The Executive CV

This is a shorter, edited version of an article first published on LinkedIn in 2017.  Everything remains relevant.

I’ve commented a couple of times on the low average quality of the CVs I see:

·        Most contain errors of punctuation, grammar or inappropriate capitalisation.

·        Most are too long, often because they state the same thing more than once and because their writers feel the need to say as much as possible about themselves.

·        Many fail to sell the owner on the top half of the first page.

·        Most muddle up attributes, duties and achievements.

I have decided to write what I hope will be a useful article for those determined to produce their own CV. I don’t pretend that I write flawlessly. The following is drawn from the knowledge I’ve gained reading hundreds of CVs; overwhelmingly from senior executives. It’s not about perfect grammar, syntax and punctuation and it isn’t a definitive guide; more a useful set of suggestions.

1. The Heading: In a suitably bold, clear and non-flashy font this should state your name, address, email address and mobile phone number and show that the document is a CV e.g.

Diane Dishcloth

Curriculum Vitae

4 Snarley Way, Bungborough, Clanshire EN85 9QT

m: 07777 777777   e: dianedish@hotspot.co.uk

2. The Profile Summary: This comes next and is the section that should grab the recruiter’s attention and make it obvious why you are a candidate for the job at hand. State your key skills and experience. This bit is usually too long - like the following real example (submitted for a senior sales operations role), taken from the worst CV I’ve ever seen, which was six pages of size 8 font and cost its subject £600 (yes, really):

A highly talented and accomplished Management professional with a real passion in delivering inspirational and exceptional Service, Relations, Business Operations and Business Development. Extensive familiarity with relationship management, process improvement and program development. Proven history of increasing customer retention and profitability whilst reducing cost and overheads. Able to develop and implement strategies, policies, and procedures. I’m a successful and dedicated professional with expertise in navigating organisational success, building teams of dedicated and successful employees, providing an atmosphere of support and motivation that breeds top performers, I’m a hard working individual with the inspirational communications skills to work at all levels of the organisation. Exceptional skills in developing and implementing strategic plans and initiatives that exceed goals and objectives. Outstanding experience in building, developing, managing and directing service sectors to success. I work well in teams or individually, to achieve goals and objectives.

The preceding paragraph says the same thing more than once and is not well punctuated. There are unnecessary capital letters and several words that are best avoided such as ‘inspirational’ (other words that ought to be omitted from CVs are ‘tenacious’, ‘ambitious’, and ‘determined’; they have become almost valueless and make the CV read like a ‘puff piece’). It also mixes the first and third person.  Only the most ‘junior’ CVs read well in the first person; if you have a few years under your belt your CV should, arguably, read as though it is an objective statement by an expert analyst who has observed you over many years.  The example above is full of subjective waffle. It’s also worth noting that long words and complex sentences do not give the impression of high intellect and ability, in fact they do the opposite.

Edit ruthlessly; why write 'in light of the fact that' when you could write 'because'? Ideally you shouldn’t make claims in your CV that you cannot substantiate with quantitative data. Eliminating the hyperbole, waffle and tautology, getting rid of the over used word 'passion' and sticking to the third person gives us:

A business development and operational manager with a strong track record of process improvement, customer retention and business-unit growth. Expert at team building and motivating staff to become top performers.  Strong communication skills facilitate engagement at all levels.

In just four lines we know that this person can apparently improve processes, keep her customers and grow the business and that she can mentor staff successfully. We also know that she can talk to people easily – an essential skill in sales. This should ensure that the recruiter reads on - the reason we have the summary in the first place.

3. Key skills and experience etc. Beneath the profile summary should be the list of core skills.  Again, keep this brief and to the point.  Avoid the following sort of thing (another real example - this is half the original list):

Experience

Operations Management

·        Successful operator in a wide number of operational roles.

·        A leader who gets results and drives value

·        Developed solutions for the complete business operation from sourcing to post-sales service.

Change management

·        Experience of not only instigating projects but also working with the change management process required to ‘make it happen’.

·        Practised communicator at all levels, used to selling concepts and solutions at board level.

·        Rigorous in evaluating projects, both in investment terms and clearly formed success criteria, ensuring ‘buy in’ from the outset

Logistics:

·        Supply chain and in-store logistic leadership at both the operational and strategic level.

·        Wide practical experience at executing supply chain solutions.

·        Thorough knowledge of lean retailing theory and implementation.

All that is needed is:

Skills and Experience

·        Sales Operations

·        Board-level engagement

·        Change Implementation

·        Logistics and supply chains

·        Lean retailing

If you have held several relevant jobs then it can be useful to list them under the skills section as a Career Summary like so (but this is not essential, especially if your career has not taken a ‘linear’ path):

2013 – 2017        Chocolate Fireguard Defence         Business Development Director - Europe

2007 – 2013        Lead Balloon Dynamics plc              Business Development Director

2001 – 2006        Wing and Prayer Aerospace            Business Development Manager

1999 – 2001        Blather and Blather Ltd                    UK Sales Director

1996 – 1999        Blather and Blather Ltd                    Sales Manager (Southern region)

1989 – 1995        Humpty Dumpty Productions          Apprentice Bricklayer

4. Next comes the detail of employment history and here the duties and achievements must be properly separated. Here’s another example of how not to do it, where fictitious company names have been substituted for the real ones:

1999 – 2006                        

Mixed Bag Defence Products & Services plc

Sales Director

Responsibilities

I was responsible for the management of the Outsourced Services Division’s Sales Operation directly supervising 37 staff and ensuring that they met targets and closed deals across the uk and Europe. I was awarded the company top employee award three years running and grew the Business substantially. I was responsible for understanding the market and reaching out to new customers, developing complicated propositions with the technical costers that met their business needs and engaging with senior buyers in the Public and Private Sectors to develop bids and win contracts across Europe and the uk. My Team won the largest contract ever £4.5m and from 2001 – 2005 we built the pipeline for the next three years from £1.9m to £21m and during this time we secured Lockheed Grumman, Northrop Martin and Inexcusable plc as clients.

That’s a long-winded muddle of duties and achievements and there are unnecessary capitals though ‘UK’ should be capitalised, of course. Better to write:

1999-2006           Mixed Bag Defence Products & Services plc                Sales Director

Duties

·        Management of sales operations for Outsourced Services unit across Europe – 37 direct reports

·        Business development

·        Proposal and bid development

Achievements

·        Built the future pipeline from £1.9M to £21M in just four years

·        Secured blue-chip clients Northrop Martin, Lockheed Grumman and Inexcusable plc

·        Head of team that won the company’s largest ever contract; £4.5M

·        Won 'Employee of the Year' award three years running

This clearly separates duties and achievements and makes the latter stand out – very important.

5. After the employment history should come education and training.  Regarding formal academic qualifications include the highest, and from where, along with the most relevant if it’s not the same e.g.

1994                      Wellchester University                     MSc Molecular Biology

1990                      Munborough College of HE              HND Business Studies

All relevant training courses and accreditations should be listed, so defence sector project managers can leave out the Practitioner’s Certificate in Yoga (save it for the additional information at the end) but include:

2012                      Willbank Management School                       PRINCE2

2010                      Royal College of Defence Studies                  Senior Leadership Course

6. The end of the CV is where you add the personal touch (to give yourself a bit of ‘colour’) and the important extras:

Married with three grown-up children. A keen gardener, cook, reader and fitness enthusiast - completed first ‘Tough Mudder’ last year.  U16s football coach.

Health: Good

Driving Licence: Full, clean

My main suggestions:

·        If you doubt your writing ability seek expert help – spelling and punctuation errors make you look sloppy.  All the people on LinkedIn who criticised this article in 2017 made mistakes in their comments, which reveals a lot.

·        Avoid ‘tenacious’, ‘determined’, ‘driven’, ‘ambitious’, ‘passion’, ‘inspiring’, ‘outstanding’ and hyperbole in general. Steer clear of 'works well individually or in a team'.  Don’t put ‘really’, ‘very’, ‘extremely’ or ’highly’ in front of words except to emphasise something significant e.g. 'Invented a cure for the deadly mango-tango disease while on sabbatical. It has proved to be extremely effective as no-one has died since it was deployed in 2014'.

·        Edit ruthlessly; ‘less is more’.  Waffling dilutes the impact of what you are trying to convey.

·        Read the drafts out aloud and record this onto your phone as a voice memo.  When you listen to the recording does it come over as succinct and punchy or more like a dull novel?

·        Don’t leave employment gaps – they quite rightly arouse suspicion but there may be perfectly good reasons for them e.g. you inherited a sum of money that enabled you to fulfil your lifelong ambition of purchasing a vintage yacht and carrying out a fifteen-month restoration.

·        Don’t muddle attributes, experience, duties and achievements (e.g. “a qualified accountant with over thirty years’ experience in corporate tax avoidance” is not a duty or achievement) and back up your achievements with quantitative data.

If this article has been of any use, please share it. I'd like it to reach as many people as possible.