, allowing to communicate effectively in an international environment.
Leadership personality enable to motivate team members to achieve their goals.
Building business relationships at a high level of professionalism.
Easy to generate and implement effective solutions.
After:
E-commerce | On-line Marketing
- E-commerce | On-line Marketing
- Strategy creation and market introduction of the largest e-commerce in Poland, the first in the DIY segment – Internet channel XXX (Silver EFFIE 2015 Award in e-commerce category, Golden Arrow 2015 for Best SEM Campaign, Grand Webstar, Best website 2013)
- Creating start up processes and the supply chain, logistics operations, customer service processes for the XXX e-commerce channel
- Project leader for multichannel transformation
- Management of the digital communications budget and budget for the development of Internet technology
Business development
- Soft launch of the YYY brand (EFFIE Award in 2007 and the Golden Arrow 2007)
- Relaunch of the ZZZ brand
- Relaunch of the XXX prepaid card
- Launch of the XXX platform on the Polish market
Before:
Senior Executive successfully delivered BSS/OSS solutions & Digital Services, in multicultural environments, for customers in Europe, USA, and Latin America.
Capable of mentoring and coaching and to create and foster cross-functional relationships.
Customer focused with developed business acumen, self motivated, flexible and dedicated with entrepreneurial mindset, open to new knowledge.
Able to prioritize and handle multiple tasks and time pressure, takes initiative and delegates to ensure that actions and projects are on track.
Ensured profitable customer’s operations (managed services) while meeting agreed SLA, delivering new projects, consulting & systems integration services.
Able to negotiate complex contracts, allowing fulfilling customer’s business requirements and meeting defined KPI for successful project delivery.
MBA, MSc in Electronics, PMP certified in 2004, fluent in English and Polish, advanced Portuguese
After:
- Company A: 100+ engagements meeting margin expectations; BSS/OSS, Digital Services, Cyber Security
- Company B, Belgium: multi-phased BSS transformation project; 40% margin; contract value +30% thanks to Change Management Process
- Successfully implemented BSS solution for 5 markets in Latin America (incl. Brazil), ensuring customer satisfaction & profitability of the projects
- Company C: multi-million dollar, multi-phase implementation of BSS/OSS solution for 3G/HP-PTT project; 40% project margin; contract value +80%
- IT Director at Company D: security policies; investment budget of 15 m USD
- Company E: set-up IT Department; 1st retailed billing solution on PL market
Before:
HR Director & HR Business Partnering experience gained in multinational, global and European companies, in matrix, digital and diverse organizations. Today Head of HR Shared Services organization with 100+ professionals, 10 EMEA countries.
Proven ability to design and execute HR initiatives and policies both at strategic and operational level. Strong business partner, with a good combination of business-oriented and people-focus mindset. Energetic leader, responsible for significant input to business strategy and organizational culture, with high level of relationships building skills.
After:
Regional HR Business Partner / HR Director who has been supporting the business side across various industries for over 15 years:
At Company A:
- Board Member & HR Director for Commercial Unit
- EMEA Shared Services Director with full P&L responsibility
- Country HR Business Partner for Sales & Production
- HR Business Partner for newly deployed Shared Services
- Change management:
- Led restructuring program as response to global crisis
- Managed acquisition projects (400+ FTEs); business & people were maintained
- Shift to home office with decrease of 50% of all sales offices across PL
- From product- to product- & solution-oriented sales approach
- At Company B as HR Development Manager: led post-merger integration at no rotation; supported company growth
- At Company C as HR Development Manager: Sales & Production
Experience
The experience section (not education) follows the profile summary, unless you are a student or a recent graduate without relevant work experience. List all relevant positions, excluding unrelated work experience as having been a TV technician or waitress, etc.
Use legible bullet points to present your responsibilities and a separate section for selected successes that are expressed measurably. Why? Because the reader should immediately notice that you are an experienced manager with a successful track record. If you’ve done it once, chances are you can repeat it in another company.
Education
Include only tertiary education. Do not include the title or your thesis of the student organizations you were a member of. Right now, you surely have many more recent achievements to be proud of. Don’t let your education from xx years ago take up all that space unnecessarily.
Languages
Make sure you include only the languages that you actually can work in.
Additional Information
Avoid enlisting your character traits or soft skills like “I am a creative person.” You are an executive and not a student! The entirety of the CV should perspire with your personality, which agreeably is very difficult to achieve. But there is no need to spell it out. You can however include your concrete interests and hobbies: by doing so you show that you are “real” & you give the reader a chance to connect with you.
A profile picture says more than a 1000 words. What does yours say?
Have you ever searched for a prospect, business partner or potential employee online? Maybe you have found your lawyer, doctor or investment banker on a social media site via common friends? Have you ever been unpleasantly surprised by how unprofessional their profile picture was?
What usually happens is that we choose a picture:
– thinking about what we like instead of considering our target group
– that we have at hand instead of making an effort to look for a better one or take a better one
Now the skeptics will say, “I don’t look at the photos. I am not influenced by it.” Your subconsciousness is influenced positively or negatively whether you like it or not. And even if you belong to the rare exception of people that are indeed not effected – the vast majority is.
7 seconds
…that is how long a person needs to unconsciously form an opinion about you. On the Internet, the first thing they see is your picture. Many people do not even have a profile picture! The probability of anyone reading a “picture-less” profile is very low. Unfortunately, even if we have a picture on our business networking site such as LinkedIn.com or Xing.com, only about 5% of those would be classified as “OK” or “Good”. 75% of all added pictures fall under one of the following categories:
An ID Photo
As the name itself indicates, that is where it should be used: in your passport or in your ID but nowhere else! It is usually too serious, official and not inviting at all.
That’s not me
The picture of a child, a tree or our favourite view motivates us, because we know what’s on it. Will a stranger know what you wanted to say? Do you invite somebody to connect?
Flirty eyes
Maybe you’ve confused this with a dating site? Are you sure you want to look for your soulmate on Plaxo.com, LinkedIn.com or Xing.com? We highly discourage you!
Bad quality
Bad picture quality = bad expert quality? This correlation is probably misleading, but will you get a second chance for a first impression to explain that it’s (not) the case?
Find me!
It’s the perfect picture for our friends. Using such a picture we automatically exclude everyone who does not know us. The first contact is a quiz. But will they want to solve it? We doubt it!
I took it myself
You do not have any pictures on your computer. But hey, you have a webcam! Aside from the fact that the quality will be poor, you communicate that you do not really care.
Picture from a trip
You register on a networking site for the first time. You are in a hurry. The first picture you find is your favourite one from a recent trip. You add it, promising yourself that you’ll change it.
Cut out from a party
Advantages in business: you can party a lot, you can drink a lot, and you are fun to hang out with? The worst pictures: with bottles of alcohol, with a cigarette or – OH NO – drunk! Party yes, business no!
Make sure that:
- you are in your professional context (dress the way you would dress when going to an interview or meeting with an important prospect client)
- the background is not dark and not distracting
you look into the camera - it’s OK to smile 🙂
Remember
An online profile picture is different from a regular portrait. There is only a little space available to portray and communicate your professionalism, as well as gaining the viewer’s trust.
Last but not least
You do not have to book an expensive photographer. With today’s quality of smartphones and the right light, you’ll be able to do little wonders at home. Just no selfies. Please.
Important
Depending on the country, including a picture might actually be against discrimination acts.
Design
Elements like font, its colors, layout or background allow to achieve the intended effect: to make your CV stand out among hundreds of others and to impart individuality to your application documents. How do you add a personal touch?
It is no about adding rainbows and unicorns to your CV. Add a touch of your character – and only to certain elements. Express your personality skillfully. Aim at creating a coherent picture of yourself through your documents.
You can experiment with the font (it doesn’t always need to be Times New Roman). Clean and simple fonts (like e.g. Arial or Verdana) ensure the legibility of your text. Fancier fonts (e.g. Georgia) can stand out and add to your CV’s personality. Once you choose a font, stick to it! Do not use CapsLock – it will look like you are SHOUTING AT YOUR READER.
You can very subtly (!) play with colors. Try ColorLovers.com to discover your true colors.
(Key) words you use
Versatile Finance Manager (CIP, CIMA, MBA) with over 5 years of experience in translating numbers into business language and a knack for IT with proven success in enhancing operational efficiency and streamlining business processes:
Fonts you apply
Versatile Finance Manager (CIP, CIMA, MBA) with over 5 years of experience in translating numbers into business language and a knack for IT with proven success in enhancing operational efficiency and streamlining business processes:
Colors you choose
Versatile Finance Manager (CIP, CIMA, MBA) with over 5 years of experience in translating numbers into business language and a knack for IT with proven success in enhancing operational efficiency and streamlining business processes:
To read more on fonts, please visit:
http://www.monster.ca/career-advice/article/the-proper-use-of-fonts-in-your-resume
You probably already know that one of the ways of positioning yourself properly – e.g. as an employer, a potential employee or an expert – is creating a well-thought through, professional profile and consistent online presence. Here you have a comprehensive guide to creating a Perfect Linkedin profile:
Start offline
- Prepare your LinkedIn profile in a document prior to uploading it.
- You want to make sure a perfect, proofread, triple-checked version of your profile goes live.
… now to the “filling-out” part field by field from top to bottom.
Your Name
- First Name, then Last Name. NOT the other way around – this mistakes happens more often than you’d like to imagine.
- If you have a common name, make it less common by e.g. adding your middle name. Don’t have a middle name? Invent an initial. E.g. Sandra Bichl might turn into Sandra M. Bichl. For consistency purposes start using it also in your email signature, etc.
- No titles in your name. No MBA, PhD, MA, MSc, etc. Exception: Germany, Austria or if it’s really important in terms of your credibility.
Contact info
- Make sure that your “primary email address” is your business email (under settings). Primary means it’s the only one visible.
- Add a link to your current company website.
Tagline
- That is the line BELOW your name and can be edited separately.
- Update your Tagline so that it is attractive to your target group / audience.
Industry
- You would be surprise how many people make mistakes in this section. Make sure you choose the correct one: remember that your position doesn’t equal the industry you work in! E.g. If you are a CFO who works in a company that produces and sells snacks:
- Correct industry: FMCG.
- Wrong industry: Finance.
Link to your profile
- Personalize it:
- Good link: https://pl.linkedin.com/in/sandrabichl.
- Bad link: https://pl.linkedin.com/in/sandrabichl/012394/mink/0234 (by default).
You will find more tips on i.a. how to personalize your link here.
Photo
Make sure that your photo meets the following criteria:
- homogeneous background
- head & shoulder shoot
- wearing white or dark shirt or suit (in other words: dressed as if you were to go for an interview)
- it would be nice to wear some accessories: a tie / scarf / pin etc.
Background image
No. Do not include it. A picture of a nice landscape will only distract the reader’s attention instead of focusing it on the content of your profile. Exception: if it’s corporate policy.
Connections
- If your are a CEO (or a Board Member) your target is to have min. 500. If you are manager with at least 10 years of experience, you should have min. 200 contacts.
- Don’t want others (e.g. competitors) to see who you know? Go to Privacy & Settings → “Select who can see your connections” → “Only you”.
Profile summary
A unique professional summary – this is where and how you can set yourself aside. Personalize it!
How do you know if your profile summary is good enough? Imagine that somebody visits your Linkedin profile and says, “Oh, I like that summary. I will use it myself!”. If they can go ahead and simply copy-paste it to their own profiles with only 2-3 minor changes, then you know that profile is not unique enough.
Avoid using too many descriptive words (e.g. successful, motivated, etc.) and be concrete – give examples of your successes, include numbers.
The profile summary is the first thing your target group will read. It is the trailer of a movie.
Experience
- Do NOT “copy/paste” your CV!
- Batch positions within a company where appropriate to avoid a “jumper”-impression.
Show the last 7-10 years, in some cases 15 years. - Do not publish sensitive / confidential data.
- Be consistent in how you describe positions, e.g. 3 lines per entry.
Languages
- Add only language skills that you can work in.
Groups
- Choose groups that confirm your expertise.
- Hide (don’t delete) groups that are not relevant.
Other sections
- Projects: keep empty (exceptions may apply).
- Honors & Awards: relevant and from the last 5-7 years, unless it is something really worth mentioning.
- Organizations: relevant memberships, incl. board memberships.
- Education: studies, important trainings; NOT high school; feel free to ignore this section if divulging your age would be disadvantageous.
- Publications: include articles, books, media mentions.
- Recommendations: do it well or don’t do it at all. Either decide not to have any or do it right: recommend others and ask for recommendations. Important: don’t lie and only recommend people you would actually recommend. Headhunters have started to verify them!
Go online
- Now that you have prepared your profile “on paper”, proofread it.
- Triple-check grammar, punctuation, spelling.
- Un-select the “share with network” option: Go to Privacy & Settings → Turn on/off your activity broadcasts. By selecting this option, your activity updates will be shared in your activity feed. Let people know when you change your profile, make recommendations, or follow companies.
Note: you may want to turn this option off, if you’re looking for a job and don’t want your present employer to see that you’re updating your profile.
Click here to download more Linkedin tips.
The person reading your CV will have on average 6-15 seconds per document to decide whether it’s worth inviting you. How easy or difficult will it be for them to find what is relevant for them? The content of your CV may have potential, however, if you don’t pay attention to its presentation (structure, spaces, commas, etc.), you will make it harder for the reader to realize that you are a really good candidate. And that’s your future career we are talking about.
As we mentioned before: your CV is your business card, and therefore it should be perfect. Make sure there are no mistakes & consistency in:
- dates & names
- bullet points & letters at the beginning of sentences
- margins & background
- title sections & fonts
Take care of the style & formatting:
- capital letters in proper names
- neutrally written (not in the 1st person)
- no tautologies or pleonasms or wordiness
- linguistic correctness as typos or grammar
Below you will find a table with the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.
When sending out your application: the CV should always be in .pdf form with an appropriate file name. Everybody works on a different operating system and uses different Text Editors – you want to decrease the risk of incompatibilities across platforms that make the document potentially look “scrambled”.
Some headhunters may ask you to send an editable version of your CV. You may do so, but make sure to make a good 1st impression first – once they see your flawless CV in a .pdf form, you can send them your CV in any form they want.
You may ask: what about the online CV scanning systems? Such softwares are used mainly as an initial screening tool, searching for key words, analyzing candidate’s depth of experience, in order to decide if it should be seen by a “real” consultant. Our advice is to go around these systems by sending your application documents directly to the adequate person – a headhunter or your potential employer – to their email address (that is: sending your CV to JohnSmith@Company.com rather than to hr@company.com or office@company.com). Some companies will insist to go through their website due to an internal candidate tracking system and only .doc formats are allowed – that is OK as you most probably will have to fill out forms to fit you into their standardized templates.
I agree to the processing of my personal data for current and future recruitment purposes.
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