Employment There are a couple of schools of thought about how to organise this bit.
Chronological is the old-fashioned way what you"ve been doing and when: * Company, job t.i.tle, date * Responsibilities * Achievements This goes in reverse chronological order (start at the most recent, and therefore most relevant, end and work backwards).
Chronological works well if you"ve had a logical career progression and growth in one industry or one type of job.
Skills-based talks about the skills and experience you"ve gained, rather than where you gained those skills. Somewhere at the back you list job t.i.tles and whom you worked for.
Play around with this format if you don"t yet have too much work experience, you"re looking to change your career or you"ve been having a break from work due to family/study etc.
If someone is a new graduate and their only work experience is weekend work in a shop, for example, I have no problem with that a.s.suming it"s an entry-level role they"re applying for. I"d like them to say that from the start, though. What I don"t like is getting a CV where they use the skills-based format to go on about how great they are at customer service, flexibility, problem-solving and so on it feels like they"re hiding the fact that they"ve never had a professional job. (SUSANNAH) Mix it up: chronological and skills This kind of CV is a good compromise. You might want to open with a career objective statement that includes a career summary, then list your fabulous and transferable skills and, finally, get into employment history.
As we said at the start, don"t obsess over this. Just find a format you"re happy with, focus on getting the content and details and language to be flawless, and you"ll have a good CV.
Here are some sample formats and layouts: Play around with the formatting so that the important bits (job t.i.tle, company) are highlighted. Then be consistent, or (a) the whole thing will look a mess and (b) your prospective employer will rightly suspect you"re not consistent.
We prefer to include months you worked there Jan 2005 to July 2007 gives a more accurate picture than simply 20052007. If there are large gaps in what you did, just list the years.
Next: it can work well to have a little brief on the company you worked for, especially if you"re changing industries, to help recruiters visualise what sort of work you did and what size the company was.
JulyOct 2008: Editorial Intern, ABC Magazines
ABC Magazines are a small publisher based in Brighton, specialising in colour monthly magazines such as Gourmet Food and Travel in Style. www.abcmagazines.com
Then you need to get into your role in the job: Performed various editorial duties including sub-editing and compiling editorial, industry research. Developed a research project for academic and company a.s.sessment.
Again, bullet point style is fine.
Try splitting the job description into function and achievements, or function and skills acquired: June 2006 to December 2007: XYZ Publishers Section 1.01 Tertiary Representative: Southern Region Role involved representing XYZ textbooks in universities; meet sales targets by retaining textbook adoptions and winning new sales; develop and maintain relationships with lecturers and booksellers.
Achievements: * Secured 12% territory growth in 2006 and 14% in 2007, in a flat market * Sales Representative of the Year Award 2007 Or June 2006 to December 2007: XYZ Publishers Section 1.02 Tertiary Representative: Southern Region Role involved representing XYZ textbooks in universities; meet sales targets by retaining textbook adoptions and winning new sales; develop and maintain relationships with lecturers and booksellers. Secured double-digit growth two years running and won Sales Representative of the Year Award 2007 Skills gained: * Relationship building * Acquiring new business and retaining and building on existing business * Good information storage and database habits * Presentation skills including small and large groups As when you"re doing any writing, especially about yourself, there are tricks to making all this sound good.
1. Write it up first, put it away and return to it later; never send your first draft 2. Your work description should include an outline of your role, and more detail in the more challenging areas.
3. And stay on the correct side of stretching the truth. You will get found out!
So where a precisely honest record of your last job might read like this: XYZ Publishers Section 1.03 Receptionist/Sales and Marketing a.s.sistant * Reception duties included answering phone, taking messages, greeting visitors, sorting mail, making tea and coffee for senior staff * Sales a.s.sistant duties included photocopying, setting up conference calls, making calls, keeping contact with territories for which there was currently no sales representative * Marketing a.s.sistant duties included photocopying, distributing flyers, booking conferences and sending books, checking brochures for errors, answering author calls What you"d actually prefer your new employer to be reading is probably: XYZ Publishers Section 1.04 Sales and Marketing a.s.sistant * Sales support included managing vacant sales representative territories through customer contact (numerous significant sales achieved) * Marketing a.s.sistant duties included controlling events, creating brochures and promotional materials, managing author relationships * Some receptionist duties Good words here are "achieved", "controlling", "creating" they make your role sound stronger, and you more capable.
Ten Power Words * Changing * Leading * Directing * Making * Doing * Managing * Improving * Resolving * Innovating * Solving If you"ve not got much formal work experience, think about your non-work experiences and how you can use them: * Do you do volunteer work for a charity or not-for-profit?
* What have you contributed to? Sporting or debating clubs, political parties, church groups?
* Are you a committee member for any social groups?
* Have you organised any significant events parties, games, days out?
* What non-professional work have you done waitering, fast food, paper rounds, tidying up at the golf club?
* Have you won awards at school, university or in other avenues?
What level of responsibility/skills/experiences can you take from any of this?
Be careful, though don"t overstretch your babysitting experience into paragraphs of detail. Most recruiters would rather see an honest CV that indicates your level of experience and a handful of extracurricular activities.
If you quite genuinely have never had an after-school or university job and never been involved in any social groups or volunteering, then your CV is going to look very bland indeed and we recommend that you try and get out a bit. See Chapter 8 for ideas on how to gain valuable work experience that can put you a nose ahead.
If you have a range of non-publishing/non-relevant experience, this is where focusing on skills and transferable experiences can work well.
Try picking out the most relevant skills for the kind of role you"re applying for, and then in much less detail cover where those skills were gained.
Career Summary: * Experienced marketing professional with skills in events, advertising and written communication, seeking a new challenge in book publishing marketing Skills Summary * Event management: Managed numerous small and large conferences and involvement at events; drove attendance and increased responses * Advertising: Experienced at managing advertising contacts and database, selecting advertising targets, booking advertising for best effectiveness and budget; print and radio media * Communication: Created advertising copy and draft designs, liaised with designers for ad creation and proofing, brochure creation, design and fulfilment Employment: Feb 2003 to current: Marketing Executive, ABC Bank October 2001 to Jan 2003: Marketing a.s.sistant, XYZ Insurance Education Graduates should add information on their studies: 20052007 (part time): MA in Publishing Studies Kingston University * Modules included Publishing: the structure of an industry; Marketing; Creating a bestseller 20012003: BA English (First Cla.s.s) Oxford Brookes University 2000: A Levels Stonnington Secondary College * English, French, German There"s no need to include school or even university marks, though an idea of what you studied can be good. If your marks have been exceptional, say "Consistently awarded High Distinctions" or something similar, but keep this low-focus. A whacking great list of every grade you"ve got since you were 15 is definitely not called for.
School is really not relevant once you"ve completed tertiary studies. If your school has a very controversial reputation (deservedly or otherwise), leave out its name. (We said above you should only include information you want to discuss.) Personal information This is where you list stuff about you. You could put: * Professional a.s.sociations * Languages * Skills, especially technical skills such as computer literacy, specialised systems; the ability to drive and the state of your licence, if clean.
* Community work shows what a rounded person you are.
* Interests this is there to give recruiters a handle to chat to you "I see you like netball?" Three or four interests are fine. Don"t a.s.sume you have to list a team sport to show you"re a team player; only list things you can genuinely talk about. It is very awkward to be asked a "soft" question like this and not be able to support what you"ve written.
* Professional training, such as computer or sales courses.
Referees Referees help recruiters check up on you to make sure that you"ve done what you say you"ve done, and find out what kind of employee you"d make. They are becoming increasingly important as job applicants produce better CVs so a quick phone call to a contact listed can make a very positive impression. Also, since many referees are unwilling to put their references in writing (they may get sued by job applicants who feel it was the reference that lost them the job), they may prefer to discuss the applicant"s merits on the phone. But however they are listed, a.s.sume they will get contacted, and think carefully about whom you ask.
Questions your prospective employer might ask your referees: 1. Check facts on your CV are the job t.i.tles and time employed accurate?
2. How did they perform?
3. What were their strengths?
4. What were their weaknesses?
5. How did they get on with the team?
6. How would they perform in x.x.x type of role?
7. Were there performance or personal issues I should know about?
8. Would you employ them again?
Ideally, referees should be people you have worked for recently and are happy to tell recruiters how great you are. If you"re currently working this may not be possible (as you probably don"t want your manager to know you"re job hunting), so think about * Work colleagues who are more senior than you and will be discreet about your job hunting * Past managers or work colleagues from your last place of work, or who have left your current work * Managers / senior staff from temporary jobs/internships * University lecturers who know you * If you can"t access any of the above, try responsible/senior people who can talk about you personally There"s a game going on here, and you need to know the rules. If it gets to the stage where your potential employer is chasing up your references, they are hoping for the right answer. So, find someone who thinks you"re great and is happy to say so.
An important point: you must check with your referee to ask their permission first, and then again if you believe they"re about to get a call. Not only is this plain good manners (and we talk elsewhere in this book about what a wickedly big advantage plain good manners can give your career), it also gives you the opportunity to refresh the memory of your referee and rebuild the rapport you had with them.
It"s fine, by the way, to say "Referees available on request, " as usually referees won"t be required until you"re in the interview process. In this case, have a version of your CV that you mail in to get the interview ("Referees available on request") and a version that you take to the interview that includes referee details.
However, if the job ad asks for referees, give them. Otherwise you"re almost certainly condemning yourself to the "Reject" pile, on the basis that you"ve blatantly ignored a clear instruction.
Lies, d.a.m.n lies and salary expectationsten things to leave off your CV: 1. Date of birth 2. Marital status 3. Number of children 4. Photo On all these above points, there is nothing to be gained, and the potential disadvantage of sparking off a recruiter"s prejudice 5. Excessive detail * long lists of school results * every single thing you ever did in your last job 6. Salary expectation Definitely a no-no. If it coincides with what they"re willing to pay, you haven"t gained anything; if it doesn"t, it flags a problem 7. Photocopies of written references Save it for the interview 8. Stupid jobs A newspaper round seven years ago impresses no-one 9. Anything you don"t want to be asked about What you put on your CV is an invitation for a discussion: use it wisely 10. Lies Positive spin yes, out-and-out fibbing definitely not. We promise this: you will get found out, you will lose your job and your reputation will suffer. Publishing is a very small world, and it"ll be smaller by one more person if you tell porkies in your CV By now you should have a powerful CV that makes its case well, doesn"t irritate your future employer and gets you into the "Yes" pile. But we haven"t quite finished, because you"ve still got to create your covering letter and it"s more important than you might think. Now read on . . .
More reading.
Bright, Brilliant CV: What Employers Want to See and How to See It, Prentice-Hall, 2005 Jackson, The Perfect CV: Today"s Ultimate Job Search Tool, Piatkus Books, 2005 1 Honest Friend: an honest friend. See glossary.
Chapter Twelve.
How to put together
a job application.
This chapter takes you through putting together a great job application letter and personalising your application for a specific job. Read also Chapter 11 on how to write a generic CV as the basis for applying for jobs.
There are two parts to a job application: 1. Your covering letter Personalised, zippy and sharp. This is the bit recruiters read (or at least skim). Get it right and your CV gets honoured with a glance.
2. Your CV Suited to the specific job, area of publishing or company you"re applying for.
Covering letter Your covering letter is the first thing that hits a recruiter"s desk. They have to get past it to look at your CV. So it must grab their attention and generate enough interest for them to want to find out more about you.
Your CV is a standard doc.u.ment, tailored to the jobs you are applying for. Your covering letter, on the other hand: * Is fully personalised to the job and organisation * Details why you want to work for them * It"s short (one page) * Has all your contact details, and * May summarise key points from your CV Format: for consistency, this should be the same as your CV, on standard white A4 paper, in a clean, readable font.
Your cover letter must include: Date of writing 1 November 2008 is standard. 1st November, 1/11/08 or other forms are less professional.
Your details Include your name (right at the top), address, phone (landline and mobile, your accompanying CV should state which it is best to use) and e-mail.
Emma Woodhouse
2 Smith Street
Maidenhead SL6 2QL
t 020 8991 123
e
* Tel, e-mail are fine as abbreviations * Spell out Street/Road etc in full (not St or Rd) * Include a t.i.tle if you wish certainly do so if your name doesn"t make your gender clear ("Ms Alex Marshall"). For a woman, Miss, Mrs or Ms are all perfectly acceptable. As mentioned in the previous chapter, don"t get overly formal here; no need to write Miss Jacqueline Melissa Wise (Jackie) Instead, Jackie Wise will do just fine.
Recipient details It"s amazing how many people stuff this up usually by half-amending a saved standard letter and not proofing properly. Make sure all details are exactly as they are given in the job ad or on their website: Human Resources Manager The Big Book Publishing Company 12 Editorial Street Maidenhead SL6 2QL Dear Sir/Madam Or Ms Jane Manager The Big Book Publishing Company 12 Editorial Street Maidenhead SL6 2QL Dear Ms Manager Double and triple check the recipient name before you send. Even if you have been informed of the manager"s first name, resist the temptation to use it and don"t start your letter "Dear Jane". You have not been introduced. You wouldn"t be offended, but (believe it or not) some older people may be. Why would you risk that for no gain?
I once had a job application where I asked for responses to Susannah Bowen, and got one that said "Susan Bowman" in the address detail and then "Dear Mrs Brown" in the salutation. Three strikes in the first three lines. I didn"t read the letter it went straight in the "no" pile anyone with that level of sloppiness doesn"t deserve a good job! (SUSANNAH) Template for letter The first sentence of your letter should explain why you are writing; specifically that you are applying for a job and where you heard about it.
I wish to express interest in the Marketing Executive position advertised on www.seek.com.au on 9 June.
Next, say why you should be considered for the job. You might like to refer to your CV or key points from your CV, but don"t repeat everything in your CV remember this is a short letter. Pick out the two or three points from your CV most relevant to this particular role.
I am currently a marketing a.s.sistant in a large publishing house. My background and skills are well doc.u.mented in the attached CV. However, the following points may be of interest, including: * My wide range of experience, including communications, campaign development, and sales support * Energy, enthusiasm, and excellent communication skills * Achieved an MA in Publishing and Communications from The University of Melbourne The points you pull out should be relevant to the role/company; having one of three or four highlighting something personal about you that demonstrates your drive can also work if you"ve set up your own business, self-published a book, that kind of thing.
And then a wrap-up paragraph that highlights your interest in the particular role advertised or their company: I am keen to progress my career with an independent publishing house such as XYZ Publishers.
And finally: I hope to have the opportunity to discuss my application in more detail.
Yours sincerely E. Woodhouse Emma Woodhouse And sign it with a confident signature in a decent pen not the first blotchy ballpoint you find to hand. (Try out a few on a blank sheet of paper before attacking your application.) Personalising your CV When you"re applying for a job, work though your generic CV and ensure lots of focus on the experience and skills relevant to the job you"re applying for.
1. Read the job ad carefully, out loud (to be sure you"re not missing anything) and note what they"re asking for. Now, rewrite your CV and letter with this job ad fresh in your mind.
2. Aim for phrases that hit the same notes in a slightly different way don"t parrot the words they use. So if the job ad asks for a "self-starter", think about what that means. Try peppering your letter and CV with things like "Confident graduate with strong skills; quick learner" (at least, we think that"s what "self-starter" means).
3. Now go through your CV and draw out the bits most relevant to this job, from your work, study and personal experience. So if you"ve done internships in marketing and editorial, and you"re applying for an a.s.sistant editor job, you know which one goes at the top of your CV and in the covering letter, right? Ditto if you"re applying for a job in a non-profit organisation and you"ve done some good work as a student with Amnesty, Oxfam or anything else that shows your commitment to similar causes.
You"ll probably end up with a variety of CVs saved for different types of job emmacv.doc, emmacvmarketing.doc, emmacveditorial.doc, and so on. Even if this is the case, always double check your CV before sending it off to make sure you"re making the most of your experience (and sending the one you meant to send!).
And here"s a last golden rule for creating job applications: Do exactly what they say in the job ad.
What if it"s tedious and boring? Do exactly what they say in the job ad. What if you can"t understand why they want it? Do exactly what they say in the job ad. So ...