When we are asked to assist job seekers who are struggling to get invited to interview, we frequently find that their CVs are selling them short. The purpose of a CV is to get you an interview – no more, no less. It is your ‘shop window’ and the first look a prospective employer has of your skills, experiences and approach. If they like what they see they will invite you in for a meeting – a job interview. If you are applying for jobs and not getting interviews there is a strong likelihood that your CV is not working for you.

Here are some common mistakes to be aware of:

• Sending a ‘vanilla’ CV which has not been tailored to reflect the needs of the job you are applying for. Do not expect the prospective employer to work out how you fit the role – you must do this yourself.
• Profile/Personal Details section which merely contains a list of what you are looking for, eg “I am seeking roles in which I can use my… skills”, etc. This section should promote you, what you do, your achievements and the value you add – concisely. In other words what you have to offer the employer, not what you want the employer or job to provide for you.
• Career History/Employment – many CVs contain just a list of responsibilities in this section. This is a wasted opportunity as it doesn’t give any indication as to the standard with which they were carried out, the value you added to the company, or provide an opportunity to sell yourself. While you should always briefly state what your responsibilities have been and state their scope and size, your emphasis should be on stating your achievements (ie., what you did, the skills you used and the benefit that resulted).
• Tucking the most relevant or impressive aspects of your candidature to the end. For example if your qualifications are particularly relevant/impressive make a feature of them and place them early on in the CV document after the Contact Details and Profile sections. On the other hand if your qualifications are not a particular sales point, put them at the end.
• An Interests section is not essential. If you include one it should be brief. It is intended to give the reader an indication of your interests particularly in terms of the picture they present of you. These can be very valuable for those newly entering the job market. Remember that your CV is a business document and resist the temptation to expand at length on your family, pets, hobbies, etc.
• Leaving unaccounted for gaps in your career history.
• Putting your date of birth on your CV. It is not necessary, and presents a particular risk to you in terms of identity theft if the document is stored electronically.

Finally, after the time and effort you have put into creating your CV, don't forget to check:

• For spelling, grammar and continuity errors
• That it does you justice – is this a clear, honest and comprehensive summary of your skills, aptitudes and achievements?

CV writing is a tedious business for most of us. It is not always easy to capture and articulate all of our achievements and attributes which promote us to would-be employers to best advantage. Even more difficult for many is writing the ‘Profile’ or ‘Personal Summary’ section. Many of the CVs I am asked to review have Profiles which are very weak, in that they give a very unclear or incomplete picture of the candidate, or worse, don’t include a Profile at all. So what’s the deal with Profile statements?

Your Profile statement is an important part of your CV and a key selling point. It is your opportunity to summarise your skills, attributes and experience in a way that clearly illustrates why you are ideally suited to the job and the organisation for which you are applying.

​In earlier articles I have stressed two points:
1. That your CV is a marketing document and is written to show how you meet the employer’s needs not how the employer should meet yours; and
2. That the top third of the first page of your CV is a key position – i.e. if it is sufficiently interesting and relevant the reader will read on.

Typically, and ideally, your Profile should follow your contact information at the top of the first CV page. It should clearly describe:

• who you are: eg “As a highly motivated, energetic finance director, I have…”
• what you do and what value you can bring to the organisation, eg “a proven track record of analysing, evaluating and managing company acquisitions…”
• your career objective eg. “looking for a position within a professional services organisation in which I can add commercial and strategic value and further develop my professional skills”.

The Profile should provide the reader with an accurate, comprehensive and punchy ‘picture’ of you. The statement should be brief (between 50 and 150 words in length) and should read smoothly without excessive use of the personal pronoun (“I”). A concise, well written summary should leap out at the reader and motivate them to read on.

Think about what you can do for the employer. For example if you start by saying “I am looking for a position in which I can utilise my communication skills and progress my career” it says something about your needs but is not focused on what the employer wants or needs. Ensure that you focus on the job, its requirements and what you have to offer first. For this reason you will see that your summary should be updated (albeit slightly) for each job you apply for, along with the rest of your CV.

Finally I suggest you write your Profile statement last to ensure that it effectively summarises all the points you have included in your CV; this nicely signposts the reader to what will follow.

​If you would benefit from help with your CV or career management, do give us a call.

I was intrigued to read in an edition of The Psychologist (vol. 25 no. 2) that prisoners whose cases come up in court for review just before lunch have a near zero probability of getting paroled. The article showcased Roy F. Baumeister’s (Professor of Psychology at Florida State University) work on self-control and willpower - work which is both fascinating and valuable in the coaching context.

Baumeister’s work has led him to conclude that the most important factors leading to happy and successful lives are intelligence and self-control – and by a long way. “Self-control is what people use to restrain their desires and impulses”. It is essentially about change and our tendency to self-regulate our responses, emotions, thoughts and performance according to some personal standard or ideal. Baumeister’s work has shown that successful self-control depends upon a limited resource of energy. When this energy is temporarily used up (termed “ego depletion”), for example when resisting the temptation to eat another chocolate, our willpower drops and we are much less able to resist the next temptation until the energy reserves are built back up. This explains why self-control is most likely to break down towards the end of the day. Baumeister describes one study in which five minutes of resisting temptation to eat chocolate biscuits led to a drop of ten minutes in how long people were able to persevere with a stressful task.

In coaching situations where we are working to assist people to change behaviour, thoughts or emotions and stick to their actions, this research has interesting implications. Making change is often the easy part in a coaching intervention. Maintaining those new behaviours is often the most difficult part. Baumeister indicates two areas which might have helpful applications:

1. physiological basis – an accidental finding has led to the understanding that willpower is linked to glucose levels. The effects of “ego depletion” can be addressed by giving a dose of glucose. Apparently a prisoner coming before a judge after lunch has a 65% chance of getting parole.
2. ‘muscle’ development – self-control is considered to have muscle-type properties in that it can be strengthened with exercise. Performing exercises designed to strengthen self-control are effective after just a two week period.

Another glass of Lucozade anyone?

​- See more at: http://www.managingchange.org.uk/articles/page/5/#sthash.ViHjgrs9.dpuf