Key learnings:
- What to think about when putting your resume together
- Tips for what you should and shouldn’t include
Here are our tips to help you refresh your resume.
Treat your resume like a proposal
Think about the potential employer reading this – what do they need to know? What are the key skills/experiences you offer? How can you demonstrate past results? How is your experience a match for them right now?
Start your resume from scratch
Particularly if it’s been a long time since you wrote a resume. A common error in updating an old resume is just adding your latest role and not changing anything else. It can lead to a very long resume with lots of irrelevant/junior information from earlier in your career, detracting from the level you are seeking to position yourself now.
Tailor you resume for different roles
For example having a BD resume and a marcomms resume. If all the roles you’re applying for are very similar in nature you can probably get away with just one version unless a role is particularly nuanced. However, the more senior you get the more likely you’ll want to tailor for each application.
Update your online profile
These days most potential employers will check your LinkedIn profile while considering your CV and so ensure this is up to date, consistent and positions you in the best light along with your resume. When hiring marketing/BD people, our clients expect a sophisticated approach to social media presence.
Update your resume regularly
It is a good idea to review this every six months regardless of whether you intend to look for a new role soon. This ensures no great projects are forgotten when the time comes and will make the process painless when you do decide to go to market.
Resume Template
It’s important to represent yourself in a unique way however, we find the following template covers the standard information our clients expect.
Career Profile / Objective
This is your elevator pitch. Who you are and what you’re seeking in a clear, articulate and punchy style. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself.
Education
We recommend this at the top of the CV if you are degree qualified or higher.A common error is including Professional Training in the same section and letting the Qualifications get mixed up and lost in a long list. If you have a lot of Skills Training (sales, digital etc) it’s better in its own section.
Key Skills
Whether to include this is personal preference but there’s nothing wrong with having some key skills notes upfront. However, keep it concise as it’s hard to take in too much of this detail without the context of a role. A good tip is to mirror the key skills required on a job description.
Career History
For each key position:
- include all the titles you’ve held and dates (including months).
- put a summary before the responsibilities covering the context: reporting lines, overall objective, type of business etc.
- responsibilities: employers like this be as tangible as possible rather than reading like a job description. What specifics can you include in each dot point: which sector/practice group/client or client type; can you name the thought leadership piece, what was the ROI/outcome etc?
- key achievements: it’s personal preference whether to include in their own section but it does work well to draw out 2/3 for your recent roles.
- purely list historic roles: if the position was so long ago and junior that the content of what you did will not help you get your next role, it’s okay to just list the position and dates.
Volunteer work
If you have recent volunteer experience then mention it as it can differentiate you.
Interests
This is matter of personal style but a short paragraph or couple of bullet points can add personality and be an ice breaker in an interview if there’s common ground.
Personal Information
There is no obligation or expectation to share marital status, date of birth or salary expectations on the CV.
Contact details
It’s important to include an email address and mobile number that you’ll check daily and be easily contactable through in the interview process.
Referees
Seldon Rosser will take the details off before forwarding this on to a potential employer. However, we do like to know in advance who you’ll be planning to use as referees when the time comes.
Length
The content and layout is more important than the length itself in the Asia-Pacific and a good CV could be one to five pages generally depending on your level of seniority. The two page rule in the UK doesn’t apply here and potential employers are often seeking more tangible information than this style of CV.