CV Workshop

It is crucial, particularly during a tough marketplace when competition for jobs is fierce, to make sure your CV gives you the best possible chance of getting the job you need. Below are some KEY pointers for anybody looking to market themselves in the best light – after all your CV is your shop window.

The first thing you have to remember when you’re working on your CV is that this might be your one and only chance to sell yourself to your prospective employer. When you write your CV, it is just a document, but when you send it out it becomes your Marketing Tool – its entire objective is to prompt meetings with potential employers.

At this moment of heightened unemployment, most employers are probably wading through hundreds of CVs. You need to make yours easy to read, interesting, and memorable. Here are some good ways to achieve that.

What to put in your CV:

• Try to keep your CV short. If you can get it down to a page or two, then it is going to be much easier for the employer to read.
• Some pieces of information are vital. Make sure you include all your contact details, your career history and a good section on your relevant skills and strengths
• Sell the benefits, not the features – e.g “I feel I’m a driven person, this is shown by my persistence on the (Client) project, where I…etc”
• Quantify EVERYTHING e.g Billings and Figures – Estate Agency is a sales based industry, most employers want to know what you can add to their bottom line. What did you bank last year? What did you bank last month? What is this month looking like? Keep things as up to date as possible. These are questions that an employer will ask you at interview so make sure what you write and what you say at interview marries up.
• Write a few bullet points with your success and achievements for each job you have had, such as winning major accounts or exceeding key targets.
• In addition, make sure you write a few lines introducing yourself and tell the reader what your career ambitions are.
• Your covering letter should explain why you are applying for the role, it’s a good idea to outline where you want to be and how your experience fits into that.
• If you have worked for one employer for several years in a number of different positions, group them all under one title in order to keep it brief.
• Be 110% honest – Always include every job, you could lose credibility by ‘missing out’ a job and you could get found out. Estate Agency is incestuous – fact!
• So for example, if you worked for one agency for 10 years as a Sales Negotiator and then as a Senior Sales Negotiator and then as a Sales manager, it’s a good idea to block this whole section down under one title and explain the various roles you held underneath. This will help you to pare down the amount information you are including.

What not to put in:

• Do not include lots of irrelevant information. No one wants to wade through pages of details on your primary school education.
• And there's no need to include all your interests - unless they are relevant. If you are applying for a job as a walking tour guide in a library it is good to know that you read a lot and you enjoy walking; but if you are applying for a job as a sales manager, it is less relevant.
• Avoid unusual acronyms (or provide explanations)
• Don’t copy and paste job specifications from your ex employer’s website – it’s obvious and unnecessary.
• Avoid tables, graphs and any graphics – If an employer can’t open your CV or easily read it what chance do you have.

Sending Your CV:

• When you write your covering letter to accompany your CV, I advise you to do your research. You should always include information about the company that you are applying to.
• You need to write something like, "Dear Mr Client, I understand you are looking for someone to fill such and such a position. Your organisation is one that I've always been very impressed with and I've admired. I understand the business was established 20 years ago and you operate 50 offices countrywide." Information like this can be found really easily on any company website, and it will make your covering letter come alive.
• If you’re sending the CV by post, print them on the best quality paper you can afford. It helps to improve that all-important first impression.

Last minute checks:

• Another important point is to spell check your letter and CV. In fact, I would recommend that you check it, check it and re-check it and then get someone else to check it too.
• Do not send out your CV with spelling or punctuation errors in it.
• Most employers and recruitment agencies are seeking the best staff and if they’re wading through 200 CVs for one job, the easiest way to discard CVs at a first pass is if they contain errors.