Your CV – An Employer’s View
Your CV may just be one of the most important documents you will ever have to write, so it needs to be good – very good. You joined the Royal Navy straight from school or maybe university, perhaps a long time ago. If you ever created a CV before, that was probably also a long time ago.
So here you are, hovering over your keyboard……….wondering how to start! Be in no doubt that you will hear many opinions about CVs; my advice is to listen to all views, ask questions and seek opinions until you feel you understand what is required. Then you can make your own mind up and produce a document that not only really does you justice but is of the highest possible quality. The smallest detail must be correct and true. There is absolutely no excuse for anything else but the very best. A ship’s appearance will be let down by just a single Irish Pennant, the same goes for your CV.
WHAT?
What is a CV? Well, to start with, it’s a sales document written by you in order to get you an interview. It’s you on a few sides of paper and you have just one chance to make sure that it reaches me, your potential employer, and that I then read it in full. If I give up half way through, then you’re either going for the wrong job or your CV itself is wide of the mark for some reason. Interest me, engage my attention, retain my attention and make me want to hear more about you! Sell yourself to me. From your Service life, you will have so much to offer the civilian workplace and employers want people like you; this is something you must believe. You should be confident of all you have to offer. Additionally, depending on the level of job you are going for, you may also have to convince others on the way, such as recruitment agencies and head-hunters, so do put yourself in my position and give every statement on your CV the “so what?” test.
What should your CV contain? Everything relevant about you both professionally and as an individual. If it is not relevant, then leave it out. You may be very proud of something in your life, but will it help you get an interview? Having decided what is relevant, you now need to place the information in the right order and ensure that it reads logically. For example, it is little use your HND in electronic engineering, your Prince2 or your Cranfield MBA lurking on the second page under your ‘Qualifications’ section if it’s crucially important to the job – I may never reach that far. I may have, say, 40 high quality CVs to trawl through before Stand – Easy and, perhaps unconsciously, may be looking for an excuse not to place yours in the In Tray. Try not to give me that excuse.
What style will suit me? Reverse Chronological, Functional, a mixture of both, none of these? There is no absolute answer to the perfect CV, which is one reason why there is so much debate on the issue! The majority of CVs are Reverse Chronological or Functional. Both work, so examine both styles and choose your way. Or combine the two; that can also work. Within certain boundaries, it’s really what you’re comfortable with and what you think will work for your particular circumstances that counts. Another good discipline for some is to try the ‘front loaded’ CV which, whilst perhaps three pages long, gathers all the key information on the front page and so forms a one page summary. So, if I have to read several hundred CVs for one job, with ‘front loading’ I am able to digest your key qualities quickly and I can then read over the page if I’m interested enough.
HOW?
The suggested content and the order for the information on your CV goes something like this:
The Sell
Profile – High impact, to the point and get me interested. Tell me what you are. Don’t tell me everything, just enough. Look at these two opening sentences on CVs I have seen recently:
“A Fast Track Senior Executive in the Royal Marines with strong, inspirational leadership and communication skills. Outstanding inter-personal and oratory skills, a fast learner, adaptable, with an open, flexible and sensitive approach”. (Lt Col RM )
“A professional and highly motivated Manager, with a proven track record of success over 12 years in a variety of Senior Leadership and Management positions, within project, operational, training and human resource environments”. (WO1)
Both tell me exactly what I’m looking at within the first few seconds and have my full attention, which can then be built on. Write the Profile in the 3rd person present and all the rest in the 3rd person past – it just reads better that way.
Key Skills – Expands on the Profile and tells me precisely what you’re selling me and which, more or less, should match what I’m looking for – add detail and colour or they may all look the same as the one I’ve just read. Give me something to really get my teeth into; all too often they just look rather bland. Don’t necessarily list them all, be selective and list them in order of importance. Include both Soft and Hard attributes as appropriate and, above all, keep me interested, which can sometimes be difficult.
The Proof
Recent Career History and Achievements – Ideally in reverse chronological order .Tells me not only what you did but, most importantly, your achievements (we all do our jobs in some way, shape or form but how challenging were yours, at what level and how well did you do them). Your achievements are crucial to my understanding of your potential. Facts, figures, percentages all help me to understand you better and also bring the text to life.
Qualifications/Education – Think carefully what you include here. The school you attended 30 or so years ago probably will not be relevant but, if you achieved a First from Oxford or you were Head Girl at the local Grammar School where you are now seeking a job, it may be worth mentioning the fact. Is your Motor Transport Supervisor’s course, taken some 10 years ago, worth mentioning? Check for relevance and, if your qualification is appropriate and important enough, ‘fluent in French’ perhaps, then maybe consider putting it in your Profile.
Personal – Neatly rounds off your CV and tells me a bit more about you and should serve to reassure me about you as a person. Let’s face it, if I call you for interview, I’m really not interested in any surprises when you walk through the door. So, if you do things beyond the day job, personal hobbies and activities, and especially voluntary activities such as coaching mini-rugby, sea cadets, amateur dramatics, charity work and the like, then do mention it. It says a lot about you and also shows that you still have the time and interest to do something else, as well as coping successfully with your mainstream job.
AND FINALLY………………..
Translate your CV into civvy speak to the degree required for the role you are going for. If the job is with BAE Systems or a naval charity then you will not need to civilianise the CV a great deal, but if it is with Argos or the NHS then you may need to spell some of the details out. Avoid jargon and acronyms, but don’t be afraid of retaining military references or terms if required and, if necessary, very briefly clarify what they are or what they mean. Your military service is very important but you need to make it comprehensible. Equally, don’t make your naval experience disappear completely as in one CV recently seen: “Managing Director in a £250M SME working in a challenging multinational environment, cognisant with Lean, Six Sigma and Prince Two…” (a Type 23 First Lieutenant!)
Tailor each CV to each job application and make sure it has all the necessary, information in the right order. For example, a CV in pursuit of a Project Manager’s job should include those words in the first sentence of your Profile and should probably be top of your Key Skills.
Make life easy for me. Meet me half way and don’t force me to dig around for detail that is poorly presented or include irrelevant information. It will take my eye off your message.
Space is really precious and, in a CV of one to three pages (no part pages please) everything has to earn its place and position. The finished product though, has to look as attractive as possible, as well as containing the right ingredients. Don’t be afraid to improve the presentation to make it pleasing on the eye. Use a little imagination and make use of space where possible to produce a balanced looking document that is as attractive as it can be, whilst not detracting from the main effort. Beware of overuse of bullets for example – they should be used to produce impact, at the right moment, along with paragraphs and indents.
One of the main problem areas for CVs is that they all tend to be very similar, particularly the Profile and the Key Skills. The trick is to make yours stand out. Don’t be modest about yourself – others certainly won’t be shy about coming forward. In the Services we are used to just cracking on with whatever our profession throws at us and what is often forgotten is how good we are at what we do. Tell me about it – nobody else will.
This all takes time and considerable effort, but once you are properly satisfied you have the best possible product then you can really start to sell yourself with confidence. However, think very carefully what you write and do avoid arrogance, boastful deception or anything that might aggravate or alienate me. If you’re not sure how to start the whole thing, then do have a look at the examples on the WEA website which, I hope, will give you some inspiration. Good luck with your CV!
Philip Doyne-Ditmas is Director, Employment Services at The White Ensign Association
