Imagine for moment that you are an ignorant consumer of hair-care products walking down the shampoo aisle for the very first time in your neighbourhood supermarket. And, lo and behold, you find entire shelves stacked with various shampoo bottles each displaying a different brand name. All shampoos essentially do the same thing clean your hair, and yet, some immediately stand out from the rest because of their design or perhaps the colour of their packaging appeals to your aesthetic sense. So, which shampoo do you select? Most consumers are so mesmerised by the packaging of the product that they end up selecting the one that is best designed and most appealing to them.
In the same way, a recruiter, when considering how to fill a specific job vacancy has to look at numerous CVs, before he or she decides which one to call for an interview. Each CV represents the packaging and each individual now becomes a brand. Welcome to the ‘brand’ new world of consumerism! Can you now picture yourself as a branded hair-care product waiting on a shelf to be picked and placed in the recruiter’s ‘supermarket basket’? Only the CV with a ‘wow’ factor or the bottle with the best overall packaging gets picked up, while the rest are overlooked. It sounds scary doesn’t it? But this is exactly what Tom Peters wrote about in his article titled ‘The brand called you in Fast Company’,”You’re branded, branded, branded, … It’s time for me ” and you ” to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that’s true for anyone who’s interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.”
Once you realise the importance of a CV, it’s time to work on the packaging of brand ‘Me’. The question is how to craft a CV that is a work of art and manages to generate the star quality among its consumers. Your goal as a job-seeker is much the same as that of a growing business: you must build your trademark to make a consistent impact on the market. Below are a few tips for crafting an effective CV for brand ‘Me’.
1. Contact information
Suppose a recruiter is so impressed with brand ‘Me’ from its marketing brochure that he or she wants to get in touch with you to learn more in an interview. Don’t be afraid to make yourself easily reachable by clearly stating your home address, mobile number and email address. A word of advice: avoid using absurd email addresses on your professional ‘work of art’ such as [email protected], or else Mr Casanova will be Mr Unemployed.
2. Education background
When it comes to your education, clearly list the names of the education institutions you have attended, in chronological order, with the most recent one first, the title of the degree, the date it was awarded, and the corresponding Grade Point Average (GPA) or percentage, whichever is applicable. You can also include all the awards and recognition that you received during this time.
3. Work experience
Seasoned professionals list their experience starting with the most recent one first whereas students list the companies where they interned and a sentence about what they learned there. If there have been any accomplishments during the short internship programme, then you must highlight them here. When stating your work experience, it is important to only summarise your job responsibilities of that position briefly. Do not be tempted to copy your entire job description on your CV. You may also want to include your achievements at each company and in each role.
4. No Lies
According to Laszlo Bock, former Head of Human Resources at Google,”Putting a lie on your resume is never, ever, ever, worth it. Everyone, up to and including CEOs, gets fired for this”. Candidates may lie on their CVs about various things like their degrees, their GPA in college, work experience, achievements at work, the size of their teams and so on. The problem with lying is that the truth cannot be hidden and eventually you will get into trouble for it. So, the best advice is do not fabricate or lie about anything, even the slightest piece of information, on your CV.
Once you are done with your CV, read it again for any typos. You may also want to get a friend or a professional whom you trust, to proofread it. To sum up, writing a CV that makes employers sit up and take notice is an art, one that anyone can master provided they have the right set of skills and practice to go along with it. All you need is that interview call and if your marketing brochure and packaging is prepared well, you might not need a popular or high-ranking ‘brand ambassador’ to refer your brand and endorse it. It will sell on its own. Happy campaigning for brand ‘Me’!
The author is an HR professional and former adjunct faculty of HR and Leadership, and an avid Qatar Tribune reader.