Category Archives: Project Management

Careers Advice, Project Management

Best of British

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As the long weekend approaches and we pin our union jack tea towels to our doors in celebration of the Jubilee, I feel a time for reflection is upon us. Often after a few days away from the office we start to ponder our lives and what we can do to make every day a little sunnier. As we cannot rely on the British weather for this we look at our professional lives and ask the question; “Am I valued”. This comes in many forms – a big one is remuneration but an even bigger one, appreciation from the business and particularly from your boss.

If the answer is yes, brilliant! Keep on enjoying what you are doing and I hope the challenges of the role are as virtuous. smiley

If the answer is no, then it could be time to plan a move into a new role – exciting times! In order to make sure you actually make head way with moving forward you do need to plan. Take a look at the roles out there which match your skill set and start to think about what will improve your work life. Location and type of role are huge considerations but also consider what challenges you would like in your next role. Once you have done this it is time to think about dusting down your CV and bringing it up to date, make sure you don’t rush it. I have seen dozens of CVs where previous roles are well written and the most recent role is a few disjointed sentences which ruins the entire CV.

This blog has lots of dedicated posts to all aspects of CV writing which should assist you in creating your professional CV – however as a business we are dedicated to creating CVs for professionals across the PPM domain and believe a CV should say all the right things about you. Our dedicated consultant is seasoned in the project management field and has a wealth of experience in recruiting project professionals across all industries and sectors in permanent, contract and temporary roles. Get in touch to discuss how we can assist you in securing that next role. www.thecvrighter.co.uk

Careers Advice, CV Tips, Project Management, Sector Advice

Changing lanes – CV tips for changing industries

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There comes a time in our careers when we look for a change in direction – however with a tightening market and risk averse hiring managers blinkered to anything different form their industry, it has become a difficult task for job seekers to make that move.

Project management is a skill set which should transfer fairly seamlessly depending on the projects you are managing or supporting – particularly for the support roles, as promoting governance should take a pragmatic approach in best practice. Project managers should look to demonstrate their transferable skills and experience with projects which are common place across any sector or industry.

Here are some suggestions when preparing your CV for a change in industry:

1. Keep the focus on your skills – don’t get bogged down with terminology from your industry field.

2. Look to emphasise the projects which may be transferable into other industries such as IT, business change, office moves, equipment roll out etc.

3. Make sure you talk about the role more generically – not only are you being clearer for the hiring manager (who probably has not worked in your current business so doesn’t understand acronyms and typical terminology for that field); you are presenting a professional document to a variety of readers from recruiters, HR staff through to senior management.

4. Write a good cover letter – make sure you go the extra mile, recognising that you are effectively making a big career change – what can you give back? Match up your skills and experience specific to the task in hand.

When applying for a new role, do take into consideration what the job advert asks for – if it states youmust have experience in a particular field then it is highly unlikely you will pass through the filtering process. However if it states ideally then you are in with a chance if you can match up your experience to the projects and competence requirements. When you make an application, take time to tailor your CV to the role requirements ensuring you are ticking the boxes for the recruiter / HR staff – yes they will, generally speaking, have a must have list which needs to be complete for your CV to be placed in a shortlist for serious consideration. Do not assume the reader knows what all aspects of your role are, spell it out.

The CV Righter has a tailored service which specifically addresses your needs as a project professional making that next move – get in touch to discuss how we can assist you in creating that all important CV aiding you in a career transition into a new field. www.thecvrighter.co.uk

CV Tips, CV Writing, PMO, Project Management

CV format

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As it is Friday and the sun has blessed us all week I wanted to share a few insights into CV formatting from a recruiter’s perspective with our Friday snippet.

Here are a few things to consider when creating a CV:

1. Make sure you format your CV properly, using different fonts and inconsistent spacing, not to mention bullets that do not align throughout the document says a great deal about your MS Word skills. I have lost count of the CVs I’ve reviewed in a recruiter capacity which state advanced user of MS Word – and this is clearly not demonstrated. smiley

2. Placing a photo of yourself on your CV may be the recognised format across the EU, it isn’t popular in the UK especially if you are using a holiday snap or one from a wedding – it’s quite endearing I know but honestly, do you expect to be taken seriously? Why not have a pic on your Linkedin account and a link to your profile on your CV.

3. Using tables may make formatting easier for the document but please do remember that a great deal of software used by recruiters cannot read such formatting therefore you could lose a great deal of information in the system and thus not have your CV viewed as your keywords are not searchable in their databases. This also goes for a good deal of the online job boards, I have come across one major well known job board which loses all formatting of CVs and sends block text in an email for job applications. If you have the opportunity to send a MS Word attachment – do so.

4. Font style should be kept to something readable – back in the day, Times New Roman was the font of choice, however this is dated and with much reader friendly fonts such as Verdana and Tahoma available – use them. Avoid creating a rainbow on your CV utilising different colours, black is fine – remember this is a professional document, you want it to stand out for the right reasons and colours tend to detract away from the content.

Make sure you regularly check over your CV and ask someone else to do so for you – working on your own document over and over can start to restrict your objective observations.

Have a fantastic weekend and keep checking in to our blog for tips and advice in creating that all important CV.

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CV Tips, CV Writing, PMO, Project Management

Skills based CV versus Chronological CV – which is most effective?

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Having read thousands of CVs in my recruitment days and interviewed hundreds or candidates it became abundantly clear that the answer to the above question is the chronological format is most effective within the Project Management domain – why? Because employers need to understand where and when the skills have been used, simply listing core competencies does not give the reader any context. Also some skills may not have been used for 5 or 10 years, the hiring manager may require recent exercise of a particular skill as this plays a major part of that project. By listing expertise in skills based CVs you may be fortunate enough to reach interview but will be asked questions about those skills in the interview and be rejected against another candidate who does have recent relevant experience. Bear in mind when applying for a role you could be up against a large number of applicants, if there are candidates contextualising their skills on their CVs it is likely your CV will be discarded for those “ticking the boxes” for the recruiter / hiring managers role requirements list.

In a chronological CV each role should have a good level of detail which clearly states the key skills required for that role, every project is delivered differently and due to size and complexity a pragmatic approach to which aspects of formal methods used is key to successful delivery. There’s no point over complicating a fairly straight forward project, this only ties up the project manager or the support team in unnecessary “paperwork”. Do not assume the reader has worked in your organisation or on similar projects – if the CV isn’t clear, it does not get short listed.

Writing a skills based CV may seem like the easy option, it is. Being able to provide a list of bullet points or statements at the top of the CV which covers your entire career in project management would seem to make sense but it detracts away from the subtleties of each role and makes it difficult to actually “paint a picture” of you, the types of projects you have delivered and your style of execution.

Your CV is your personal marketing document – your customers are the recruiters and more importantly the hiring managers. What sells a product to you? For me it has to be a straight forward piece of information which says what it can do, how it works and how up to date it is in key areas of interest for me. Now take that formula and add to it the key requirement for any project management role which is exceptional attention to detail and written communication – think about all the reporting, MI etc.

The CV Righter is a dedicated Project Management CV writing service aimed at righting the CVs of project professionals who could use some insider perspective from PM recruitment specialism and having worked in PM previously. For more information visit: www.thecvrighter.co.uk