{"id":559,"date":"2015-02-18T16:17:17","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T16:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/?p=559"},"modified":"2015-02-18T16:32:51","modified_gmt":"2015-02-18T16:32:51","slug":"constructing-a-great-cv-part-i-the-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/constructing-a-great-cv-part-i-the-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Constructing a great CV\/Resume: Part I &#8211; the \u2018Profile\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s 2015 yet still a printable CV remains the king of recruitment. Although in many cases you <strong>never<\/strong> have to print it, it still needs to be in a format from where you can. More useful is the need to plagiarise portions of your CV to input into online recruitment portals, to make this easy the content and layout\/formatting of your CV becomes critical.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll come onto all that in future posts. Today we&#8217;ll start with the all important Profile or Personal Statement part of the CV. In my opinion this should always come first. It should be a clean, concise and punchy statement. It should encapsulate who you are, what you are great at and what your ambitions are in one short paragraph. It is your shop window and most people recruiting only spend a few seconds scanning your whole CV, this is one of few sections they usually read 100%. Do you want a messy shop window, or a classy one? Read on.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with a simple statement and work from there, I\u2019m going to base this loosely on my own CV so I\u2019m abusing my blogging time by improving my own CV at the same time\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>\u201cI am a IT guy. I like to work with computers and have good qualifications. I am good with other people and can work by myself. People say that I am good at my job and in the future I wish to be a better IT guy. Hopefully with more responsibility and more pay.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Reading that you might think it\u2019s awful. Well it sure does read pretty bad, however in some ways it covers some of the basics quite well. Here they are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Explains what you are currently doing and that you like it;<\/li>\n<li>Clearly states some positive personal qualities;<\/li>\n<li>Points at motivation to improve oneself;<\/li>\n<li>States your future aims even though it does it poorly;<\/li>\n<li>Not too long, perhaps a little too short.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What it fails to do:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It does not read well, abrupt sentences and wording;<\/li>\n<li>Repeats the same word too many times (Q. Which word?);<\/li>\n<li>Does a poor job of selling you, lots of \u2018I\u2019 statements;<\/li>\n<li>Doesn\u2019t use any of the buzzwords a great CV should have<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So let\u2019s try re-writing it sentence by sentence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">I am an IT guy.<\/span>\u201d becomes \u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">I am a professional \u2018Customer Support\/Solution Architect\/aka Insert your own job title here\u2019 employed by \u2018Fujitsu Services\/Your Employer\u2019 in the UK<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">I like to work with computers and have good qualifications<\/span>\u201d becomes \u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">I have a great passion for and hugely enjoy working within ICT and I have achieved industry standard certification\/s in \u2018Microsoft\/Cisco\/Accounting\/Project Mgmt\/aka insert professional certification here\u2019 <span style=\"color: #000000;\">[if you have no professional certification, insert an educational element instead e.g. BSc, MSc, MBA, PostGrad etc. etc.]&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">I am good with other people and can work by myself.<\/span>\u201d The classic line found just about everywhere, our approach will be to give practical examples rather than generic huff &amp; puff \u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">I recently completed a successful upgrade\/replacement project working well within a large team and currently\/previously I was placed on assignment individually to complete pre-sale negotiations with a potential customer which I closed positively working on my own<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hmmmm, it seems as if we\u2019re doubling or even tripling the size of our profile paragraph. Our initial profile has 5 sentences in total, we have tackled 3 so let\u2019s join them up before we tackle the final 2.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>I am a professional \u2018Customer Support\/Solution Architect\/aka Insert your own job title here\u2019 employed by \u2018Fujitsu Services\/Your Employer\u2019 in the UK. I have a great passion for and hugely enjoy working within ICT and I have achieved industry standard certification\/s in \u2018Microsoft. I recently completed a successful upgrade\/replacement project working well within a large team and currently\/previously I was placed on assignment individually to complete pre-sale negotiations with a potential customer which I closed positively working on my own<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So a little bit of rewriting, move some words around and delete others, add some BUZZWORDS, a dash of garlic and you get this:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>I am a Microsoft certified professional Solution Architect into my 5th year at Fujitsu Services in the UK. I have a great passion for and hugely enjoy working within ICT. I recently completed a large transition project <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ON TIME<\/span> working <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">BRILLIANTLY<\/span> within a larger team, previously I <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">SUCCESSFULLY<\/span> closed a pre-sales negotiations with a new customer working on my own.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Better? No? OK, still a ways to go and plenty of re-writing to do. Do keep in mind that this section can always be deployed on professional networking sites as your lead-in (think LinkedIN) as well as online application forms in the \u2018summarise yourself\u2019 type of questions.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s tackle those last 2 before we join the whole piece together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">People say that I am good at my job and in the future I wish to be a better IT guy.<\/span>\u201d &gt; People say? Hallelujah, that\u2019s high praise indeed. Let\u2019s make it fact. \u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">Feedback from peers year on year demonstrates my high capability and I always seek to improve my technical skills by reading, writing and supporting colleagues<\/span>\u201d See\u2026you\u2019re a true shining star AND a team player!<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">Hopefully with more responsibility and more pay.<\/span>\u201d &gt; \u201c<span style=\"color: #008000;\">My motivation is to improve myself by seeking a more responsible position as a \u2018Senior position to what you currently are\u2019 <span style=\"color: #000000;\">[ideally push yourself up 2 level, that way you\u2019re aiming high but not too high]<\/span> and I see myself as a capable CIO\/CTO in the future<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s add these last 2 together and rewrite.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>Excellent feedback from peers year on year demonstrates my high capability and I always seek to improve my technical skills by reading, writing and supporting colleagues. My motivation is to improve myself by seeking a more responsible position as a Lead Architect and I see myself as a capable CIO\/CTO in the future<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reaching for the stars indeed, but that\u2019s what you should be doing right?<\/p>\n<p>Right, time to stitch it all together. Look for repetition, overlaps and statements that could be made more concise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>I am a Microsoft certified professional Solution Architect into my 5th year at Fujitsu Services in the UK. I have a great passion for and hugely enjoy working within ICT. I recently completed a large transition project on time working brilliantly within a larger team, previously I successfully closed a pre-sales negotiations with a new customer working on my own. Excellent feedback from peers year on year demonstrates my high capability and I always seek to improve my technical skills by reading, writing and supporting colleagues. My motivation is to improve myself by seeking a more responsible position as a Lead Architect and I see myself as a capable CIO\/CTO in the future<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So our initial poor attempt <strong>54<\/strong> words and the new super duper version is now <strong>113<\/strong> words. More refinement ahead\u2026remember you are always improving.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_566\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-566\" style=\"width: 281px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/wip.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-566\" src=\"http:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/wip.jpg\" alt=\"work in progress\" width=\"281\" height=\"147\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-566\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">work in progress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201c<strong>I am a Microsoft certified Solution Architect into my 5th year at Fujitsu Services UK, with a boundless passion for ICT. I recently completed a large transition project on time working brilliantly within a larger team, having previously closed a sale with a new-name customer working on my own. Recent feedback from peers demonstrates my excellent aptitude while I continuously improve my technical skills by reading, writing, blogging and supporting colleagues. I am motivated to seek a position with greater responsibility and I see myself as a capable CIO\/CTO in the future<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>See how the process of reading\/re-writing and repeat works. At some point you have to stop and look at it and think \u201cIS this my best effort?\u201d if so then stick to it! We are now down to <strong>92<\/strong> words. Pretty darn good. Reads well too! Pat yourself on the back and pour yourself a cold one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Part II<\/strong> will be the Career\/Job\/Work History section. A biggie, but we like it! A look at buzzwords too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Part III<\/strong> will cover Educational History, Interests\/Hobbies, Professional Certifications, and more generally the Layout and Contact information (taking into account security of your identity).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s 2015 yet still a printable CV remains the king of recruitment. Although in many&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[293,146,294,249,295,184,296,176,291,250,292],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p502c8-91","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":568,"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions\/568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zulfikar.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}