How to write a great CV

Written by Cathy Holley, Partner in the CIO/Information Technology practice of Boyden UK Ltd

If you’re lifting your head from day to day operations to put together a CV it is highly likely you’ve got itchy feet. Are you thinking about your future? Hold that thought! Pick up a pen and start writing. Start with a pen portrait of the role you wish you had, not the one you’ve got. Now cross off the bit about scoring goals for England and get real. You next role will probably be an evolution from your current one; revolution requires employers to take significant risks. Every scrap of experience I have from my 10 year headhunting career tells me that’s as likely as me winning the lottery and not being around to write the next column. Whichever role you’ve chosen, bear in mind hundreds of others will have the same goal. If you still think you’re on the right track, we’d better get started.

You need to write a CV to differentiate you from the pack but before you pick up that pen, having thought about your future, you need to think about your past. What were the turning points for you in your career? What have you really contributed? What will each organisation remember you for? What new experience did you gain in each role? I hope it’s a good list; we’re nearly ready to rock and roll.

Before we start to write, how many CVs do you need? If you are considering very diverse roles, for example, CIO v partner in a consulting firm, you may need two CVs. Both will, of course, present the facts but each will have a different slant and will emphasize different aspects of your career. You can’t include everything you ever did, so any CV can only ever be edited highlights. What you leave in or out will determine the whole flavour of the CV and ultimately the perception the reader will have of you. So what image are you trying to put across? Strategic thinking and visionary leader? Trusted lieutenant? Dependable deliverer? Decide what elements of your broad experience to highlight to position you correctly.

Start with the easy bits; clearly laid out personal and contact details. If your education is a highlight (a degree at 2:1 or above from a good university) put it here. Anything less, at the back please).Then if you wish, a short ‘punchy’ profile. This should include no subjective Schmaltz. If in doubt, remove all references to interpersonal skills, or subjective views on your own abilities. This is equivalent to saying ‘Robert is a lovely boy and always keeps his desk tidy.’ A good profile contains only objective facts which clearly differentiate you. Suggestions include:

• International Experience
• M&A
• Board / Exec Committee experience
• Outsourcing / offshoring
• Leadership of very large teams
• Management of very large budgets
• Delivery of business transformation

At this point, if you have worked for a sensible number of well-known companies a summary – company, date, role – is a good idea. However, if you have hopped from one role to another – don’t emphasize it by putting in such a summary.

Now the hard bit. Describe the companies you have worked for in terms of scale, market positioning and major challenges. As a member of the IT Leadership team, you are one of the few, leading the strategy and shaping the company; think ‘we’ not ‘they’. Then add one line on the scope and scale of your role or perhaps what problem you were brought in to solve.

And now the really hard bit. Distilling your five year career into no more than 6 ‘punchy’ bullets. Too much detail and you’re ‘long-winded’, too little and it’s impossible to make an impact. In short, define the business opportunity or problem, how you AND YOUR TEAM delivered an outstanding solution and measured the benefit and how it impacted the business or better still, your customers (the real ones – not the internal ones). Focus on how you AND YOUR TEAM generated shareholder value and you won’t go far wrong.

Reread your bullet points – have you mentioned specific technologies? Take them out. Have you used jargon which only your colleagues would understand? Take it out. Above all, does every bullet pass the ‘so what’ test, do they prove that beyond all doubt, you are outstanding or do you think anyone in your role would have done the same?

I could write a whole book on ‘The Ridiculous Things I have seen in CVs’ but the section most responsible for the most of the hilarity in our CIO practice is undoubtedly – hobbies! Some clients are keen to know that you are an outstanding individual not only in the office but outside too. I’m not sure that including ‘tortoise husbandry, collecting beer mats or as one male CIO admitted… girl guides’ hits the spot, but hey, each to their own!

Now the acid test. Reread the document and ask yourself honestly whether it is an honest and beautifully-written document which will grab the reader and immediately compel them to call you. If not, start again.