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Writing your first professional CV - tough talk for graduates
Writing your first professional CV - tough talk for
graduates
Young graduates face one of the hardest
tasks in all CV writing, which is how to differentiate themselves from everyone
else and not come across as a wannabe with overblown intentions but little to
offer.
Contrary to popular belief, naked ambition is not highly
regarded by recruiters, who are actually looking for evidence of maturity and
judgement, at least an appearance of originality and creativity and the
definite hint of potential commitment.
Your challenge is to imply all
of these things without being so crass as to actually say them and this is
where intelligent candidates can score highly by making the most of their NON
WORK activities and interests. Young graduates rarely have a great deal of work
experience and if they do it tends to be irrelevant to their future career. I
often see long CVs that ramble on about the communication skills the person
learned selling hamburgers and the numeracy skills they acquired at an all
night petrol station.
This sort of information cuts no ice with
anyone. Important things about juvenile work experience might be whether or not
you did it to fund some amazing trip to North Vietnam or whether you did it to
pay for your HND studies and then managed on sheer talent to convert to a
degree course....
Writing your first professional CV - tough talk for
graduates
It's OK to tell a story
Years ago, milk round employers started introducing trick questions on their
graduate trainee recruitment forms. They asked things like: What is your worst
mistake and how did you recover from it? Think about that question and what it
implies about the people they were searching for: people who can first of all
recognise an error, then come up with a strategy to deal with it, then manage a
project that gets the result. What this means in CV terms is that it is that
you need to be reflecting on where you are now, not pretending to be Richard
Branson. Avoid using the word 'I' at all costs but describe the experience you
do have in such a way that brings out all its value.
EXAMPLES:
You chose your study path;
tell them why, what was in
your mind, what evolution there has been in the light of experience, what
skills you believe it has given you, appropriate to what kind of roles in real
work. Do this in a concise and intelligent way that tries to imagine what they
want to know about you (see above). Make sure it is not merely blind ambition
but also shows judgement, knowledge outside the syllabus, awareness of modern
developments in culture and business.
You have non work
activities;
don't just list them in a dull way; if you practice
martial arts mention the resolve and inner calm they help you achieve; if you
have participated in voluntary work say why you did it and what you got from
giving your time; if you have rebuilt a VW Beetle from scratch and supercharged
the engine, you can describe your engineering achievement; if you have
travelled and worked abroad, make the most of it by laying down at least one
interesting piece of bait for people to connect with at interview.
The heart of your proposed CV
...is bound to be your studies, and
for some professional starts it is essential to achieve high grades, which can
justifiably be mentioned in detail. Do not under any circumstances miss out
your degree class (because people will assume you got a 3rd). If for some
reason your did worse than expected after achieving superb A-level results,
explain that decline (your father died; you lost interest in the course; you
are taking steps to remedy the problem with a Masters degree); if you danced
away your A-levels but are on track for a great degree result, make sure the
emphasis falls that way. I often advise people to say why they chose specific
courses, who their tutors were (if famous) and what they learned, specifically,
from that branch of study. If you fancy investment banking, for example, and
have experienced using the same appraisal system that top trading organisations
actually use, then mention it and say what you did with it. If you haven't, and
you expect to break into a golden career, find out quick !
Your
knowledge
Young people without maturity, and who are unlikely to be of
any use to an employer, expose themselves at once by expecting everything to be
done for them. I get enquiries from History graduates who vaguely fancy a
career in e-commerce because it pays well, they imagine. Forget it - unless you
are a History graduate who has spent hours on the Internet, read the e-business
gurus and can talk convincingly at interview about the future. If this is you,
say so in your CV; if it is not you, then you aren't much use at the moment and
you need to bring your initiative to bear on acquiring information that wasn't
handed to you on a plate. That rule applies to every field of activity. People
with 1st Class Honours degrees can almost ignore it, but everyone else can
benefit from having gone beyond the narrow confines of academia and well beyond
what the college careers service has ever dreamed of. If you have knowledge,
flaunt it and get it out there. Locate your employment targets on the Internet,
research the company in detail and contact them direct. Don't expect to follow
all the other sheep through an easy gate marked "A graduate career". It isn't
like that any more. People with MSCE training who left school at 16 can be just
as highly regarded as Computer Science graduates who have no idea what they
want, what is possible and how to move themselves forward.
It's a
tough world out there
...and it is entirely commercial. All careers in
the future will be sales related in some sense. Wise up to that fact
immediately and be prepared to develop your career from whatever angle you can
gain entry into the world of your choice. Many of the most successful people I
write CVs for started life by leaving school at 16 and showing initiative at
every step of the way. Bear in mind that as a young graduate you are untried
and unproven and that the world does not owe you anything. You have to prove
yourself and make yourself valuable enough to employ. The way to start is by
showing that you can actually sell yourself, getting the message right,
positioning appropriately, not producing a bombastic imitation of a mature
career CV.20
Snappy letters work wonders
Spend time on
your application letters and throw the first 25 you write away. Until you have
one that sings, that is less than a page long, that excites interest, that does
not repeat your CV and is not soured by blind ambition, you have not yet
written the letter. When you have written the right letter it will open doors
and you can adapt it for application form statements. I cannot tell you how to
write a letter. It's a creative process, par excellence. You need to throw away
your constraints and start by just saying what you want to say in plain
English. Then tidy it up and add a few choice buzzwords. Then cut the ones that
go too far. Then write it again, and again and again and again until it feels
just right. Then try it out and revise it if no results come back. Like your
proposed glittering career, your very first application requires some hard
work, commitment, maturity, willingness to get your hands dirty, admission of
ignorance, capture of new knowledge and all the creative flair you can muster.
Good luck.
© CV Special 1999/2002
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