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Not needed a CV for 10 years; where do I start? – Friday Snippet

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Been in a role for a long time whether it be self-employed or employed so haven’t needed a CV? What to do? Don’t panic and follow this step by step guide to achieving an attractive, attention seeking and professional resume.

  1. Create a list of your career history, noting dates, role titles, company names and basic remit to start.
  2. List your key achievements to date – keep to examples which demonstrate where you have gone above and beyond the call of duty or made a real difference. Simply noting down projects you have managed to time and budget does not demonstrate an achievement as such (you were paid to deliver the project). However if you have implemented a new programme structure to the business or dealt with particularly difficult stakeholders etc. then talk about it.
  3. Perform a skills audit – start by drawing a line to represent the project timeline, then note down core areas you have exposure to such as writing the business case, planning, Risk & Issues, supplier management etc.
  4. Take a template from the internet to start – fill in the areas you can easily do, such as dates and achievements etc. then refer to the following blog posts which will assist you in filling in the gaps:

Now you should have a good solid document to work on – you’ll need to spend some time tweaking and rewriting, but you will soon find that what seemed a wall too high to climb is merely a hurdle along the way to getting back into finding a new role.

Careers Advice, CV Tips, Job Applications, PMO, Project Management, Project management CV, project management resume, Starting out in Project Management, Transferable Skills

Let’s talk about transferable skills – starting out in Project Management

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There’s always a lot of talk about skill-sets and particularly transferable skills; however if you want to transfer your career into the project management field then it is important to highlight the right skills which will be of greatest benefit to you and your potential employer. Now we all know there are differing types of project management roles from support through to managing and there are also more technical PM roles too – not just IT, they may be construction / engineering etc where you need to have a good knowledge of the field as well as PM methods to be successful in delivering benefits. So I am going to cover some key transferable skills for the PM aspect not any specific industry based element, here are a few to consider:

  • Investigating – Researching and questioning why? Key components to any good PM professional, being able to push back with quantifiable evidence is required even more now that funding is tight and projects benefits really do need to be explored thoroughly before starting off another project.
  • Planning – Planning / scheduling projects, predicting outcomes / scenarios, organising events and preparing for tasks – it’s a must!
  • Leadership – Core requirement for any good Project Manager and comes in very handy for Programme Support professionals too.
  • Influencing – The ability to gain buy-in is a big requirement for PM professionals, whether it’s from senior management, external (or internal stakeholders), sponsors or suppliers – you need to be able to persuade and encourage others.
  • Teamwork – Proving you can bond with others and build a strong force which produces results is key to successful project delivery.
  • Problem solving – Taking different viewpoints and exploring solutions is a big part of PM, from understanding workstream leads other commitments to supplier issues.
  • Budgeting – At some point you with be either managing your own budget or monitoring budgets on projects in a support element.
  • Decision making – The ability to look at your options and actually pick a way forward is crucial especially in a critical situation.
  • Training – Working with others either as a manager (PM) to mentor and train people in the project team or as a support person (PMO) to train others in various aspects of the project lifecycle such as risk management etc through workshops and 1 2 1 engagement.
  • Organising – From coordinating teams and individuals, arranging meetings and resources to scheduling.
  • Time management – Meeting deadlines and setting priorities are the core factors of project management and being on time is a given.
  • Creating – Not always highlighted as a core skill for PMs but in my experience of delivering projects, inventing, originating, designing or composing play a big part to success.

Now you can use this as a starting guide to performing a skills audit – once you have a list of transferable skills, you then need to provide some good examples of each skill (where you have used them / how / outcomes etc). These will help you form a basis for applications to project management jobs.

 

CV Writing, Project management CV, project management resume

Free CV review for Project Management professionals

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It is tough making a decision to move on in your career when there are fewer roles about and a great deal of uncertainty in business makes you wonder if you may be jumping out of the chip pan into the fire. However, we have been experiencing economic unsettlement for a number of years now so just how long can you put up with your current circumstances? Holding on for a more stable market can indeed be a sensible option for you, but as a project professional you are used to dealing with risk and as such you know how to investigate and ensure your plans come to fruition.

Bearing in mind the advertised roles are not in abundance and working hours can be restrictive for researching the hidden roles – especially when you are not 100% bought in to leaving your current role, you need to ensure the roles you are applying for yield positive response. The best way to do this is to dust down your CV and update it with your most recent experience, ensuring it says all the right things about you and your skills and also meets recruiters and employers expectations.

We are offering a FREE CV REVIEW for UK based project professionals – you can submit your CV and we will be in touch to arrange a telephone appointment to talk through your CV, explaining all the good bits and constructively talking through the parts which are not working for you. The review is performed by a seasoned project management recruitment specialist who has reviewed thousands of CVs over the years for every industry and all roles falling under the project management umbrella from project support, risk management, change management, business analysis to programme directors to name a few.

The benefit of having a project management CV review is to really understand the recruiter perspective and help you formulate a way to improve your CV. Once you know how your CV is viewed you can start to understand why you may not be hearing back from job applications and also be able to take the stand point of loading your CV to job databases so that employers and recruiters can contact you.

You are under no obligation to take up the professional project management CV writing services but if you are interested we can talk through a bespoke service which fits in with your schedule and financial constraints. Not everyone needs a full rewrite but a few essential tweaks can make the difference between gaining interviews and being ignored. Send your CV for a free review today!

Careers Advice, CV Tips, CV Writing, Project management CV, project management resume, Self employed, Training, Transferable Skills

Self employed but need a CV?

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I am often approached by business owners who confess they have never needed a CV or not needed one for so many years that they wouldn’t know where to begin – there have been a few who have decided to go into contracting or permanent roles due to a number of reasons and are stuck for what to do. Whenever anyone sits down to write their first CV it is a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be – take it step by step. First of all I would like to point you to a blog article which takes you through the basics of structuring your CV and gathering information.

Now I would like to talk you through a skills audit – basically it is a process which will help you identify your current skills and any gaps which may need addressing for future roles.

  1. 1.   Identify existing skills and knowledge – make a list of all the skills and knowledge you feel is important in your current role. Make sure you identify your key job description – looking online at example job descriptions can help with this, and then take a look at all the extras you are involved in such as marketing, finance, business development and other key areas to running a successful business.
  2. 2.   Skills required for your next role – research the job descriptions and adverts for roles which you feel you are best suited for and list down the key requirements next to your existing list.
  3. 3.   Compare – how well do your current skills match up to those required for the job you wish to apply for? Tick off the list on all areas covered and look to the additional skills required to see if in fact you have missed any from your own list.

 

Once you have a strong list of key required skills you are at a fantastic starting point for adding detail to the structure of your CV. Remember to flesh out the skills by contextualising them in bullet points which should average approx 2 lines. By adding detail rather than just skills keywords you are qualifying your competences and making your CV about you – not just a lot of keywords; exactly what the hiring manager wants to see.

Using this information as a guide and the link to structuring CVs you will soon have a professional document which can really harvest results and also inject some confidence back into yourself moving forward. Also identifying sills gaps will assist you in making a decision on training to ensure you are up to date with required skills in the marketplace today.