So first, we're going
to talk about CVs.
CV stands for
curriculum vitae, Latin
for the course of my life.
In America, they use resume,
a summary of your life.
The CV remember, is only
to get you the interview.
It's not to get you the job.
What it should do is
contain just enough
to intrigue the reader that
the next thing they want to do
is actually meet you.
So the three points you're
trying to get over in a CV
are that you take
responsibility,
you achieve things, and that
you're nice to have around.
But first, let's hear
from some of our students.
I'd definitely like to
steer my career in a more
creative direction
where I'm less
restricted by
corporate boundaries
and I can be a bit more creative
in my approach to my work.
Last year, I took the decision
to leave my job in finance
and pursue a master's
in neuroscience.
It was a bit of a
risk at the time.
And it's never nice
to stop making money.
As well as fashion,
music is something
that I'm really, really,
really enthusiastic
and passionate about.
I've performed with
choirs at the Brit awards.
I performed in front of Meghan
Markle and Prince Harry.
My biggest
achievement is working
with a big US bank
on the Brexit project
during my summer internship.
And another big
achievement of mine
was actually getting
into university
despite my poor grades.
I had lived in three different
continents and I travelled over
25 different countries
by the age of 25.
Something I'm very
proud of is that I'm
doing my second degree
on the side, which
is a distance learning course.
And I'm teaching
everything to myself,
so at least I've
been told that this
is something to be proud of.
So CV, the main rule is
to think about the reader.
Think about the person
on the other side.
It could be a wet
Wednesday night
and they've got a column of 80
of these things to get through.
And they'd really rather go
home now than be in the office
and they've got to
work through them.
So it's that first no
more than two seconds
that someone is
going to read them.
So they're going to glance,
let's just pick this one,
and what you want is the
person to say, oh, OK.
Well, that's good,
rather than the ...
the heart sink, too much
to read sort of stuff.
So thinking about the reader.
What we want on here is
evidence, not assertion.
And my first point
would be, many of you
have put a little background,
or a little sort of commentary,
at the start, a paragraph at
the start, a personal statement.
And you called it, Nithya,
you called it background.
We've got a profile
from Bradley.
And another one from Cosima.
In fact, nearly all
of you have done it.
The problem with them
is A, it takes up
space, which you would be
better used with some more
evidence on here.
And secondly, a lot
of it is assertion
with no evidence behind it.
And you've got to think anybody
could write some of this stuff.
So anybody could have written:
"I have a strong record
in extracurricular activities."
"I'm an ambitious
third-year student."
I wouldn't actually have
the personal statement
because you're going to
need the space for evidence
of other things.
And we also, ideally,
going to get this
onto one page rather than two.
There is a variation in
these, and that's fine too.
It is your CV.
There is no standard
one format to go.
You've put education at the top.
Generally, at this stage,
education and then experience.
And I would put all
experience together,
not just volunteering
separately, or skills
and achievements, or work.
I would just have
experience, in reverse order,
and then, finally,
other outside interests.
Hi.
Let me just interrupt
for a minute.
My name's Elizabeth Uviebinene,
and I'm a marketing manager.
I've also just co-authored
a bestselling book
all about empowering women.
As you start out
on your career, I
want to share something I
found empowering for myself
- building a personal brand.
When I was 16, I was convinced
I was going to fail my GCSEs.
I decided to find a job before
disappointment on results day.
It forced me to step
out of my comfort zone
and apply some
creative thinking.
I pitched an outdoor
film screening
to a London gallery
and ways to appeal
to a younger, diverse audience.
They took up the idea and it
became my first experience
in marketing.
I did do well on results day
and I went on to college.
But what I didn't
know was I had already
started to build an
authentic personal brand -
collaborative,
creative, enterprising.
And it's a brand
that's been vital
as I progressed in my career.
So what does a personal
brand even mean?
Ultimately, to
understand your brand
is to understand what
makes you unique, special,
and what makes you stand out.
Ask yourself, what
are you good at?
What are your values?
Which qualities do you
want to accentuate?
What contribution
do you want to make?
What do you want
to be known for?
That's something that you
should start thinking about
as you sit down to write your
CV and start applying for jobs.
Find three words that
best describe you
and the impact you
want to make at work.
Yes, it's a bit about
marketing yourself,
but it's also a self-reminder
of who you are or want to be.
I've heard people say,
"if I'm good at my job,
then that should
speak for itself."
And that's true.
But your reputation
is part of your brand.
It's what people say when
you're not in the room.
And it helps you stand out in a
competitive professional field,
meaning you no longer have to
chase all the opportunities,
they'll start chasing you.
So remember, branding is not
just about businesses or logos,
it's about your own
unique selling points.
Right.
Back to the classroom.
Three things we're
trying to get over
in the content of
what you write.
That you take responsibility,
that you achieve things,
and that you're
nice to have around.
That's why I would employ you.
So in all the bullet
points, a great way
to write them is to actually
start them by saying,
responsibilities included,
or achievements included.
We don't want process.
Process is boring, actually.
And also, it doesn't tell me if
you spent 10 minutes producing
the annual report,
or six months,
and who you presented
the annual report to.
Here's - I'll pick out one here
- "attending team meetings."
Well, but that's what you
do as part of the job.
But what was the outcome?
Did you write the minutes?
Did you arrange things?
What did you achieve?
Because that's the
only reason people
pay you is that
you achieve stuff.
So you could just say,
key responsibilities
included X, Y, Z.
Included means there's
so much I could
write to you about.
But remember that point, we're
trying to intrigue people.
I really want to find
out how they did that.
How did they raise a business?
How did they work
with this company?
What was that?
But now, I'm going
to have to meet them.
And then you've won because
then you're in the room.
Make your applications look
attractive, clean, easy
to read.
Short sentences.
Active verbs.
No jargon.
Use Anglo-Saxon words,
not Latin-based.
Check you've got the
correct use of apostrophes.
No overused words
like honed or passion.
And certainly, no typos.
Above all, remember
that no applicant
meets all the criteria.
So if you think you
only meet 80 per cent,
you're doing really well.
Show how you have equivalent
experience or skills
to meet their criteria.
Finally, polish to perfection.
So lets go into more detail
within the bullet points.
And let's pick yours, Cosima.
Numbers add power to all
of these bullet points.
So, for example, you said,
"Helped the site administrator
with a diverse range of
procurement-related tasks."
It doesn't tell me whether
that was half a day,
or two months of working
there, or whether it
consumed a lot of your time.
If you told us
what sort of tasks,
what the values were, even
rough ranges of values.
When you talk about "wrote
a technical manual,"
who is now using that?
Has that been implemented
and rolled out
to the rest of the company?
What happened with that?
What was the achievement
you got there?
"Wrote a research
report for somebody."
Again, kind of give us a
length of how long it was,
who it went to, who
you presented it to.
There was one over here:
"Organised a charity event" -
which is great because,
especially with students,
there isn't a lot
of work experience,
but there's lots of
other stuff you've done
- "to raise money for
underage refugees."
Brilliant.
Great things to have done.
Tell us how much money.
And it doesn't matter if it was
$50, $500, $5,000 or whatever,
because getting people
to part with money
is pretty difficult usually.
Everyone says they will,
but you've actually
gone out and done it.
So tell us how much it was.
And that tells us
two things - that you
know that money is important
and that measuring things is
important.
And that's a really
strong implicit message
to send to any recruiter.
Remember the third thing
of a CV is teamwork, always
nice to have around.
You can't really
write on here, I'm
a nice person to have around.
But what you can do is show,
with third-party endorsements,
that other people
think you're nice.
So if you were elected to a
position, tell us about it.
How do you deal with
gaps in your CV?
Every employer recognises
that you're human beings.
People get ill.
You have to look after
other people who are ill.
You might have been travelling.
It's fine, but
explain what happened.
We want to make sure
you weren't in jail.
Even with travelling, like
if you take a gap year,
you can make a big
virtue out of it about,
I visited 17 countries
in three months.
I photographed four active
volcanoes, whatever it was you
did, I swam in four
oceans of the world.
This third section, which
is classically interests,
community activity,
social activities you do,
try to avoid things
that we all do
like reading, going to cinema,
cooking, socialising, using
Facebook, or whatever it is.
And focus on
something that's going
to start a conversation,
something common that's
not about the job that you can
talk to the interviewer about.
Any good interviewer would spend
a couple of minutes warming you
up anyway and say,
oh, I see that you've
driven a car to Ulan Bator.
Tell me about that.
How was that?
I've never been to Mongolia,
so how did that go?
Are there any major red
flags that you'd say we
should avoid having on our CV.
We don't need to know
about your clean driving
licence or your
Microsoft Office skills
because everyone has those,
or if they don't, you're
probably not applying
for a driving job anyway.
Minimise it to just exactly
what is needed here.
References available upon
request, waste of ink.
We know that.
Don't bother
putting it on there.
And remember, there's all that
discrimination legislation.
So we don't want
to know about age,
marital status, sexual
preferences, or any
of that stuff.
It's not appropriate.
It's not relevant.
So, in summary,
people read the CVs
as like a capital letter F, down
the side, and across the top
to get your name, and
somewhere in the middle.
That's about 1 or 2
seconds to read that.
And when they read
that, they want
to pick out that you are someone
who takes responsibility,
you achieve things, and that
you're nice to have around.
So I want some very strong
words down the left-hand side.
Things like I ordered,
presented, responsible for,
those sorts of strong words.
And you can make it shorter
and cut out all the process.
Overall, it's something that
everyone can learn to do well.
