Short extract from CV Sage

STEP 1

CV Sage is composed entirely of original material, based on 10 years of CV writing and careers guidance; none of the ideas and content are to be found anywhere else in a book or on the Internet. This material is strictly copyright and the full course is only available to registered users.

The process of creating your CV and application letter has a wonderful and extremely valuable payoff that can be a lasting benefit, making a positive impact on the whole of your life.

• it is a marvellous way to come to know yourself better, especially to renew your self-worth through finding good things to say
• there is a great opportunity for review, analysis, rethinking - all of which generate energy and effective action
• it can help you refine your own sense of identity; some people use the process as a springboard for massive life changes
• when you have documents that really speak for you your confidence and sense of value are enhanced
• you are creating a set of tools that can leverage a better life for yourself
• there will be a resource, waiting, ready for when opportunity presents
• when you talk about your career or arrive at an interview the spadework will all have been done and the words and concepts should flow confidently

This process is one of the few times in life when being really human as opposed to being cunning and ambitious will pay dividends. The more imaginative you can be, the more you reach out to others, the more intuitively you are able to imagine their needs and thought processes - the better the application you will be making.

The very worst thing about the hundreds, probably thousands, of CVs I see each year is how self-centred they can be. This is probably because their authors are afraid of making mistakes and determined to get the form right, which is exactly the wrong way to enter this creative process.

The form does not matter for now. We will deal with design and style and layout and information architecture later in the STEPS. Right now we are looking at the most basic ability you have, the power to be yourself, as interesting as you are, with your achievements and your potentials.

Our first task is to shed the rubbish of fear and form and the covert aggression that is embedded in poor CVs. From that we can build on what you already know, on the creative abilities you already have, on the inherent values that your life is offering to the world.

The better you communicate, the more the recruiter will understand, both in rational terms and in the more powerful emotional messaging that lies behind well-written words. The more they pick up the more fascinated they become and the greater is their desire to learn about the person who made such a brilliant application.

That is the secret, the only true secret, of the 10 years that I have been writing CVs. Each year I am able to add about $1,000,000 to the salaries of other people, largely because I write like a novelist, uncovering their truer, more human, more focused, more mature and more professional selves...

The Steps and exercises, ideas, themes and tips in this course are intended to bring that skill, which you already have, from the back burner to the front of your life.

• most people creating career management tools are planning a change and will want both their application letter and CV to contain some sense of movement and direction
• in STEP 3 of CV SAGE I talk about tone and recommended you try to assume the posture of a consultant, which is mature, informed, experienced, able to appraise situations and plan solutions
• the most important tool you have for achieving this is your own state of mind, which is why I recommend you spend time on STEP 1 and STEP 2 of CV Sage, taking you through attitudes and insights into your career

You are a unique individual with your own pathway, some of which just happens to you and some of which you create. We do not know how these balance and few, if any, have mastered the art of stillness to the point where action means nothing...

So you might as well help your life along by actively improving one of the engines of existence, your career.

• keep your ear to the ground to make sure that they have not let you slip behind in salary terms.
• watch out for activity among competitor organisations
• surf the web and scan the papers to see who is appointing people
• read the financial pages for news that could affect your position
• be ready to hand out your CV (or Resume, which is much the same thing) when you meet key people...

Most people neglect this most important resource quite shamefully. They spend hours, days, weeks and months tinkering on the computer and producing something they are still not happy with. The purpose of this course is to take you inside the thought processes that have enabled me, Steve Holmes, to create over 3000 CVs in 10 years, very effective CVs that get results for other people. The methods I have evolved are not a template and this is not an idiot's guide...

This is an attempt to improve your written style, permanently, so that you communicate your best and the best of you, so that you are recognised as a communicator and generate interest from others, so that your literacy skills start to approach the level of your logic and numeracy, both creatively and in terms of precision.

Start now. Take out something you have written. Read it through to yourself and make a list of everything it does NOT achieve. If it is your CV you may be noting things like this:

	NOTICING/NOTING 1:1
	It doesn't look like something a senior manager wrote.
	It doesn't really explain what I can do in the future.
	I wonder if it makes me seem pompous and long-winded...
	I can't think of enough to say to sound convincing.
	I don't know how to explain about the time I got fired.

This is your document and your list. Pause now and be honest with yourself. Take a look at a few other pieces you have written. Take a look at other people's CVs. Pick up an article in the paper or a technical report. Examine a piece of your company's marketing literature.

My assertion is that almost anything you read, if you compare its true purpose with what it achieves you will find a yawning gap between intention and execution. It will take some time to close that gap but it can be done and you can do it.

Now go back to your CV/resume and examine it's aims; you may be saying things like this...

	NOTICING/NOTING 1:2
	My CV exists to persuade a recruiter that I am worth another 25% salary.
	I want this to convince people that I can move from being a techie to being a project manager.
	There has to be a way of showing that my skills would be portable to another sector.
	I need to concentrate on my potential because my track record is limiting.
	I want to be honest about my mistake but I need to find a way of limiting its impact.
	The change in my career path has to sound rational and well-considered.
	They need to know that I can take their process and turn it into something leaner and meaner.
	The job I want hasn't been invented so I need to find words that draw them towards that new category and link in what they already have.

These are the kind of things I talk through with my clients before writing a new CV for them. If you find this hard to do alone then ask someone you trust to enter this process with you. Find out what their really honest opinion of your CV is. Tell them what you think the objectives might be... the objectives of the document, not your ambition in life. You will not get to that unless you open the proper doors.

This is basic stuff, I realise, but it is stuff that we all neglect to do. Most people are really hot when it comes to doing things for other people, for their employer, for the customer...and rushed for time when it comes to doing things for themselves.

So, ask yourself before you bother reading all these words and working through these steps... is it worth it to you to have on your hard disk some documents so powerful that people who read them will want to talk to you? Are you ready to give some time to yourself, your career, your job satisfaction, your financial future? Because one thing is for certain, one rule of life I know to be true from assisting thousands of people with their careers....

Do it properly; do it the best you can; get it completed so you are ready to move on. What you neglect comes back to haunt you; what you imperfect hangs around in your consciousness, drawing off energy, dragging you down, holding you back, sometimes making you feel tired and sick and disheartened.

What you complete becomes light in your mind and ceases to play with your imagination. You can now move above and beyond and your awareness opens to possibility.

If you get this right you will be buoyed up with optimism and confidence, ready to take advantage of the nourishing streams of destiny that come your way sometimes. You will be clearer in your mind about who you are and what you have to offer, which will communicate in voice tone and body language to people you meet, who will have more faith in you and be more likely to offer you opportunities....That's how life is and what I am proposing you do now is no better or worse than yoga, endurance racing, painting watercolours, solving programming problems, designing gadgets, guiding a baby through its first steps or painting the house.

Whatever you do well, do the best you can, concentrate your full being on, bring your creative power to bear on...whatever comes from that will move you forward.

So you are invited to some intense focus on positioning your career...which is not an arty "creative" exercise, but a way to bring together your intellect, your reason, your imagination, your inner rhythm, your poetic sensibility, your logical precision, your ability to create structure and your power to let go of structure.

Some ideas to think about

When your read bad advice you can tell it's bad advice because it makes up hard and fast rules that are supposed to be the same for everybody at all times. Bad advice in career terms can look like this:

A CV and Resume are two different formats. They are actually very much alike.

You must write a new CV for every application. You might just have to tweak the letter and the opening of the CV.

Your letter of application has to match the job specification. Boring! I go into detail about barnstorming letters in STEP 7 of CV Sage.

Start with your address and date of birth. You can start with a headline and a brief strapline to qualify it.

A Resume has to be one page long. One page only leaves room for unsubstantiated bullet points.

A CV has to be three pages long if you're a manager. There are no rules, but I generally manage to say everything in two pages and a one page letter.

There have to be large headings on the left with lots of wasted space under them. That was when typists used stencils; we've had an electronic revolution since then. I show you some designs in STEP 6 of CV Sage.

There is a huge unadvertised pool of top jobs that mail broadcasting companies can help you target. Everyone thinking and doing the same thing is not the best way to differentiate yourself and create your unique opportunity. If it was that easy, anyone could get the perfect job.

One kind of manager can easily move to managing something else. We are all specialists today, and also all in a state of changing specialisation. This can be expressed in your application in a way that makes you appear to know about both sides of the fence. The subtleties of information architecture are handled in very great depth in STEP 4 of CV Sage.

It's OK to leave out your date of birth. Sometimes it's suicide.

People aren't interested in your interests. Sometimes they can be.

(NOTE: STEPS 1-7 of CV Sage lead you in detail through the process of creating a superb CV and application letter, dealing with key topics such as information architecture, narrative style, layout, design, hidden messaging, positioning for the right job level and the focus and drive that arouse curiosity and plant questions for interview. STEP 8 is about deployment for your career change and STEP 9 is about dealing with the various interview situations you could face.)

SOME ASPECTS OF INTERVIEW STRATEGY (short extract from STEP 9 of CV Sage)

Practise: we all do better at things we feel calm about, which is why it can be a good idea to regularly apply for positions you are not desperate to be selected for, to practise your interview posture as many times as possible before the really big one.

Question: if you are absolutely sure you have no shortcomings at interview, ask someone who knows you. It is often the people who are completely uncritical of themselves who present the worst at interview.

Discover: all the way through CV Sage I have talked about the power of knowledge and in STEP 8 I reminded you to find out about the organisations you may be applying to. As you approach the interview, this is more vital than ever. They will be impressed that you have taken the trouble, that you know their corporate structure and turnover, that you are informed about the competition and developments in their marketplace, that you have enough data to shape intelligent questions that link your needs as a candidate to their needs as an employer.

Clarify: when I have important contractual meetings I find it useful to come back to my mature adult and state a few obvious facts to myself, to counteract any childish anxiety:

• they may also be nervous, flustered, feeling sick and dry in the throat
• they may be looking to accept, not to judge
• they may not know exactly what they are looking for
• they may be relying on me for input
• they may have few other options than me
• the options they do have might be worse than me
• this is a negotiated process, like playing cards
• if I wear what I feel relaxed in and look relaxed they will notice
• if I get flustered I can slow things down and breath deeply
• it's fine to answer questions by asking for clarification
• I have rehearsed in my mind a few areas about which I can talk happily on autopilot
• I have made notes of killer points to mention and I can always refer to them
• asking if I may take the odd note about a third of the way through will show how seriously I am taking what they say
• taking notes balances the power dynamics but is best done minimally
• I have a list of questions to ask and I will use it to move the interview along
• people respond to narrative; I will make my descriptions as interesting as the ones I write for my CV
• my eye contact will be as unobtrusive as possible
• I will try not to let my natural good humour get lost in the inevitable nervousness
• I will remember that feeling nervous is not a crime and that it can be included; as the level of rapport builds I will feel less nervous
• it is essential that I make myself understood and that I read the responses to make sure that I pitch what I say at the right level and in the right style, matching the way they speak and the issues they raise
• when they ask a question I must pause to ask myself why that issue is being raised and if I do not see the implications then I can gently request clarification

Themes

It should be possible, based on their job advertisement/specification and your scene setting CV and letter, to make a reasonable prediction of the main themes that will form the chassis of the interview. And each of those themes will have possibilities in terms of spin and pitfalls you want to avoid...

	NOTICING/NOTING 9:2
	EXAMPLE: a senior technical sales person with a solution provider
	THEME: they clearly want someone who can both make the sales contact and handle the higher level business case and implementation issues
	AVOID: pretending to know the technology inside out when I don't; making past sales career sound too successful; neglecting their specifics (it's important to acknowledge the unique challenges in this job and show expertise appropriate to them)
	STRESS: Draw upon experience of blue chip account contact; drop names in a subtle way; outline complexity of projects brought home without rambling or boasting; use buzzwords like "vertical analysis"; mention technology in a way that implies you can take it all in your stride
	ASK: perceptive questions about their virtual teamwork and chain of command; for typical preposition type and how they mobilise to sell it; values, technologies, business sectors they are good at or want more strength in
	for your situation, now - pick all the main themes, define them and analyse them:
	THEME AVOID STRESS ASK
	Additionally, on themes: there is no reason why you should not arrange to talk over these issues with close contacts and friends, or practise some of the phrases and narratives you will be using to tackle each theme...
	for each theme...
	WHAT EXAMPLES MIGHT YOU CALL UPON WHAT MUST YOU REMEMBER NOT TO MENTION WHAT RESULTS COULD YOU MAKE SURE TO MENTION WHAT BENEFITS ARE THERE for these PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYERS in your special expertise WHAT BUZZWORDS AND BUSINESS THEORIES, METHODS, EVOLUTIONS SHOULD APPEAR ARE THERE ANY TABOOS FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW WHAT MIGHT A COMPANY LIKE THEIRS BE WANTING TO HEAR WHAT CORROBORATING EVIDENCE HAVE YOU FOR THE CLAIMS YOU ARE MAKING (e.g. do you have examples of your abilities, results, ideas... ready prepared)

The purpose of this is not to turn you into a parrot but so that in the back of your memory and unconscious mind you have material to draw upon when needed. A client of mine who was migrating a series of centres onto one new network came across a legacy AS400 computer that nobody was able to connect and which was in any case scheduled for disposal. The trouble was, it was needed for a while.

Because he reads a lot he happened to vaguely remember something about an emulation card that might work in this situation. From that, without any manuals, other stuff came back to him. Eventually he was able to perform a connection that seemed like magic and brought him a lot of respect from senior people.

THAT is why you prepare. So that you aren't left floundering and devoid of ideas.

Key strengths

Within the streams of discussion that you are building with your interviewer(s) will be all kinds of interpretations and tones, opportunities to imply huge expertise, chances to sound casual about complex things, appropriate moments to launch into a recollection that illustrates your ability...

	NOTICING/NOTING 9:3
	taking the themes that are likely to build through the interview, what key strengths do you want to get noticed no matter how the conversation turns and shapes....?
	EXAMPLE: a newly qualified teacher
	THEME: discipline and motivation of underprivileged children
	STRENGTH: I have run youth clubs and done well in teaching situations; I believe in being well planned and keeping children meaningfully occupied; I anticipate possible problems
	THEME: approaches to teaching and learning strategies
	STRENGTH: I am open minded and I like to borrow the best from both child-centred and teacher-led methodologies; I believe in measuring results and adapting practice to follow what works; as a young teacher I learn from experienced colleagues
	THEME: religion in a multicultural environment
	STRENGTH: I was brought up with a faith, which was a tolerant faith that respects the beliefs of other groups; I fully recognise that this aspect of the curriculum must acknowledge the social mix and I have planned a successful project in which children were introduced to the key festivals of each other's religions
	THEME: approach to the teaching of reading
	STRENGTH: have successfully improved reading ages in a short period by using techniques borrowed from a valuable "reading rescue" programme You may not always have to say these things. Sometimes it is more effective to imply them. The best way to imply all sorts of extra strengths is to have a narrative that you can easily call up and launch in to. That is another reason for having a narrative driven CV: it feeds them questions to be asking and creates opportunities for you to give a lively account of yourself. There is no need to sit around remembering all this stuff. Just go through it, and file it in the wonderful library at the back of your mind. Don't clutter your awareness with stock phrases to trot out. You need to sound natural and if you are managing this interview properly, switching it into themes where you are strong, your own natural creativity will begin to take over, as it does when you are happy and at your best...

CLIENT OUTCOME (Internet Content Manager April 2000)

OLD CV nil results out of 30 applications.

NEW CV 8 results out of 20 applications with 3 job offers.

"...coherent narrative drive with very subtle messaging impressed employers and prepared me perfectly for interview... at last I had an introductory section that wasn't embarrassing and naive..."

That ends the short extract from CV Sage. What you have been reading is approximately 2.5% of the total course material.

CV Sages costs £60 and is totally unique in all the world.