Having reviewed literally thousands of CVs over the years, one thing which quickly became apparent was that prospective job candidates really struggled to articulate themselves. It’s true and not just restricted to those deemed “junior” or fairly new to project management, those managing multi-million pound programmes and heading up incredibly complex and technical pieces of work (often high profile) are also guilty, if not more so. You may ask how hard it can be to clearly talk about the key deliverables, important facts and “how” you work – when spelled out, it isn’t or is it?
How many times have you made a statement which has been misinterpreted? From a flippant status update on Facebook to a quickly scribed tweet, responses contrary to what you meant often crop up so how common is it to make the same mistakes on your CV – very!
When we write something down, to you as the author it makes sense but often you write as you speak and don’t think about the fact that others do not know what context you are talking in when it’s a flat piece of paper. A short, to the point (or not) document which should be presenting you in a professional manner and selling your abilities to potential employers and recruiters.
Don’t leave it to chance, think long and hard about your target audience and what they expect to see, work through your skills, experiences and knowledge and ensure this comes across clearly on the CV. Don’t make the mistake of writing thousands of words or going polar opposite by barely supplying any info. Remember it doesn’t matter what level you work at, the employer still needs to see what it is you have done and how you have done it. Senior management often believe less is more but this will seriously hinder you from securing that next position.
Category Archives: Project management CV
Free Project Manager CV Health Check
Just like people, CVs need a health check periodically, as a project management professional you should take responsibility for your career and part of progression is updating and improving you CV as your experience grows. However there are times just like with your own health when you may suspect something is no quite right, you know when you feel there is something amiss and you aren’t functioning properly… Well you may also see these signs with your CV especially if you are applying for roles. To you the CV looks OK, but you aren’t yielding results from your applications or maybe you are but they aren’t quite the results you were hoping for.
Visiting the doctor is a good idea if you don’t feel right but all too often the GP cannot diagnose and calls for tests, and ultimately will refer you to a specialist in the field, who can investigate more thoroughly and is used to seeing hundreds of patients annually who display similar symptoms to yours and can often pinpoint what is wrong within a short consultation. Unlike the GP who is a general practitioner and is fantastic for uncomplicated ailments and conditions but has not got the in-depth knowledge of specific areas of the body to be able to accurately diagnose and ultimately understand your condition.
The same goes for your CV, you may investigate your CV and even take it to recruiters, managers, colleagues, HR friends etc but as good as their advice can be, the likelihood is that they don’t know enough about project management combined with hiring managers high expectations. Those who do will often miss how to articulate key details.
When you come to The CV Righter, you will have your CV thoroughly reviewed, and moving forward with the service you will have a thorough consultation where weak points in the document will be highlighted, completely missed areas will be teased out and poor parts will be nursed back to health to ensure the CV is really selling you.
Don’t leave it to chance, you could be missing out on some fantastic opportunities just because you hope it will sort itself out and blaming the state of the job market just isn’t an excuse. As a seasoned PM recruiter I know only too well that opportunities are still there even in perceived slow periods.
Coaching and Mentoring – PMO CV Tips
Next in the series of PMO CV tips I would like to talk about coaching and mentoring – arguably one of the most valuable roles a PMO can play within an organisation. Of course there are varying levels of coaching that can take place, depending on how the business is structured. Those who do not have a dedicated project management team that assign business heads to manage projects. Those growing in-house PM teams and the well established PM functions that may need some steering in the right direction. It is always worthwhile noting down a few details about what you are doing in your role regardless of whether you intend to move on or stay put for the meantime – this way, when you are ready to tackle the job of updating your CV you will have some notes to work from.
- Think about the skill-sets of those you are working with, their seniority within the business and how many you are supporting.
- What is it you are educating them in – planning, risk, change, benefits management, reporting etc.
- If you have those new to PM, are you teaching them how to manage a project? Working through scoping to close and lessons learned or on specific areas.
- You may have implemented new frameworks and be training top down.
- Have you been running workshops? Have you put together the presentations, workbooks and handouts?
- Are you writing training materials?
These are just a few areas to get you thinking, once you have made some notes you will be in a position to write some good bullet points for your work experience and you may also draw out an interesting case for a key achievement.
PMOs have evolved over the years and generation of the P3O® method has certainly pushed forward the promotion of the PMO working as a consultancy for the project team, as such the roles have become far more progressive therefore it is important to include this detail within your CV to really showcase your abilities.
Presenting your presentation skills on your PMO CV – PMO CV Tips
Presenting is a fantastic subject to talk about today – further to my PMO CV tips series, I think this article will really give you some food for thought. So, we have talked about presentations being a big part of PMOs, from presenting at workshops to senior stakeholder updates we’ve all had put part in this area. Have you addressed this on your CV though? No? Why not? Talking of presenting skills…. You’re not providing demonstrable evidence of your fantastic information delivery skills if you forget to mention it on your CV are you!?
Remembering that you need to be meeting the core criteria for the jobs you are applying for, presentations are often mentioned in job descriptions and therefore, will be checked for on your CV making it important for you to include some detail or risk being rejected for the role. Yes, screening CVs is that harsh, with hundreds of applications for any one role, the reviewer will use a check list to decide whether to reject or short list.
Time to make another list! Think about the types of presentations you are involved with, your input and core objectives. What format do they take, who are the audience (PM team, stakeholders, project board, sponsors and consider if they are internal/external/customers/suppliers etc) presentation content, handouts, format etc. there’s lots you can include, which should make for an interesting bullet point to add to your role remit and ensure you are putting a tick in the presentation requirement box of the hiring manager.
Don’t underestimate what employers want to see in your CV, assuming that it’s “obvious” you have done it, remember all organisations, business units and people work differently. If you are not including the detail on the CV then it will be assumed you haven’t done it.