Top MBA CVs

by
Johann Diaz MBA

www.MBAmatch.com

Copyright 2003 MBAmatch

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without
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Contents

Health Warning .. 3

Introduction . 4

What is a CV? .. 4

Ambience of a CV ... 6

Format What should it look like .. 8

2 types of CV 10

Style How it should sound 14

Power words to be used ... 14

Content What it should contain .. 17

Proof Reading . 35

Reviewing and Re-writing 36

Appendix A Summary Dos & Donts . 37
Top MBA Careers Page 2 of 38 MBAmatch.com 2003

MBAmatch Health Warning

In the current world of increasing globalisation and individualisation getting on
in life often means succeeding in ones job/career. Many people pursue this
holy grail as the be all and end all of life itself or so it often comes across.

We are all sometimes fooled into thinking that more money, recognition,
power, responsibility, status, rewards etc. are the manifestation of a rich,
meaningful and happy life. So we pursue this goal relentlessly, often to the
detriment of our own good and that of those around us whether we know it or
not.

For many of us this is the sole reason for taking an MBA course to further
ones career by earning more money, gaining more status, recognition and
reward.

Rather than accept that scenario as the way it will always be however, I want
to challenge you to think this through carefully. Consider your own values and
the desires of your heart before launching down the road of insatiable career
progression.

Having done so, if you then decide that this is what you really want (and thats
fine, so long as you do so with open eyes), then the following guide will help
you along your journey.

I urge you therefore to take some time out to stop and (re)evaluate your
life/career advancement to date, before deciding to plunge head first into that
sea of more.

Johann Diaz MBA
CEO & Founder
MBAmatch

Introduction
We will use the UK/European term CV (Curriculum Vitae) throughout this article

Before you even begin thinking about the style,
content, format etc. of your CV you must understand
the objective of using such a document.

Objective: To get you an interview (usually) unless you are just
testing the market or wishing to hone your application skills

From my experience as an employer, the CV/Resume gets the
candidates foot in the door.. it had to get my attention..

I believe that a well-crafted CV/Resume is vital.your resume may be
the only storyteller of your skills and experience once it has been
submitted by any method..

Many people will tell you that there are right and wrong ways of writing CVs.
We dont believe this to be the case.

There is no exact method, only current preferred formats for communicating
your career history. And even then these will differ according to the countries
and regions in which you are applying for jobs. So it is worth conducting a little
research in each new territory for which you might be prepared to move to.

CV - What is it?

Quite simply, it is a tool to market yourself, and therefore should be seen as
something of extreme importance. Its your main (and often, only) sales
brochure now think about the implications of that!

Essentially your CV is about YOU. In fact, it is you (or rather a reflection of
you) in a two dimensional format. It is often the only aspect of you that the
recruiter will use to determine whether or not they wish to buy your talents.
And therein lies the problem. How can such a life as yours be effectively
summarised onto a few flat pieces of paper? Theres no easy answer.


Obviously your CV should be personal and be a true reflection of you.

But before you even begin to think about what should be contained
within your CV

put yourself in the place of the recruiter (the executive search consultant,
corporate HR manager, head-hunter, recruitment agency, managing partner,
whomever). Consider the following issues:

They may have already looked at 100 CVs today and 1000 over the
previous week. So they are possibly totally bored of the whole process
after all they are only human
They may be having a bad day
They may be under considerable time pressure to get through another
200 CVs this afternoon how much time do you think they can spend
looking at (let alone reading) your CV?
They may have set themselves a target of finding 20 candidates for their
short-list and may already have ear-marked 20 CVs. Why should your CV
cause them to replace one of those they have already decided upon?

Now you will start to understand the importance of giving it your absolute best
shot straight away you will only get one chance to impress.

Make the assumption that the recruiter is starting out from the premise that
your CV will not make it through to the next round.

Common practice suggests you have approximately 30 seconds to
convince them otherwise!

Now start selling!

The Ambience of your CV
Consider a few other points, some of which may speak to you in a new way or
turn you off either way thats fine:

Bring your CV to LIFE, make it EXCITING for the reader (but totally true).
Poor CVs are formal, bland and boring. You need to be creative!
First impressions count; sometimes more than they should. What do we
mean by that? Too often decisions are made based on gut feel/emotional
responses without taking into consideration other aspects of the decision
making process. Gut feel has a part to play in this process, but it is only
one part of it. A recruiter will make a snap judgement about you from your
CV fairly quickly make sure that it at least looks appealing therefore.
How would you say it (all about you) without using words (using colours,
shapes, sounds, touch/feel, taste, smell etc.)? Close your eyes and ask
yourself what colour you would look like to be represented as, what shape,
what type of song do you want it to sing about you. Use your imagination
be creative in your approach. Does your CV say what you want it to say
about you?
Your CV must woo & seduce the person reading it. So speak their
language; dont reveal everything be tantalisingly leading & suggestive! It
needs to be a personal experience for them. Enough for them to want
more.
Dont let it be too long. 2 pages is usual; 3 at the absolute maximum.
Multiply this by 300 and youll understand why!
Use action oriented (power) words like those listed on page 15. In this
success-oriented world, organisations are only looking for people who can
make things happen. Thats not to say that we all have to be great
leaders or managers or directors, but we all have to dress up our
successes and skills and talents in achieving language. Keep asking the
question So what?

Dont lie market yourself well; use power words, make it sound dynamic,
spin the yarn a little but do not lie you will be found out eventually.

Be yourself dont try and be someone else or the type of person you
think they are looking for. Eventually you will be found out and will have
wasted your time and theirs and possibly burnt your bridges in terms of a
possible future relationship.
But do tailor it for each job! Dont forget that you are marketing a product
to a carefully selected target market. Wouldnt you usually do everything
possible therefore, to ensure that it is as highly matched to their needs and
desires as possible? Well, the same is true when you are the product
being sold.

Format - What should it look like?

Dont forget the points listed above under the
section But before you ever begin.

Now put yourself in the recruiters position and ask
yourself why should I look at this persons CV?
Why should I look further past the top quarter page? Why should I read the
second page? What more can I glean by doing so? Make it easy for the
recruiter to gather all the data they want from the first few paragraphs of your
CV.
Overall it must be easy to read, with clear distinct sections and headings
and good use of white space. Dont forget, you have to make it easy on the
recruiters eye, otherwise it may get thrown out even before they have
started to read the content.

Dont use any jargon (unless tailoring your CV for a particularly technical
post, and even then, be careful)
Be crystal clear and ruthlessly concise in all you say remember you
dont have much room to pad out phrases and sentences. Write it out long-
hand for the first time, then re-read and cut out words (e.g. prepositions
like a, the, in, is etc. Repeat this process several times at least 4 times.
Length to fit on 2 pages (or 3 if you really must but preferably two)
remember no-one has the time nor the inclination to read/scan more
Width normal 1 page margins. You could get away with reducing these
a little but to aid its readability, white space is important. So keep those
margins a nice size. It also gives the recruiter the ability to scribble a few
notes down the side for questions to ask you at interview.
Minimum 10 points font size overall, except for some areas which are
annotations or explanation paragraphs. Never smaller than 8 points.
Maximum 12 points, except for header/document title which should be
bigger. Dont give the reader a hard time! Although this does depend
somewhat on which fonts you choose to use.

Font Dont be too artistic with the font. The recruiters printer or word-
processing software may not have the latest fonts. Then how will it look?!
Consider also the possibility that your CV will be scanned into the
recruiters database. When this happens a lot of the formatting will be lost
and your scanned CV will look strange. KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Readability be very careful with your use of correct grammar, correct
use of words/meaning (have a dictionary and thesaurus beside you),
correct spelling (theres nothing more infuriating than mis-spelt words),
appropriate word and line spacing, good use of blank spaces.
Differentiation it needs to be different somehow. Use of a different
colour of paper is an option (although generally another business colour
e.g. buff/off-white not red, blue etc.), use a dynamic e-mail subject
header (if e-mailed), if you are the 25
th
or the 75
th
CV and the recruiters
attention span is say 20 minutes how are you going to get yours noticed?.
Attractiveness not perfume but a nice pleasing typeface (usually Arial
or Times New Roman or similar) and layout.
Also consider the possibility (and likelihood these days) that your CV will
be scanned into a database using OCR (optical character recognition)
software. Having too much and too small text close together will not lend
itself to accuracy of scanning. Having fonts which are too creative looking
will not translate so well. The same applies if your CV is being faxed by
you or someone else on your behalf.
Professionalism Do not say I (first person singular), just make the
statement e.g. dont say I was responsible for .. just say Responsible
for xxx. Or while in this position I had a xxxx, just say Six month
contract involving XXX. Make it sound assertive and commanding. Be
straight, honest, up-front tell it like it is/was. Above all, dont waffle.
Dont give the impression that youve spent more time on the format and
looks of your CV rather than on the content contained within use
standard fonts and point sizes.
Use headings to break up the text but not too many.

Generally do NOT use boxes or shading as these will be lost if your CV
gets scanned or photocopied.

2 types of CV

There are 2 main types of CV:
1. chronological - the more standard one, where your employment
record is described in chronological order beginning with your most
recent job
2. skills where your employment record is presented under different
skill / function sets.

If you are applying for a consultancy role or a senior management i.e. one
where experience is required in a number of different functional areas (such
as strategy development, project management, IT, marketing etc.) you might
like to group your achievements under these functional headings, even
though they may have been attained whilst you were employed within several
different organisations.

Just by doing this you will stand a better chance of furthering your application,
as you are actually tailoring your response more specifically to their needs.

Chronological (standard) CV Format
If you wish to adopt a fairly standard approach to your CV follow these
headings:
(each section will be expanded in much more detail further down)

Title / label whats the name of your product and how can it be
purchased? i.e. You and your contact details.


Profile (optional) use with extreme caution summary about you but it
MUST NOT be subjective i.e. your opinion.

Key Skills (optional) whats in it for the client? How will buying this product
make their life easier, help them achieve their goals?
etc. A quick synopsis of your key skills.

Key Achievements what you have achieved before (3 preferably but no
more than 5) and what impact these achievements had
on the organisation (qualitative and quantitative).
These should be your key ones only.

Experience where and how did you achieve such great things
before? Who were these companies? What did they
do? What was your role? Offer the recruiter a list of
SOME of your responsibilities, but not all just a few
lines. Remember ACHIEVEMENTS are it! And they
must have IMPACT.

Qualifications If the MBA is your highest qualification then place it at
the top of the pile. Run down in order of importance.

Further Training List any other RELEVANT training courses attended (or
on-the-job training periods).

Professional It is important for the recruiter to see that you support
Memberships your career development through being involved with a
professionally recognised institution.

Interests It is important for the recruiter to get a feel for what you
do outside of the work environment. This is your
chance to differentiate yourself! Have you had any
articles or research published? Have you given any
public seminars or keynote speeches? What do you

like doing? Dont underestimate the potential power of
this section!

Personal date of birth is still useful to know although it will soon
be illegal to ask or expect this in the UK as well as
other countries.

See section headed Content further on, for more details about what to include
in each section described above.

Platform/master CV

As you are going to need to tailor your CV to all the different applications you
make, ensure you build a solid platform/master CV on which to start.

We recommend that you use the Chronological CV to compile a clear history
of what you did, when and for whom.

When you start writing it, record absolutely everything you can remember
you can come back to this later and pick out all the bits that you really need.
Keep adding to it as you remember something else.

You should then compile the final version of your Chronological CV and save
it in a sub-directory called Chronological under the directory CVs. Create
another sub-directory entitled Skills CVs.

This file structure will give you the opportunity to create several other sub-
directories under Skills CVs for each different flavour of CV e.g. you may
have tailored one for the role of Customer Services Manager. Create a sub-
directory called Customer Services Manager and save this tailored version
within it. Then when you attach your CV to an application e-mail, the filename
would still seem to be a generic one e.g. Joe Bloggs CV.doc rather than Joe
Bloggs CV CS Manager.doc.

Although the recruiter will expect that you will have tailored your CV to the job
you are applying for, you dont need to make it look so obvious.

Skills CV

There are two main differences between the chronological format and the
skills format.

The first is that the experience section can simply be a list of carefully
selected achievements grouped together under the key skills headings e.g.
project management, business process re-engineering, product marketing etc.

The second is that you will need to insert a summary list of dates relating to
your previous jobs underneath the Experience section.

Title / label
Profile (optional)
Key Skills (optional) Inclined to leave out in this format.
Key Achievements
Experience Group achievements together under relevant key
skill/function areas
Career History Dates, job titles and company names. If necessary a
BRIEF one line (max) explanation of what they do.
Qualifications .
Further Training
Professional Memberships
Interests
Personal .


Style How should it sound?

Your CV must be clear and well thought-out. It must demonstrate a clarity of
purpose and present a compelling argument. It should sound original and not
contrived (as many DIY CV software packages do).
It should sound:

Passionate

IMPACTFUL
Professional - not pompous, not too colloquial
Energetic & lively
Achieving use power words see below
Authentic self-confident but not arrogant
Authoritative objective, informed, experienced
Truthful would you believe it?

Power words to be used

Not only should these words (and others like them) be used within your CV for
impact, but they are also important for the purposes of CV filtering if and when
your CV gets scanned.

On these occasions recruiters search their databases for high impact words
as well as other more obvious ones around industry, country, job function etc.

These words can be used either in the past tense or in other tenses
depending on the context in which they are being included e.g. attained or
attaining. Obvious, I know!


Accelerated Gained
Achieved Gathered
Acted Generated
Advanced Hired
Aligned Identified
Applied Implemented
Assessed Improved
Attained Increased
Avoided Introduced
Awarded Launched
Boosted Leveraged
Bridged Managed
Built Mastered
Captured Maximised
Championed Mobilised
Changed Motivated
Clarified Obtained
Complemented Penetrated
Connected Pioneered
Converted Planned
Created Prepared
Cut Prevented
Defined Promoted
Delivered Raised
Designed Realised
Developed Rebuilt
Diagnosed Recruited
Directed Reduced
Discovered Regenerated
Elected Replaced
Eliminated Restructured
Established Retained
Exploited Saved
Finalised Set-up

Simplified

Solved
Stopped
Stretched
Succeeded
Supplemented
Trained
Yielded


Content - What should it contain?

Remember the overall objective of your CV is to get
you an interview, by tantalising and wooing the recruiter!

Tailor the content of your CV to the application/job.
Have several available to send out at a moments notice;
each tailored to different types of jobs for which you might
wish to apply. Make sure your CV gives the recruiter what
they want to know make it highly relevant.
Golden Rule # 1
Tailor it - the standard one-size-fits-all approach will
NOT work

Leave the recruiter asking how did he/she achieve that? at several points
within leave low-level fruit just a phone call away tantalise them into
wanting to know more

Weed out trivia be ruthless keep asking So What? as the recruiter will
be asking
Check for simple grammatical errors
Check for spelling mistakes dont give the recruiter the opportunity to
throw your CV out on the basis of a few small spelling mistakes. Be
careful, however, when using a spell checker they do not check the
context of the phrase and may let through words which are correctly spelt
but within another context
Pay attention to detail postal/zipcodes, e-mail addresses, company
names, figures etc.
Relegate personal details to the bottom on the second page


As suggested in the Format section above a standard approach would be to
use the following:

Title / label whats the name of your product and how can it be
purchased?

Profile (optional) use with extreme caution summary statements about
you and your experience, but NOT subjective

Key Skills (optional) based on your experience - whats in it for the client?
How will buying this product make their life easier, help
them achieve their goals? etc.

Key Achievements what you have achieved before (3 preferably but no
more than 5) and what impact these achievements had
on the organisation (qualitative and quantitative)

Experience where and how did you achieve such great things
before? Who were these companies? What did they
do? What was your role? Offer the recruiter a list of
SOME of your responsibilities, but not all just a few
lines. Remember ACHIEVEMENTS are it!

Qualifications If the MBA is your highest qualification then place it at
the top of the pile. Run down in order of importance.

Further Training List any other RELEVANT training courses attended
(or on-the-job training periods). Sometimes this section
can be combined with the Qualifications section (under
the title Qualifications & Training).

Professional It is important for the recruiter to see that you support
Memberships your career development through being involved with a
professionally recognised institution.

Interests It is important for the recruiter to get a feel for what you
do outside of the work environment. This is your
chance to differentiate yourself! Have you had any
articles or research published? Have you given any
public seminars or keynote speeches? What do you
like doing? Dont underestimate the potential power of
this section!

Personal Date of birth is still useful to know although this will
soon be considered to be discriminatory in the UK as it
already is in many other countries. It is however a
natural question which people ask themselves. No
doubt, they will try and work it out from all your dates
anyway. If however you offer them this information as
well as any other information, like status, nationality,
driving licence etc.) thats up to you. It only becomes
discriminatory if they ask you for this information and/or
base their decision on this information.

MBAs often ask whether they should include a few lines on what their
objective is i.e. what type of roles they are seeking and in which
industries/organisations.

Why? I ask.

Why would you want to use a statement which the recruiter could use to filter
you out straight away? After all, dont you have enough transferable skills to
be able to do the job for which you have applied? If you dont then you
shouldnt be wasting your time and the recruiters. Remember you want them
to be your allies, not your enemies!


Section Objectives

It is absolutely critical that you understand the objective of each section of
your CV. This will enable you to phrase your CV content in such a way that is
most attractive to anyone reading it.

Section Objective
Title / Label Announce yourself
Provide easy reach to your contact details
Profile (if used) To entice the reader to read on! Needs to
be true, objective (i.e. not subjective) and
highly targeted to the opportunity for which
you are applying
Objective (if used) To allow the reader to include you when
narrowing down the pool of CVs, by aligning
yourself strongly with the opportunity on
offer, or telling the reader exactly what type
of opportunity you are looking for
To encourage them to read on
Key Skills (if used) To convince the reader of your ability to do
the job on offer
Key Achievements To support all of the above objectives
To demonstrate clearly that you have done
it before
To give the reader some re-assurance that
you should be able to accomplish all the
objectives that they (or their client) have
established for this job/role
DECISION POINT 1 (30 seconds) see note below

Experience To support all of the above objectives,
providing more evidence
To convince the reader to speak with you
i.e. pick up the phone
DECISION POINT 2 (1 minute 30 seconds) see note below
Qualifications To further support all of the above
objectives
To provide a few more ticks in the boxes
To reassure the reader that you have the
ability to think and learn well
To demonstrate that you have broadened
your mind
To demonstrate a level of commitment and
stamina/staying power (involved in taking
such a course)
Further Training To demonstrate your willingness and desire
to continually learn and better yourself
Professional
Memberships
To add credibility and weight to your
application
To demonstrate your desire to become
involved in professional activities outside of
work
To identify which professional networks you
might be involved in
Interests To show you have a life outside or work!
To reveal something of your work/life
balance
To keep the reader interested in you, in
order to pick up the phone!
DECISION POINT 3 (2 minutes) see note below


Decision Point 1
he point at which the recruiter has got (or at least, should have got) a
t this point they will make their first decision whether or not to continue
ecision Point 2
he point at which they will decide with 80% certainty that they want to speak
ecision Point 3
enerally their decision at this point will not vary from the decision reached at
ection Contents
itle/Label
bout the ONLY bit you can guarantee gets read!
bjective: to tell the recruiter who you are and how to contact you

he name of your product YOU. Nice and big (say 20 point) so that it stands
out well from the rest of the text in your CV. But not too big so as to look out of
place.

T
relatively good understanding of you and your abilities to carry out the tasks
for the job.

A
reading more of your CV. If their gut feel says no, your CV will either go into
the bin or the maybe keep for later pile!

D

T
with you, or not.

D

G
point 2, unless they are very specific about what qualifications they expect
you to have. Generally however, they will be more or less eager to speak with
you depending on what is contained within the last few sections.

S

T

A

O
quickly!
T

Generally I suggest that you do not place any credentials beside your name
(like MBA, C.Eng etc.) in the same font size, as it just looks a little arrogant.
here is a place further down in the document for informing your reader that
d to list absolutely
very method available for getting in touch with you. List just the main ones
bjective: To entice the reader to read on! Needs to be true, objective
(i.e. not subjective) and highly targeted to the opportunity
for which you are applying
Many CVs t
described as he type of paragraph which reads
ke this:
T
you have an MBA or any other qualification. For example in the Profile section
you could say an MBA qualified chartered marketer.

Underneath your name we recommend placing your current contact details in
a much smaller font size (say 9 point). There is no nee
e
such as home phone (ensure however that you use an answerphone for times
when you are not in), mobile phone and personal e-mail address.

Profile

O

hese days have an opening paragraph which can only be
subjective & egotistical. Its t
li

A Charismatic and Transformational Business Leader, with a passion for Excellence
in Customer Relationship Management and a strong sense of Personal and
Organisational Values. An Innovative and Lateral-Thinking Change Executive,
combining strong Team Development & Project Management skills with a sound
owledge of E-Business, IT, Operations and Business Process Management.
ll whats wrong with that, you ask? Probably nothing, except it is what yo
k of yourself. Within that statement there are only two phrases which a
kn

We u
thin re
ategorically true a passion for Excellence in and a strong sense of c
personal and organisational values, although even this last statement is quite
subjective.

As a recruiter I would say yeah, yeah, yeah, Ive heard it all before prove it
and you wouldnt be able to do so UNLESS you have some statements from
ther people concerning you, which describe you as above. If you do (and
ould do well to use the space better.
worthwhile,
nd no one actually read them.
r your application, as they could turn
e recruiter off.
A qualified manager with over 20 years experience in
ustomer Service, culminating in the role of Client Services Director for XXX
bjective: To convince the reader of your ability to do the job on offer
o
there is an argument which suggests you might like to cultivate this) then you
should shout it from the roof-tops. In this case you should add the words
others say of me. somewhere in the text or words to that effect. That
is then much more credible.

But if you do not have any personal testimonies (from people other than your
spouse or family fans!) you w

In a straw poll carried out among consultants at top executive recruitment
firm, not one consultant said they thought these profiles were
a

Our experience suggests that whilst recruiters might read these statements,
they could actually make things worse fo
th

Our recommendation is therefore use one with caution - keep it totally
factual e.g. MB
C
XXX Corporation and avoid using words that sound like MBA speak (e.g.
strategic etc. Im sure you know what I mean)!

Notice how you can now bring in your MBA without leaving the recruiter
feeling like they have been MBAd!

Key Skills (optional)

O


Limit yourself to your top 3 only. It is proven that groups of threes generally
ork well in presentations, speeches, marketing material etc.
chievements, is
our most important opportunity to sell yourself. If you dont do so within a
your potential worth to
e organisation. The objective is to leave them wanting to find out more.
at nobody else has (or at least nobody else who might apply for this job)?
ent and able to conduct business in 4 European languages
Kee cruiter) and
hat they perceive to be the value of what you have to offer. Consider these
will gain by
mploying you within their (or their clients) organisation. And what of these
should not try to convince the recruiter of your
ansferable skills here keep that for your cover letter/note. Here, you must
look like a perfect match.

w

If used, this section, in conjunction with the next one on Key A
y
few short succinct phrases you will not get through to the next stage having
your whole CV read the whole way through. Its that simple. Its the equivalent
of the elevator pitch, where you may have one minute between floors to
convince your listener to take some course of action.

So this is where you need to convince the reader of
th
They will then have the incentive to continue reading on past this first section.

Whats so special about you compared to anybody else? What have you got
th
E.g.

Flu

p the focus ALWAYS be on your prospective client (the re
w
to be the Unique Perceived Benefits you wish to convey (rather than unique
selling points). Now you will approach the selling of your product or service
from a more appropriate position, that of your prospective client.

So think about what benefits the recruiter must perceive they
e
are somewhat unique to you?

Tailor these to the role/job. You
tr

Use this list to draw up a list of skills, achievements, expertise, training etc.
which you have acquired.
Golden Rule # 2
Its not only what you DO say thats important, its also
what you DO NOT say!

that will hook them into going on to the next part of the process reading the
rest of your CV (satisfy
e done it before
To give the reader some re-assurance that you
hould be able to accomplish all the objectives that
they (or their client) have established for this job/role
This section will cli
articulated and full o
You should pull out
ll list shown under the different experience (or skill) sections.
It is the implications, inferences, innuendos that you leave the reader with,
ing your objective for this section).

Key Achievements

Objectives: To demonstrate clearly that you hav
s

nch success for you if your achievements are true, well
f impact. This is perhaps, the MOST important section.
your top 3 (maximum 5) achievements selected from the
fu

Golden Rule # 3
Only ever list your Demonstrable Achievements

By demonstrable we mean sily seen and proven e.g.
products launched, sales increased, costs saved, awards won etc. Ideally
these by
2% yielding a 5% reduction in customer churn. Sometimes you will have to
those which could be ea
should also be quantifiable e.g. increased customer responsiveness
1

make estimates of the acquired benefits of something you had done usually
in terms of time, money or organisational image.

Some achievements are more difficult to quantify or qualify e.g. assisted in the
re-structuring of the organisation. Try and turn these into something more
tangible by describing the impact of this re-structuring on the organisation
.g. designed to save 3m cost within the first year.
in the North American
arket by 36% in two years bringing in an extra $100m worth of new
owing types of
revious achievements (if you have had them of course):
e

And dont forget to quantify the achievements. Use the So What? test. For
example saying that you increased sales in the North American market
means little unless you quantify it (increased sales
m
business). Im sure youll agree that the latter statement sounds much more
impressive than the former. Do ensure however, that it is true!

Start by listing achievements which are totally relevant to the job for which you
are applying. For example if you are applying for the role of Customer
Services Manager in a new organisation you should list the foll
p

Successfully implemented several new customer projects totalling in excess of 5m sales
revenue p.a.
Effectively managed large programme of service delivery contracts contributing approx.
20m each year
Improved customer responsiveness by 75% through attraction and development of high
quality staff
Increased cu stomer loyalty by 5% over three years yielding in excess of 5m extra
revenue
Increased productivity by 30% through streamlining existing operational processes and
effective programme management of several new IT developments
Reduced cus tomer churn by 8% saving approximately 10m year on year
Increased customer satisfaction levels by 40% through successful implementation of pro-
active fault escalation procedures


Bu
will say if you are asked to explain how you determined the values of your
chievements.
convince the recruiter to speak with you
hronological CV then you must list your achievements under
ach role (as you may have had more than one job within the same

Name of organisation
not months) when you were employed
A brief description of the employer and their business
tline of your responsibilities within that role BRIEF just one or

If y eed do is list your
achievements under each relevant skills/function heading e.g. project
management, IT/E-Business, marketing, customer service etc. Then list the
ompanies you worked for and your job titles etc. underneath in a Career
adly. Responsibilities dont tell the recruiter anything other
an what you were supposed to do. They are more interested in what you
t ensure you are able to substantiate your claims think about what you
a

Experience

Objective: to

If using the C
e
employer).

Include the following:

Job Title

Dates (years only,

A brief ou
two lines
ou are using the Skills CV format then all you n
c
History section.

Responsibilities are almost totally irrelevant. After all, you could have been
responsible for something which you were not suited for and consequently
managed quite b
th
actually did and the impact it had on the organisation.


By all means you can give a brief synopsis of the role and its significance, but
do not list all the activities and tasks of the job. Quite frankly, its boring and a
aste of premium space. w

See the following example:

1987 to 1993 XXX YYY Limited
XXX YYY Limited provided full range of services to the xxxxxxxxxxxxx market, including xxxx, xxxxx
and xxxxxxx systems.

NATIONAL CALL CE TRE MAN N AGER

Reporting to the Director of xxxxxxx; responsible for the merger (and subsequent
management) of ten field-based service desks into one National Call Centre with minimum
disruption to existing customer base. Key achievements included:

Achievements

Objective: to demonstrate that you have done it before and re-assure
recruiter that you will be able to accomplish the
objectives of the job
Achievemen
important as ts are paramount. And they must
e demonstrable. You must breakout your demonstrable achievements
1. LIST - How your current organisation defines success? What
parameters do they use to demonstrate success? e.g. in terms of:
a. turnover
the

ts vs. Responsibilities the latter is not even one third as
the former! Achievemen
b
(things that you have achieved for the company which are demonstrable
not just hearsay or speculation) for each role.
Follow the process below:


b. profitability
c. shareholder value
d. funds raised
ed
improved
ised
2. TH ould contribute to the overall success
par n defines success in terms of
increased turnover, then an appropriate metric would be new business
sales revenue, or increased customer retention leading to increased
repeat business; profitability might have increased efficiency or
3.
4. under each job think long and
5. o each achievement and

organisation,
as far as is possible. You may need to estimate
thes ontributions, if it
specificity is more believable!
6.
ey have had on/for the
ct in a positive way.
7. THINK for each achievement also explain how you accomplished it
briefly e.g. increased sales revenue by 10% through addition of 3 new
client accounts worth over xxxK each.
e. patients treat
f. houses built
g. market image
h. financial risk minim
i. etc.
INK about what metrics w
ameter e.g. if the organisatio
reduced operational costs as metrics.
LIST - Repeat questions 1 & 2 for all your previous jobs, as shown on
your current CV.
THINK for each responsibility listed
hard about what you achieved.
THINK go back t
now quantify each one in terms of the
success parameters used by the
e c but be specific e.g.
was 19%, say it do not round it up
THINK if you cannot put your achievements into these quantifiable
parameters, think about what impact th
organisation. Record this impa

ou should
heory goes. Its as simple as that.
g slightly similar, then you will have
Ca
Then b you are
applyin hat parameters
the
targete
Remin oing on in the recruiters mind.
ood
the
Now, enter your CV!
bjective)?
Answer 80% - your previous demonstrable
achievements; 20% everything else.
again or so the t

t, or you have done somethin
more convincing to do using a Key Skills section and a great cover note.
nt about your ability to succeed in the
job, based on what you have achieved before.
pture the above information in your platform/master chronological CV.
efore you start to compile your tailored CV for the job for which
g, think about how they might define success and w
y might use. This will give you a good starting point for generating a highly
d, high impact CV.
d yourself of the psychological process g
They understand the type of job/role on offer. They (should) have a g
understanding of what will be expected from the person doing the job. They
probably have an image established in their mind therefore, of what
person looks like in terms of previous experience/achievements.

What is going to convince them that
you are worth
talking to (which is your CVs
o

Because, if you have done it before, then y
be able to do it
If you haven

The recruiter will make a snap judgeme

Golden Rule # 4
Do not leave any si your employment gnificant gaps in
dates unexplained

question what happened du Recruiters will spot it and ring that time. If it looks
like it is a small time lapse they may give you the benefit of the doubt, but
mostly their suspicions will be raised and so you give them more of a reason
to place your CV on the thanks, but no thanks pile.

an MBA or raising a family, you should say so. Otherwise the reader starts to
wonder whether you were in jail, on long-term sickness break, gone fishing

It is OK to stretch the dates in your CV a little, so long as you explain this at

Qualifications

Objectives: to provide more ticks in boxes, demonstrate your ability to
nk for yourself, broaden your outlook and endure.

therefore, jus ighest
first e.g. your MBA. Include the year in which you graduated and the institution

There is no need to list every single course you have ever attended. Once
again, pick out those which you believe to be 100% relevant to the job for
hich you are applying, and also those which demonstrate that you have had
at least some exposure to other areas of business.

Even if you were unemployed for some time, between contracts, studying for
etc none of which bodes well in terms of your application.
interview stage, in case the recruiter decides to take up references.
thi
This section merely supports your application so far. Dont make this too big
t list the relevant courses of learning, starting with the h
at which you studied.
w

Unless you have had little further education since, do not list your
secondary/grammar (teenage years) schools.

These days it is often very useful to mention something about your level of IT /
web literacy. Also include concise statement(s) about your language
roficiencies, especially if you can conduct business in another language.
Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) XXX Business School (2000)
p

See example below:

BSc (Honours) degree in Electronic Engineering - University of XXX (1987)
Various management training courses undertaken in Business Strategy in Action,
Action Centred Leadership, Lateral Thinking & Creativity, Presentation Skills, Sales &
Negotiation, Financial Management, Team Development and Coaching.
Strong working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, Project,
FrontPage, Outlook, ACT contact management, Time/Personal Information
Management software. Conversant with TAS Books (accounts) and Qgold (payroll)
software.
Fluent in French and Spanish (to business level).

Further Training

bjective: to demonstrate your willingness and desire to continually
and better yourself.
taught or on-t
O
learn

List any relevant further periods of training undertaken whether formal class-
he-job.

This section can actually be combined with the section on Qualifications (as
shown above).

Professional Memberships


Objective: to add credibility and weight to your application, and
identify which professional networks you might be involved

If you are involved in any professional institutions such as an Association of
BAs or Institute of XXX then it is useful to simply list these (or some of
to reveal something of your work / life balance
side a work
nvironment. What do you do? Where do you do it? What do you enjoy?
and
ome/leisure life.
in.
M
them) under a separate heading (say Professional Memberships). This simply
gives the recruiter an understanding of the professional extra-curricular
activities and networks you might be involved in. I say might, because just
listing it does not mean that you attend any regional meetings or take an
active part in the organisation it might simply be for the status afforded by
being a member.

Interests

Objective:

Finally give the reader a little something about you out
e

Essentially everyone looks for balance a balance between work
h


Proof-reading

Whatever you do, do not miss out this step.

Get someone else to do it. Use a word-processors spell check, grammar
check and word count functions. Have a dictionary and thesaurus to hand
there are only so many ways you can say achieved 20% growth in

A word of caution however be very careful of the use of these standard
word-processor tools, as they are usually set to reflect US grammar which
is often very different to European/UK grammar!
Why not ask someone to view it from the perspective of whether or not
they would employ this person
Get lots of feedback but dont forget that at the end of the day it is about
you and so you should decide what stays and what goes. Weigh and
balance all the different views you receive.
But ask someone who you KNOW will give you the truth.


Reviewing & Re-writing

Do so regularly; youll never know when you might want to send out the
latest copy of your CV in a hurry! Therefore we suggest updating it at least
every 3 months.
Continue to tweak it as you remember something else or see other good
CV examples
Get others to review it for you objective feedback is worth a lot
Benchmark, copy & IMPROVE on other peoples ideas - check out other
web sites and their careers advice, look at other peoples CVs borrow
good ideas and employ them in your own
Golden Rule # 5
Dont waste any more time on your CV than you really
need to

Put a good amount of effort into generating a great CV (or get it professionally
written), and then move on to the next steps in the process dont stop here
this is not the most important step!


Appendix A

Summary CV Dos & Donts

Do

Make it original and personal it must convey information about the real
you

Refer to your MBA appropriately within both your CV and cover letter/e-
mail
Use the space on your CV very carefully & economically
Turn your responsibilities into achievements
Always quantify your achievements (as far as possible)
Test your CV with a few recruiters before using it
Take the necessary time to construct a highly professional base
(chronological) CV from which to spin-off variant tailored CVs
Employ someone else to provide you with an objective view of your CV
Be Creative whilst following some of the general guidelines above, do
your own thing
Ensure your CV is less self-centred and more prospect/client-centred
Make it fascinating, exciting, stimulating, and informing otherwise it will
automatically become boring, tedious and ego-centric
Be careful when sending your CV by e-mail as the recipient sees the title
of the file if it is Johns CV for Consultancy jobs the recruiter will realise
that you are being a bit of a chameleon and will trust the information
presented less! Solution set up many different sub-folders which are
entitled appropriately for whatever demarcation you have decided upon (as
suggested in section XX above). Then save the tailored CV under the
tailored sub-directory with a standard generic file name e.g. John Doe CV.
Send a hard copy follow-up if you have had to fax it in a hurry
Make your CV personal
Refer to your MBA appropriately within your cover letter/e-mail
Use the space on your CV very carefully & economically


Turn your responsibilities into achievements
Always quantify your achievements (as far as possible)
Test your CV with a few recruiters before using it

Dont

Write a CV greater than 2 or 3 pages (generally)
Have MBA in huge letters at the top of the CV e.g. Jon Doe MBA as your
heading
Use subjective words in a profile (if you choose to use one)
Simply list responsibilities
Use the standard business school CV/Resume template without
personalising it & testing it
Allow your electronic CV to be a large file (for attachment purposes).
Make sure it is less than 100KB in size, otherwise the recipient may not
thank you especially is they are downloading it over a slow internet
connection in their home/mobile office
Waste all your valuable time tweaking it up once your 80% happy with it,
put it down and get on with the more important parts of the overall job-
hunting process
Ever send a zipped up (.zip) or executable (.exe) file either it will get
filtered out by the organisations anti-virus software or the recruiter will not
have any un-zipping software to use
Include a photograph unless the employer has asked for one
Include lots of attachments unless you have been asked for some

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