Tag Archives: professional CV writing

Careers Advice, CV Tips, CV Writing, Job Applications, PMO, Project Management

Stating achievements on your CV

3 Comments

Your CV is a professional document which details your work history and skills – as a project professional you should look to ensure you are demonstrating your ability to add value and administer change. The nature of project management is to achieve a change and as such you should be addressing your achievements in your CV. If you are a seasoned project professional either deliverer or supporter of projects you will have a list of completed and ongoing projects which could fulfil a thesis word count requirement. Therefore it is important to describe the types of projects in your remit and save a dedicated section on the CV to bullet point a few of your key achievements. Personally I would look to create a good long list of key achievements and interchange them on your CV for a more tailored application – ensuring you are highlighting projects which are particularly relevant to the role you are applying for.

The key to writing key achievements is to be clear and concise; consider these points when constructing your bullets:

  1. What is the project / task in hand – give a brief description.
  2. What was your input – remember the aim of a CV is to talk about you not your team, if you formed part of a team delivering XXX it is OK to state this but ensure you state your actual involvement.
  3. What was the outcome – what did you actually achieve from the project / task, talk about the benefits. Increasing productivity or reducing waste, can you add £’s or %’s here?

A CV should look to address 4 to 6 bullet points of key achievements – the aim is to give the hiring manager a flavour of what you can do and there will be ample opportunity to discuss other achievements at interview.

Adding the key achievements towards the top of the CV will assist the hiring manager in understanding your strengths from the outset and lends a nice flow to the document to follow into your most recent role. Try to avoid using achievements which are too old, using more recent examples is especially important for IT roles as technology moves along so quickly – the current work is likely to be of interest to the hiring manager.

If you were a product and wanting to sell well to the consumer the key elements of sales are what you can do – market yourself in the best light possible by highlighting your best attributes to the target audience. Your CV is your own marketing document – if you were to sit in the hiring managers’ shoes, what would you expect to see?

At The CV Righter we work with you to understand your best marketing skills and ensure you are selling yourself in the best light by taking your portfolio and hand picking the parts which are relevant to your target employers. For a free CV review visit: www.thecvrighter.co.uk

Careers Advice, CV Tips, CV Writing, News, PMO, Project Management

Making the right decision about your CV

Leave a comment

I have noticed a couple of warnings about professional CV writing services on recruiter websites which are a little broad in their advice and wanted to address them. There are hundreds if not thousands of CV writing resources and services available today and I agree some are not ideal for the project management domain in that they are services which merely place your current CV into a template and rephrase your information to a professional language for employers and recruiters. This is not ideal and although it may work for some roles it is not the best use of your money for a service which promises to yield you results.

The CV resources available online are somewhat generic for PPM professionals and although they may prove a good starting point – for those who seek such guidance it may be fair to say that writing your own CV is proving a difficult task. This is where The CV Righter can support you; by offering a competitively priced collaborative service which is far reached from the generic professional CV writing services available.

At The CV Righter we understand project management in all its forms and having been a practitioner in the field of PPM and recruited specifically for project management roles across every industry from project administrator to programme director; our consultant is well versed in understanding both what you do and what is required in today’s job market.

Working closely with our clients we spend a good deal of time talking through your career history, how you work and understanding the context. Once a CV has been created (not from template) we then send over a first draft to check that all the information is true to you and has been interpreted correctly. A further discussion takes place to clarify any points and highlight any changes required. The CV is then reworked and sent back to you for further approval / notes. Once you are happy with the CV a final proof reading takes place to ensure it is as clear and concise as possible. On completion of the CV we then discuss moving forward – sometimes candidates wish to understand the current job market and how recruiters view CVs, others require assistance on where to look for roles and how to search effectively. Another service we provide is to target roles which are not advertised – putting you ahead of the game.

Throughout the service you are in control and we are here to bounce ideas off. At no point do we ever endorse including misleading information nor do we put greater emphasis on areas of weakness to enable you to get the job. We believe that in demonstrating your true skills and abilities we can gain you greater success to actually get the role not just get interviews.

For a free CV review – please feel free to get in touch and learn how your CV reads to others: www.thecvrighter.co.uk

Careers Advice, CV Tips, CV Writing, PMO, Project Management, Q&A

CV Length – Questions answered

1 Comment

In-line with my regular Q&A sessions this week we have a good question from a candidate who wants to understand what the acceptable length is for a CV.

Can you please answer me how long my CV should be – I have lots of experience in the PPM domain covering an expanse of different types of projects and programmes, when it comes to writing a CV I find I am not able to keep the document down to a short list.

Sharon, Programme Manager; London.

Hi Sharon, many thanks for your question – it is a question often asked and one which can simply be answered by stating “2 or 3 sides”. However as you are finding it difficult to keep the document to a length deemed acceptable in the recruitment field I would like to address a few things:

When compiling your CV you should look to take the following guidelines on board.

  1. It is important to include all your employment history; however I suggest you keep the bulk of the detail to your most recent roles. Roles over 10 years old need only be a line on the CV including dates, employer and job title.
  2. When writing the detail in your remit for the more recent roles – look to address the following: number and type of projects, stakeholders, benefits, how you deliver, size and complexity. Additional information such as any major issues – simply stating delivered on time and to budget doesn’t tell us a great deal. For example you may have had to gain “buy in” from teams / senior management etc. or globally dispersed stakeholders with cultural differences and availability may have been a challenge.
  3. Rather than adding achievements to individual roles; you could look to address “key achievements” at the top of the CV – these can be interchanged for particular job applications, ensuring you have relevant detail available to the hiring manager for that role.
  4. The key achievements must not be too lengthy, try to keep to a structure of describing what the project or piece of work was, your input and the results achieved – employers like to see how you can add value so £ and %’s are good to add here if appropriate.
  5. Do not list skills in a separate section, integrate them, thus adding context to the role remits.
  6. Ensure to use terminology common to project management, especially if you have been working through a structured method such as Prince2, Agile etc.
  7. Treat the document like MI; clear and concise – do not say in 30 words which can be stated in 10 or 15. Keep to the point but do not just write a job description.

The good news is that you have too much information – now it is time to edit the document back down to a shorter version, you can keep the long version as a master copy and pick and choose relevant information for specific applications. By creating more than one version of your CV you will be in a position to swiftly apply for a range of roles specific to your skill set.

At The CV Righter we provide a free CV review and career guidance to project professionals and those wishing to enter into PM. Send your CV through our contact page at: www.thecvrighter.co.uk

CV Tips, CV Writing, PMO, Project Management, Q&A

Should I state my hobbies on my CV? – Questions answered.

1 Comment

Each week I am addressing questions asked during my consultations with project professionals, via the blog – this week we have an interesting question from a PMO professional who was concerned that stating hobbies may go against him.

“I have been considering whether to add detail about my hobbies in my CV as I do not want to put employers off – some of my hobbies are extreme sports and I have read that such hobbies may be off-putting due to the perceived danger aspect and employers worry about time off due to accidents.” – Simon, PMO Lead; Southampton.

Hi Simon, many thanks for the question – hobbies are an interesting aspect of a CV in that there have always been questions around whether they are actually required. However I have worked with a number of employers who have asked to see CVs of candidates with interesting hobbies – this is because their current teams are varied in backgrounds and interests which they have found works very well for the business. Having hobbies is important to everyone as this demonstrates that our down time is being used productively but also that we have a way of channelling our energy and stresses of everyday by escapism.

Some choose to take a safer approach to hobbies and may develop websites etc where as others as more active and choose to climb rocks at the weekend. Personally I think there are a smaller number of employers which will have an issue with a dangerous sport over no hobbies at all. We can suffer accidents merely walking to the shops so in controlled environments you are less likely to have a detrimental outcome as you are aware.

Hobbies add another dimension to a CV – when choosing potential employees it is important for hiring managers to get a good fit to the team and as such they may look to attract similar to their current team or think outside the box and consider candidates with a more varied background. To make a team we do need to consider varying elements so having colleagues who are very different from each other can address any skills gaps too.

Work does take a large proportion of our time and although it is necessary to ensure you are covering all aspects of the role you perform – adding that personal element is a good idea. We are not robots and it is better to be discarded for a role from the outset if the employer truly has an issue with your hobbies than after interviewing. Save yourself the disappointment and time – be true to yourself as the right role is only around the corner and the hobbies may be the deal breaker or deal maker!

If you have a burning question you would like answering – please feel free to drop us a line at: www.thecvrighter.co.uk