Tag Archives: project management resume

Careers Advice, CV Tips, CV Writing, PMO, Project Management, Project management CV, project management recruitment, project management resume

Recruitment for Project Managers – how to make it work

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I was approached this week by a new client asking me how recruitment works – having been in a permanent role for some years he is looking to go interim and wanted to know what the formula is to make recruiters sit up and take notice of him. There is no hard and fast rule as such – naturally the recruiter has a list of requirements from their client which need addressing in the CV, if your CV does not touch on these requirements then you will be discarded and often forgotten about. So what actually makes a recruiter work for you? For a start you need to really understand your own skill set and how this works in the project environment, clearly contextualising your experience and the project benefits is key to the basis of a good CV. Making sure you apply for roles which meet your abilities will put you in good stead with the recruiter and if you are not quite right for that role you have a better chance of being remembered for the right reasons, as from the start you have demonstrated your understanding of the role itself and are not just applying for anything.

If you have a wealth of experience managing a diverse range of projects then the recruiter needs to see the projects most relevant to the role you apply for, however this does not mean you need to leave out other information. The trick is to present a summary of the types of projects, complexity, budgets and team size / locations / skill sets, then you need to talk about how you deliver, the difficulties you have encountered and your specific aptitude – you may be great with demanding and difficult stakeholders or you may be great at manipulating data or balancing finances. Everyone is different and what the recruiter wants to know is what sets you apart from others. Talk about key achievements, don’t be fooled into thinking that delivering a project on time and to budget is an achievement – you are paid to do this right! Think about how you got there, what hurdles did you overcome, what have you learnt from the project and what measures have you adopted for future delivery?

All of this information needs to be kept to a maximum 3 page but ideally a 2 page CV, it can be difficult to edit and condense this information which is why a second pair of eyes can be extremely effective. We offer a free CV review at The CV Righter where honest and constructive feedback is presented to individuals – there is no obligation to take up the CV writing service however should you decide to take the service up then you will only be charged for a service bespoke to you. If you do not require an entire re-write then you don’t pay for one. The review is performed by a former project management specific recruiter and will be executed as such which will give you a valuable insight into how recruiters actually view your CV.

Careers Advice, CV Tips, CV Writing, Friday Snippet, Job Applications, Project Management Careers Advice, Project management CV, project management resume

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.

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!

CV Tips, CV Writing, Job Applications, Project management CV, project management resume

Off the shelf CV advice

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Having spoken with a great deal of job seekers both over my recruitment years and more recently as a careers adviser, I have been both surprised and concerned about the type of help out there for those wanting to improve their CV in the hope of achieving better prospects moving forward. One client I spoke to recently had previously engaged in a professional CV writing service with a large name in the industry – he sent his CV in with a payment and received a document which just didn’t make sense. The leading CV writer had reshaped each of the bullets with very poor English and clearly had never dealt with a project management CV before. Having sent back his CV 4 times for changes to be made, he was met with a response that the leading CV writer had worked on it this time so it should be perfect. I saw the CV after it had been reworked and I am still in shock, he did receive a full refund and was very cautious about seeking assistance moving forward.

Another client of mine had sought assistance through downloadable advice documents from PM specific websites and found that the documents were useful to a point but really missed what she needed in terms of information specific to her. I sympathised, and also have documents which are a guide but cannot address everything / everybody as it would have to be a very long document – maybe there’s a book in it!

The fact of the matter is that as much help and guidance there is available online and in published pieces of work on professional CV writing; there isn’t something which is specific to you. This is one of the key drivers for The CV Righter – we work with you every step of the way to ensure we keep your CV reading like you but relevant to what employers want to see. No off the shelf work is undertaken as this takes away the value of the service, we have clients who prefer to write their own CV and have scheduled feedback / consultancy meetings to ensure they are keeping on track and keeping to the point etc. And we have clients who use us in a more traditional sense and have us write their CV and we have regular meetings to discuss progress and ensure the CV is true to them. We are flexible because we are not off the shelf! For a free CV review, send over your CV today – let’s talk about what can work for you.