Your personal employee brand
7 October 2020
Let's start with the basics... your CV
As the world struggles to adjust to the spread of COVID-19 and its related impacts, many people find themselves in unknown territory. A job that you once felt secure in may no longer feel quite as safe. Our ways of working are evolving and, with that, so too are the roles that businesses need. Whilst uncertainty around redundancies continue it is now more important than ever to understand and build your own personal brand, whether that be your CV, a LinkedIn profile or your skills around networking and interviewing.
It can feel daunting to some, whilst for others, updating their CV or LinkedIn page may be second nature. We will be publishing bite sized tips over the coming weeks and months covering aspects of your personal employee brand to put you in good stead for your job search should the need arise.
Stylisation: First or third person?
When writing your CV you want to ensure that whichever style you choose you are consistent throughout. It might sound simple but often a CV may slip between one or another. Choosing which style is a matter of personal preference but here are some things to consider:
First Person:
I am an experienced Sales Director
Third Person - Narrative:
Jane is an experienced Sales Director
Third Person - Neutral:
An experienced Sales Director
Which do you think sounds right? Well, all of them are correct but think about your audience. Who do you want to appeal to? Many recruiters believe that “I am” is perfectly acceptable for use in CVs at entry level whilst in contrast it can sound too inexperienced for a senior level role. Others feel that the third person sounds pretentious or too impersonal. The neutral third person removes all pronouns such as I, she or he and is becoming a more popular style in CVs today. It is a given that your CV is talking about you, so is there any need for pronoun use? By simply changing the sentence structure to remove pronouns you might also remove potential biases.
Introductions
Why would you not have an introductory paragraph at the start of you CV? This is the perfect place to summarise your key skills or experience into what is essentially your elevator pitch; that less than 5-minute conversation with a key decision maker. Use this as an opportunity to call out your key skills that align to a job advert or a job description and tailor it each time. For example, one role may require knowledge of a specific development environment such as AGILE. Another may ask for specific geographical experience such as knowledge of EMEA markets. Your introduction is the perfect place, at the start of your CV, to call this out. The key thing to remember is to keep it short, think paragraph not War and Peace.
Your Experience
This is where you evidence your experience and skills, think about the job role you are applying for, what are the skills the company is looking for and do you have them? If so, you should be highlighting them here. Now, do you start with education or work experience first? For people who are newly entering the work place or have limited work experience then you are going to be relying on your education, so start with this, highlighting and elaborating on any achievements above and beyond your core coursework. This might include extracurricular memberships or specific projects that are relevant to the role. This will make up the bulk of your CV followed by any part-time work or placements.
In contrast, if you are experienced in your field then you will want to consider starting with your work experience, followed by your education. Why? Well your work experience will be fresh and relevant; you can call out active use of your skills and highlight successes that demonstrate your ability to perform a role. Qualifications will be important to list but how much can you elaborate on having an ACCA, a CIM qualification or even a degree?
Also, think chronological order, you are working backwards. Your focus should be on what you have done most recently. If you have been in a company for less than 5 years you will want to elaborate on your most recent role and perhaps the role prior to that, keeping in mind that the further back you go the less relevant the detail will be. You should also start with a brief description of what that company does, whilst everyone may know Nike you will want them to know whether you worked in their Head Office, a retail store or both. It is also an opportunity to demonstrate what a smaller, less well known, company does to highlight any relevance.
Your experience should call out your relevant duties in any role that you are applying for but importantly you want to show your impact and successes. Can you include details around scope, audience reach, or any measurements such as delivery of key performance indicators (KPIs) or positive financial impacts on the business or division. Remember the aim here is to show why you are going to be the best hire so call out your successes.
Draft and Edit
Writing or editing a CV can feel impossible to some people, where to start, what information to include and how much to write. Start big when writing about your experience and edit, edit, EDIT. Play around with the order and use bullet points; the key is to make it as easy as possible for someone reading your CV to spot relevant experience without having to read through long paragraphs. Remember a recruiter or hiring manager will not be sat in an armchair with a cup of tea, looking to engross themselves in your CV. Restructure, move your points around to focus on importance and relevance. If you are talking about specific experience listed in an role advert then put that near the top of your experience. Finally, and this should go without saying, check you spelling and grammar, there is nothing worse than a CV full of grammatical errors.
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and look out for our tips on building your personal employee brand. Need more help? Contact us at info@cygnusb.com
CygnusB
has over two decades of experience providing specialist consulting and strategic counsel in brand, communication and executive talent management and coaching.
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