It’s a very good question – because many people, including the likes of some recruiters, headhunters and career ‘advisors’ don’t really know. Notably, many executives don’t know just how good (or bad) their own CV is either. They think they do, but as this article illustrates, that’s not always the case.
If you are looking for the best CV for you, then you should this article both eye-opening and enlightening.
It helps if you start by looking things from a different perspective, not just examining what makes a good CV, but also what doesn’t.
For that we need to examine some fundamentals.
Fundamentally your CV is a sales and marketing document. At least it should be if it is done correctly.
All the best sales and marketing documents entice the target, and not just any old how, but very strategically and (typically) concisely.
So, for example, when you are in your local supermarket, it’s no coincidence, that more people opt for certain brands than others. That’s down to marketing, not luck. And marketing companies strategise everything from how a product looks, to who it is aimed for and how the messaging is presented.
Frequently marketing companies restrict word count on front packaging to under 10 words.
Why?
Well, quite simply, the more wording you include, the harder it is for the main message to hit the target (in this case the supermarket customer). Heinz might have more than 57 varieties, but they don’t talk about them all on the bottle of salad cream. Instead, they focus on selling the target what they want to hear (for example, great taste and perfect for salads etc).
Most executives understand this, and even apply targeted strategic messaging when it comes to promoting their own companies products and services. It’s one reason why many companies have concise and strategically targeted messaging on the business promotional materials.
Bizarrely however, many executives don’t apply the same logic to their own CVs. And for some reason marketing goes out of the window when it comes to job applications.
Why is this?
It’s hard to say, and it doesn’t apply to everyone. For example, there are plenty of top executives who fully appreciate the value and power of targeted strategic messaging when it comes to CVs. Indeed, the higher you go up the career ladder, the more awareness there tends to be. So for example, global CEOs usually embrace concise and targeted CVs far more than e.g., IT heads of department. Similarly, chief marketing officers tend to take advantage of the benefits of concise CVs whereas some senior project managers are fixated with long length, so end up with long and repetitive CVs that miss the mark.
In some respects, it’s a bit counterintuitive that executives with more experience embrace concise and targeted CVs more than those further down the career ladder, because if anything, those at the very top usually have far more experience. At the same time, frequently they have a better appreciation of marketing, and perhaps this is what overrides any counterintuition.
It’s a rough analogy, but some vastly experienced CxO professional with lots of strings to their bow, and 30 years’ expertise in different fields resist the urge to chronicle their ‘57 varieties’ on their CV, and instead home in on doing what top marketing companies do – in this case, selling the target (the employer) what they want to hear, not just any old how, but concisely and powerfully.
Well, top sales and marketing companies don’t get paid fortunes for no reason. So of course, it works. But you don’t need a marketing degree to know this. Even common sense should suffice. However, for one reason or another (for example, dated preconceptions or advice by a lesser writer or recruiter) some executives are hardwired into thinking that ‘more is more.’ That’s true of some things, but when it comes to powerful CVs, ‘less is more’ when the ‘less’ is relevant, it’s targeted, and it’s strategically, concisely and powerfully delivered.
Put yourself in the shoes of an employer looking for a CEO, and think about it for a second.
If you had two CVs in front of you;
- (A) A CV that chronicled your experience over 3 busy and cluttered pages across multiple roles from the shop floor to management and finally up to CEO.
Or
- (B) A specialist CEO CV that sold you everything you’d asked for in your job specification, concisely and powerfully, bang, bang, bang!
Which one would you choose?
In the above scenario, candidate A could be a much better fit for the job than candidate B. However, the likelihood is that candidate B would get the job.
It isn’t always the best candidate who gets the job. Sometimes it’s the person who does a better job of presenting their case.
As you’ll note, if you don’t maximise your CV to its full potential, then there is a risk of missing out on good jobs that you are ideally placed for.
At the start of this article, we mentioned examining what a quality CV isn’t. Well, a quality CV isn’t the one in scenario (A) above. Common sense, not just marketing principles dictates that.
However, many executives have CVs that are also long, cluttered and complex with mixed messaging and inconsistent pitching. Certainly, some CVs are more of a deterrent to read than something that has been strategically designed to entice employers to offer you well paid executive jobs.
Be honest. How does your CV match up in this respect?
At the other the end of the scale, some executives have very basic/minimalistic CVs that do not sell them. This is also something to be wary of.
Yes, if you can sell yourself powerfully yet concisely, then that is ideal, but you must make sure that you still sell yourself. Just adding some skills and summarising your career isn’t enough. Even adding some figures here and there isn’t enough. Your sales messaging needs to be high impact with real strategy and meticulous execution.
There are plenty of other indicators too when it comes to just how good (or not) your current CV is.
For example, try reading your CV out loud.
It may sound a very simplistic exercise, but it can tell you an awful lot.
Many CVs certainly don’t flow naturally or trip off the tongue. Indeed, many are stilted, start/stop and strike as artificial, contrived, or over the top. Notably, such issues are more common with some professional executive CV than DIY ones.
Why is that?
The main reason is that it’s much harder to write to vertical and horizontal space constraints than it is to write without them. If most CV writers were able to write concisely and naturally yet powerfully using the optimum neat single line bullets, then they would surely do so. However, most can’t, so they don’t. Notably, it’s easy for you to test this out for yourself. Simply take a long entry at random from your CV and try refining it down to a neat single bullet. You should quickly see that it is much harder than it sounds.
If your CV doesn’t look the part and doesn’t read the part from start to finish then that is a clear indicator that it is not right. Similarly, some ‘executive’ CVs have a lower level feel to them.
Amazingly, some executives who know that their CV probably won’t stand out, and/or that it is long, cluttered and poorly worded still think it’s ‘good’.
Why?
Well, many executives are under the impression that as long as their CV includes achievements and lists the career, then this is all they need to do to have a good CV.
Is it?
Of course not.
And again, you don’t really need to know about marketing to know why not. More people would realise the shortcomings of the CVs if they thought about it (and the competition) more, but many don’t look past whether or not it lists experience and achievements.
Can most executive CVs be improved?
Yes, dramatically, and on most levels.
Our clients are usually surprised at the radical transformation.
Many people who have CVs that struggle, dive in headfirst and start tweaking things. It’s not a solution, it’s just papering over cracks and unsurprisingly, this tends not to work. Yes, it could be possible to improve the wording with more time, creativity and tender loving care. However, you are never going to fix a CV that isn't marketing you properly with just tweaks and updates. For that you really need wholesale changes as well as marketing expertise, strategic prowess, CV know-how and the ability to write more powerfully, but with fewer words. All of that is far easier said than done, and it’s a specialist skill. But it’s something we help customers with every day, and we’ve been doing this for over 20 years.
We’ve been helping your competitors gain a significant advantage in the executive job market for over two decades. We can help you too.