Top MBA CVs

by

Johann Diaz MBA www.MBAmatch.com

Copyright 2003 MBAmatch All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission from the publishers, except by reviewers who may quote from brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this report be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other means, without the written permission from the publisher. E-mail [email protected] You are advised to take individual professional career advice before adopting any of the ideas or tactics suggested within this e-book. Neither MBAmatch nor its parent company shall be liable for any loss arising from any action or decision taken as a result of the information provided within. Interested in selling this e-book as an affiliate? E-mail [email protected] for more information. IF YOU HAVENT GOT THIS E-BOOK DIRECTLY FROM MBAmatch.com THEN IT IS AN ILLEGAL COPY

Contents Health Warning .. 3

Introduction . 4

What is a CV? .. 4 Ambience of a CV ... 6 Format What should it look like .. 8

2 types of CV 10 Style How it should sound 14

Power words to be used ... 14

Content What it should contain .. 17 Proof Reading . 35 Reviewing and Re-writing 36 Appendix A Summary Dos & Donts . 37

Top MBA Careers Page 2 of 38 MBAmatch.com 2003

MBAmatch Health Warning In the current world of increasing globalisation and individualisation getting on in life often means succeeding in ones job/career. Many people pursue this holy grail as the be all and end all of life itself or so it often comes across. We are all sometimes fooled into thinking that more money, recognition, power, responsibility, status, rewards etc. are the manifestation of a rich, meaningful and happy life. So we pursue this goal relentlessly, often to the detriment of our own good and that of those around us whether we know it or not. For many of us this is the sole reason for taking an MBA course to further ones career by earning more money, gaining more status, recognition and reward. Rather than accept that scenario as the way it will always be however, I want to challenge you to think this through carefully. Consider your own values and the desires of your heart before launching down the road of insatiable career progression. Having done so, if you then decide that this is what you really want (and thats fine, so long as you do so with open eyes), then the following guide will help you along your journey. I urge you therefore to take some time out to stop and (re)evaluate your life/career advancement to date, before deciding to plunge head first into that sea of more. Johann Diaz MBA CEO & Founder MBAmatch


Introduction We will use the UK/European term CV (Curriculum Vitae) throughout this article Before you even begin thinking about the style,

content, format etc. of your CV you must understand

the objective of using such a document.

Objective: To get you an interview (usually) unless you are just

testing the market or wishing to hone your application skills

From my experience as an employer, the CV/Resume gets the candidates foot in the door.. it had to get my attention.. I believe that a well-crafted CV/Resume is vital.your resume may be the only storyteller of your skills and experience once it has been submitted by any method..

Many people will tell you that there are right and wrong ways of writing CVs.

We dont believe this to be the case.

There is no exact method, only current preferred formats for communicating

your career history. And even then these will differ according to the countries

and regions in which you are applying for jobs. So it is worth conducting a little

research in each new territory for which you might be prepared to move to.

CV - What is it?

Quite simply, it is a tool to market yourself, and therefore should be seen as

something of extreme importance. Its your main (and often, only) sales

brochure now think about the implications of that!

Essentially your CV is about YOU. In fact, it is you (or rather a reflection of

you) in a two dimensional format. It is often the only aspect of you that the

recruiter will use to determine whether or not they wish to buy your talents.

And therein lies the problem. How can such a life as yours be effectively

summarised onto a few flat pieces of paper? Theres no easy answer.


Obviously your CV should be personal and be a true reflection of you.

But before you even begin to think about what should be contained within your CV

put yourself in the place of the recruiter (the executive search consultant,

corporate HR manager, head-hunter, recruitment agency, managing partner,

whomever). Consider the following issues:

They may have already looked at 100 CVs today and 1000 over the previous week. So they are possibly totally bored of the whole process

after all they are only human

They may be having a bad day They may be under considerable time pressure to get through another

200 CVs this afternoon how much time do you think they can spend

looking at (let alone reading) your CV?

They may have set themselves a target of finding 20 candidates for their short-list and may already have ear-marked 20 CVs. Why should your CV

cause them to replace one of those they have already decided upon?

Now you will start to understand the importance of giving it your absolute best

shot straight away you will only get one chance to impress.

Make the assumption that the recruiter is starting out from the premise that

your CV will not make it through to the next round.

Common practice suggests you have approximately 30 seconds to convince them otherwise!

Now start selling!


The Ambience of your CV Consider a few other points, some of which may speak to you in a new way or

turn you off either way thats fine:

Bring your CV to LIFE, make it EXCITING for the reader (but totally true). Poor CVs are formal, bland and boring. You need to be creative!

First impressions count; sometimes more than they should. What do we mean by that? Too often decisions are made based on gut feel/emotional

responses without taking into consideration other aspects of the decision

making process. Gut feel has a part to play in this process, but it is only

one part of it. A recruiter will make a snap judgement about you from your

CV fairly quickly make sure that it at least looks appealing therefore.

How would you say it (all about you) without using words (using colours, shapes, sounds, touch/feel, taste, smell etc.)? Close your eyes and ask

yourself what colour you would look like to be represented as, what shape,

what type of song do you want it to sing about you. Use your imagination

be creative in your approach. Does your CV say what you want it to say about you?

Your CV must woo & seduce the person reading it. So speak their language; dont reveal everything be tantalisingly leading & suggestive! It

needs to be a personal experience for them. Enough for them to want

more.

Dont let it be too long. 2 pages is usual; 3 at the absolute maximum. Multiply this by 300 and youll understand why!

Use action oriented (power) words like those listed on page 15. In this success-oriented world, organisations are only looking for people who can

make things happen. Thats not to say that we all have to be great leaders or managers or directors, but we all have to dress up our

successes and skills and talents in achieving language. Keep asking the

question So what?


Dont lie market yourself well; use power words, make it sound dynamic, spin the yarn a little but do not lie you will be found out eventually.

Be yourself dont try and be someone else or the type of person you think they are looking for. Eventually you will be found out and will have

wasted your time and theirs and possibly burnt your bridges in terms of a

possible future relationship.

But do tailor it for each job! Dont forget that you are marketing a product to a carefully selected target market. Wouldnt you usually do everything

possible therefore, to ensure that it is as highly matched to their needs and

desires as possible? Well, the same is true when you are the product

being sold.


Format - What should it look like?

Dont forget the points listed above under the

section But before you ever begin.

Now put yourself in the recruiters position and ask

yourself why should I look at this persons CV?

Why should I look further past the top quarter page? Why should I read the

second page? What more can I glean by doing so? Make it easy for the

recruiter to gather all the data they want from the first few paragraphs of your

CV.

Overall it must be easy to read, with clear distinct sections and headings and good use of white space. Dont forget, you have to make it easy on the

recruiters eye, otherwise it may get thrown out even before they have

started to read the content.

Dont use any jargon (unless tailoring your CV for a particularly technical post, and even then, be careful)

Be crystal clear and ruthlessly concise in all you say remember you dont have much room to pad out phrases and sentences. Write it out long-

hand for the first time, then re-read and cut out words (e.g. prepositions

like a, the, in, is etc. Repeat this process several times at least 4 times.

Length to fit on 2 pages (or 3 if you really must but preferably two) remember no-one has the time nor the inclination to read/scan more

Width normal 1 page margins. You could get away with reducing these a little but to aid its readability, white space is important. So keep those margins a nice size. It also gives the recruiter the ability to scribble a few

notes down the side for questions to ask you at interview.

Minimum 10 points font size overall, except for some areas which are annotations or explanation paragraphs. Never smaller than 8 points.

Maximum 12 points, except for header/document title which should be

bigger. Dont give the reader a hard time! Although this does depend

somewhat on which fonts you choose to use.


Font Dont be too artistic with the font. The recruiters printer or word-processing software may not have the latest fonts. Then how will it look?!

Consider also the possibility that your CV will be scanned into the

recruiters database. When this happens a lot of the formatting will be lost

and your scanned CV will look strange. KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Readability be very careful with your use of correct grammar, correct use of words/meaning (have a dictionary and thesaurus beside you), correct spelling (theres nothing more infuriating than mis-spelt words), appropriate word and line spacing, good use of blank spaces.

Differentiation it needs to be different somehow. Use of a different colour of paper is an option (although generally another business colour

e.g. buff/off-white not red, blue etc.), use a dynamic e-mail subject

header (if e-mailed), if you are the 25th or the 75th CV and the recruiters

attention span is say 20 minutes how are you going to get yours noticed?.

Attractiveness not perfume but a nice pleasing typeface (usually Arial or Times New Roman or similar) and layout.

Also consider the possibility (and likelihood these days) that your CV will

be scanned into a database using OCR (optical character recognition) software. Having too much and too small text close together will not lend

itself to accuracy of scanning. Having fonts which are too creative looking

will not translate so well. The same applies if your CV is being faxed by

you or someone else on your behalf.

Professionalism Do not say I (first person singular), just make the statement e.g. dont say I was responsible for .. just say Responsible

for xxx. Or while in this position I had a xxxx, just say Six month

contract involving XXX. Make it sound assertive and commanding. Be

straight, honest, up-front tell it like it is/was. Above all, dont waffle.

Dont give the impression that youve spent more time on the format and

looks of your CV rather than on the content contained within use

standard fonts and point sizes.

Use headings to break up the text but not too many.


Generally do NOT use boxes or shading as these will be lost if your CV gets scanned or photocopied.

2 types of CV

There are 2 main types of CV:

1. chronological - the more standard one, where your employment record is described in chronological order beginning with your most

recent job

2. skills where your employment record is presented under different skill / function sets.

If you are applying for a consultancy role or a senior management i.e. one

where experience is required in a number of different functional areas (such

as strategy development, project management, IT, marketing etc.) you might

like to group your achievements under these functional headings, even

though they may have been attained whilst you were employed within several

different organisations.

Just by doing this you will stand a better chance of furthering your application,

as you are actually tailoring your response more specifically to their needs.

Chronological (standard) CV Format

If you wish to adopt a fairly standard approach to your CV follow these

headings:

(each section will be expanded in much more detail further down)

Title / label whats the name of your product and how can it be

purchased? i.e. You and your contact details.


Profile (optional) use with extreme caution summary about you but it

MUST NOT be subjective i.e. your opinion.

Key Skills (optional) whats in it for the client? How will buying this product

make their life easier, help them achieve their goals?

etc. A quick synopsis of your key skills.

Key Achievements what you have achieved before (3 preferably but no

more than 5) and what impact these achievements had

on the organisation (qualitative and quantitative).

These should be your key ones only.

Experience where and how did you achieve such great things

before? Who were these companies? What did they

do? What was your role? Offer the recruiter a list of

SOME of your responsibilities, but not all just a few

lines. Remember ACHIEVEMENTS are it! And they

must have IMPACT.

Qualifications If the MBA is your highest qualification then place it at

the top of the pile. Run down in order of importance.

Further Training List any other RELEVANT training courses attended (or

on-the-job training periods).

Professional It is important for the recruiter to see that you support

Memberships your career development through being involved with a

professionally recognised institution.

Interests It is important for the recruiter to get a feel for what you

do outside of the work environment. This is your

chance to differentiate yourself! Have you had any

articles or research published? Have you given any

public seminars or keynote speeches? What do you


like doing? Dont underestimate the potential power of

this section!

Personal date of birth is still useful to know although it will soon

be illegal to ask or expect this in the UK as well as

other countries.

See section headed Content further on, for more details about what to include

in each section described above.

Platform/master CV

As you are going to need to tailor your CV to all the different applications you

make, ensure you build a solid platform/master CV on which to start.

We recommend that you use the Chronological CV to compile a clear history

of what you did, when and for whom.

When you start writing it, record absolutely everything you can remember

you can come back to this later and pick out all the bits that you really need.

Keep adding to it as you remember something else.

You should then compile the final version of your Chronological CV and save

it in a sub-directory called Chronological under the directory CVs. Create

another sub-directory entitled Skills CVs.

This file structure will give you the opportunity to create several other sub-

directories under Skills CVs for each different flavour of CV e.g. you may

have tailored one for the role of Customer Services Manager. Create a sub-

directory called Customer Services Manager and save this tailored version

within it. Then when you attach your CV to an application e-mail, the filename

would still seem to be a generic one e.g. Joe Bloggs CV.doc rather than Joe Bloggs CV CS Manager.doc.


Although the recruiter will expect that you will have tailored your CV to the job

you are applying for, you dont need to make it look so obvious.

Skills CV

There are two main differences between the chronological format and the

skills format.

The first is that the experience section can simply be a list of carefully

selected achievements grouped together under the key skills headings e.g.

project management, business process re-engineering, product marketing etc.

The second is that you will need to insert a summary list of dates relating to

your previous jobs underneath the Experience section.

Title / label

Profile (optional)

Key Skills (optional) Inclined to leave out in this format.

Key Achievements

Experience Group achievements together under relevant key

skill/function areas

Career History Dates, job titles and company names. If necessary a

BRIEF one line (max) explanation of what they do.

Qualifications .

Further Training

Professional Memberships

Interests

Personal .


Style How should it sound? Your CV must be clear and well thought-out. It must demonstrate a clarity of

purpose and present a compelling argument. It should sound original and not

contrived (as many DIY CV software packages do).

It should sound:

Passionate

IMPACTFUL

Professional - not pompous, not too colloquial

Energetic & lively

Achieving use power words see below

Authentic self-confident but not arrogant

Authoritative objective, informed, experienced

Truthful would you believe it?

Power words to be used

Not only should these words (and others like them) be used within your CV for

impact, but they are also important for the purposes of CV filtering if and when

your CV gets scanned.

On these occasions recruiters search their databases for high impact words

as well as other more obvious ones around industry, country, job function etc.

These words can be used either in the past tense or in other tenses

depending on the context in which they are being included e.g. attained or

attaining. Obvious, I know!


Accelerated Gained

Achieved Gathered

Acted Generated

Advanced Hired

Aligned Identified

Applied Implemented

Assessed Improved

Attained Increased

Avoided Introduced

Awarded Launched

Boosted Leveraged

Bridged Managed

Built Mastered

Captured Maximised

Championed Mobilised

Changed Motivated

Clarified Obtained

Complemented Penetrated

Connected Pioneered

Converted Planned

Created Prepared

Cut Prevented

Defined Promoted

Delivered Raised

Designed Realised

Developed Rebuilt

Diagnosed Recruited

Directed Reduced

Discovered Regenerated

Elected Replaced

Eliminated Restructured

Established Retained

Exploited Saved

Finalised Set-up


Simplified

Solved

Stopped

Stretched

Succeeded

Supplemented

Trained

Yielded


Content - What should it contain? Remember the overall objective of your CV is to get

you an interview, by tantalising and wooing the recruiter!

Tailor the content of your CV to the application/job.

Have several available to send out at a moments notice;

each tailored to different types of jobs for which you might

wish to apply. Make sure your CV gives the recruiter what

they want to know make it highly relevant.

Golden Rule # 1

Tailor it - the standard one-size-fits-all approach will NOT work

Leave the recruiter asking how did he/she achieve that? at several points

within leave low-level fruit just a phone call away tantalise them into

wanting to know more

Weed out trivia be ruthless keep asking So What? as the recruiter will

be asking

Check for simple grammatical errors

Check for spelling mistakes dont give the recruiter the opportunity to

throw your CV out on the basis of a few small spelling mistakes. Be

careful, however, when using a spell checker they do not check the

context of the phrase and may let through words which are correctly spelt

but within another context

Pay attention to detail postal/zipcodes, e-mail addresses, company

names, figures etc.

Relegate personal details to the bottom on the second page


As suggested in the Format section above a standard approach would be to

use the following:

Title / label whats the name of your product and how can it be

purchased?

Profile (optional) use with extreme caution summary statements about

you and your experience, but NOT subjective

Key Skills (optional) based on your experience - whats in it for the client?

How will buying this product make their life easier, help

them achieve their goals? etc.

Key Achievements what you have achieved before (3 preferably but no

more than 5) and what impact these achievements had

on the organisation (qualitative and quantitative)

Experience where and how did you achieve such great things

before? Who were these companies? What did they

do? What was your role? Offer the recruiter a list of

SOME of your responsibilities, but not all just a few

lines. Remember ACHIEVEMENTS are it!

Qualifications If the MBA is your highest qualification then place it at

the top of the pile. Run down in order of importance.

Further Training List any other RELEVANT training courses attended

(or on-the-job training periods). Sometimes this section

can be combined with the Qualifications section (under

the title Qualifications & Training).

Professional It is important for the recruiter to see that you support

Memberships your career development through being involved with a

professionally recognised institution.


Interests It is important for the recruiter to get a feel for what you

do outside of the work environment. This is your

chance to differentiate yourself! Have you had any

articles or research published? Have you given any

public seminars or keynote speeches? What do you

like doing? Dont underestimate the potential power of

this section!

Personal Date of birth is still useful to know although this will

soon be considered to be discriminatory in the UK as it

already is in many other countries. It is however a

natural question which people ask themselves. No

doubt, they will try and work it out from all your dates

anyway. If however you offer them this information as

well as any other information, like status, nationality,

driving licence etc.) thats up to you. It only becomes

discriminatory if they ask you for this information and/or

base their decision on this information.

MBAs often ask whether they should include a few lines on what their

objective is i.e. what type of roles they are seeking and in which industries/organisations.

Why? I ask.

Why would you want to use a statement which the recruiter could use to filter

you out straight away? After all, dont you have enough transferable skills to

be able to do the job for which you have applied? If you dont then you

shouldnt be wasting your time and the recruiters. Remember you want them

to be your allies, not your enemies!


Section Objectives

It is absolutely critical that you understand the objective of each section of

your CV. This will enable you to phrase your CV content in such a way that is

most attractive to anyone reading it.

Section Objective Title / Label Announce yourself

Provide easy reach to your contact details Profile (if used) To entice the reader to read on! Needs to

be true, objective (i.e. not subjective) and

highly targeted to the opportunity for which

you are applying

Objective (if used) To allow the reader to include you when narrowing down the pool of CVs, by aligning

yourself strongly with the opportunity on

offer, or telling the reader exactly what type

of opportunity you are looking for

To encourage them to read on Key Skills (if used) To convince the reader of your ability to do

the job on offer

To encourage them to read on Key Achievements To support all of the above objectives

To demonstrate clearly that you have done it before

To give the reader some re-assurance that you should be able to accomplish all the

objectives that they (or their client) have

established for this job/role

To encourage them to read on DECISION POINT 1 (30 seconds) see note below


Experience To support all of the above objectives,

providing more evidence

To convince the reader to speak with you i.e. pick up the phone

DECISION POINT 2 (1 minute 30 seconds) see note below Qualifications To further support all of the above

objectives

To provide a few more ticks in the boxes To reassure the reader that you have the

ability to think and learn well

To demonstrate that you have broadened your mind

To demonstrate a level of commitment and stamina/staying power (involved in taking

such a course)

Further Training To demonstrate your willingness and desire to continually learn and better yourself


To add credibility and weight to your application

To demonstrate your desire to become involved in professional activities outside of

work

To identify which professional networks you might be involved in

Interests To show you have a life outside or work! To reveal something of your work/life

balance

To keep the reader interested in you, in order to pick up the phone!

DECISION POINT 3 (2 minutes) see note below


Decision Point 1

he point at which the recruiter has got (or at least, should have got) a

t this point they will make their first decision whether or not to continue

ecision Point 2

he point at which they will decide with 80% certainty that they want to speak

ecision Point 3

enerally their decision at this point will not vary from the decision reached at

ection Contents

itle/Label

bout the ONLY bit you can guarantee gets read!

bjective: to tell the recruiter who you are and how to contact you

he name of your product YOU. Nice and big (say 20 point) so that it stands

out well from the rest of the text in your CV. But not too big so as to look out of

place.

T

relatively good understanding of you and your abilities to carry out the tasks

for the job.

A

reading more of your CV. If their gut feel says no, your CV will either go into

the bin or the maybe keep for later pile!

D

T

with you, or not.

D

G

point 2, unless they are very specific about what qualifications they expect you to have. Generally however, they will be more or less eager to speak with

you depending on what is contained within the last few sections.

S

T

A

O

quickly!

T


Generally I suggest that you do not place any credentials beside your name

(like MBA, C.Eng etc.) in the same font size, as it just looks a little arrogant.

here is a place further down in the document for informing your reader that

d to list absolutely

very method available for getting in touch with you. List just the main ones

bjective: To entice the reader to read on! Needs to be true, objective (i.e. not subjective) and highly targeted to the opportunity for which you are applying

Many CVs t

described as he type of paragraph which reads

ke this:

T

you have an MBA or any other qualification. For example in the Profile section

you could say an MBA qualified chartered marketer.

Underneath your name we recommend placing your current contact details in

a much smaller font size (say 9 point). There is no nee

e

such as home phone (ensure however that you use an answerphone for times

when you are not in), mobile phone and personal e-mail address.

Profile

O

hese days have an opening paragraph which can only be

subjective & egotistical. Its t

li

A Charismatic and Transformational Business Leader, with a passion for Excellence

in Customer Relationship Management and a strong sense of Personal and

Organisational Values. An Innovative and Lateral-Thinking Change Executive,

combining strong Team Development & Project Management skills with a sound

owledge of E-Business, IT, Operations and Business Process Management.

ll whats wrong with that, you ask? Probably nothing, except it is what yo

k of yourself. Within that statement there are only two phrases which a

kn

We u

thin re

ategorically true a passion for Excellence in and a strong sense of c

personal and organisational values, although even this last statement is quite

subjective.


As a recruiter I would say yeah, yeah, yeah, Ive heard it all before prove it

and you wouldnt be able to do so UNLESS you have some statements from

ther people concerning you, which describe you as above. If you do (and

ould do well to use the space better.

worthwhile,

nd no one actually read them.

r your application, as they could turn

e recruiter off.

A qualified manager with over 20 years experience in

ustomer Service, culminating in the role of Client Services Director for XXX

bjective: To convince the reader of your ability to do the job on offer

o

there is an argument which suggests you might like to cultivate this) then you

should shout it from the roof-tops. In this case you should add the words

others say of me. somewhere in the text or words to that effect. That

is then much more credible.

But if you do not have any personal testimonies (from people other than your

spouse or family fans!) you w

In a straw poll carried out among consultants at top executive recruitment

firm, not one consultant said they thought these profiles were

a

Our experience suggests that whilst recruiters might read these statements,

they could actually make things worse fo

th

Our recommendation is therefore use one with caution - keep it totally factual e.g. MB

C

XXX Corporation and avoid using words that sound like MBA speak (e.g.

strategic etc. Im sure you know what I mean)!

Notice how you can now bring in your MBA without leaving the recruiter

feeling like they have been MBAd!

Key Skills (optional)

O


Limit yourself to your top 3 only. It is proven that groups of threes generally

ork well in presentations, speeches, marketing material etc.

chievements, is

our most important opportunity to sell yourself. If you dont do so within a

your potential worth to e organisation. The objective is to leave them wanting to find out more.

at nobody else has (or at least nobody else who might apply for this job)?

ent and able to conduct business in 4 European languages

Kee cruiter) and

hat they perceive to be the value of what you have to offer. Consider these

will gain by

mploying you within their (or their clients) organisation. And what of these

should not try to convince the recruiter of your

ansferable skills here keep that for your cover letter/note. Here, you must

look like a perfect match.

w

If used, this section, in conjunction with the next one on Key A

y

few short succinct phrases you will not get through to the next stage having

your whole CV read the whole way through. Its that simple. Its the equivalent

of the elevator pitch, where you may have one minute between floors to

convince your listener to take some course of action.

So this is where you need to convince the reader of

thThey will then have the incentive to continue reading on past this first section.

Whats so special about you compared to anybody else? What have you got

th

E.g.

Flu

p the focus ALWAYS be on your prospective client (the re

w

to be the Unique Perceived Benefits you wish to convey (rather than unique

selling points). Now you will approach the selling of your product or service

from a more appropriate position, that of your prospective client.

So think about what benefits the recruiter must perceive theye

are somewhat unique to you?

Tailor these to the role/job. You

tr


Use this list to draw up a list of skills, achievements, expertise, training etc.

which you have acquired.

Golden Rule # 2

Its not only what you DO say thats important, its also what you DO NOT say!

that will hook them into going on to the next part of the process reading the

rest of your CV (satisfy

e done it before To give the reader some re-assurance that you hould be able to accomplish all the objectives that

they (or their client) have established for this job/role

This section will cli

articulated and full o

You should pull out

ll list shown under the different experience (or skill) sections.

It is the implications, inferences, innuendos that you leave the reader with,

ing your objective for this section).

Key Achievements

Objectives: To demonstrate clearly that you hav

s

nch success for you if your achievements are true, well

f impact. This is perhaps, the MOST important section. your top 3 (maximum 5) achievements selected from the

fu

Golden Rule # 3

Only ever list your Demonstrable Achievements

By demonstrable we mean sily seen and proven e.g.

products launched, sales increased, costs saved, awards won etc. Ideally

these by

2% yielding a 5% reduction in customer churn. Sometimes you will have to

those which could be ea

should also be quantifiable e.g. increased customer responsiveness

1


make estimates of the acquired benefits of something you had done usually

in terms of time, money or organisational image.

Some achievements are more difficult to quantify or qualify e.g. assisted in the

re-structuring of the organisation. Try and turn these into something more

tangible by describing the impact of this re-structuring on the organisation .g. designed to save 3m cost within the first year.

in the North American

arket by 36% in two years bringing in an extra $100m worth of new

owing types of

revious achievements (if you have had them of course):

e

And dont forget to quantify the achievements. Use the So What? test. For

example saying that you increased sales in the North American market

means little unless you quantify it (increased sales

m

business). Im sure youll agree that the latter statement sounds much more

impressive than the former. Do ensure however, that it is true!

Start by listing achievements which are totally relevant to the job for which you

are applying. For example if you are applying for the role of Customer

Services Manager in a new organisation you should list the foll

p

Successfully implemented several new customer projects totalling in excess of 5m sales

revenue p.a.

Effectively managed large programme of service delivery contracts contributing approx. 20m each year

Improved customer responsiveness by 75% through attraction and development of high quality staff

Increased cu stomer loyalty by 5% over three years yielding in excess of 5m extra revenue

Increased productivity by 30% through streamlining existing operational processes and effective programme management of several new IT developments

Reduced cus tomer churn by 8% saving approximately 10m year on year Increased customer satisfaction levels by 40% through successful implementation of pro-

active fault escalation procedures


Bu

will say if you are asked to explain how you determined the values of your

chievements.

convince the recruiter to speak with you

hronological CV then you must list your achievements under

ach role (as you may have had more than one job within the same

Name of organisation

not months) when you were employed

A brief description of the employer and their business

tline of your responsibilities within that role BRIEF just one or

If y eed do is list your

achievements under each relevant skills/function heading e.g. project

management, IT/E-Business, marketing, customer service etc. Then list the

ompanies you worked for and your job titles etc. underneath in a Career

adly. Responsibilities dont tell the recruiter anything other

an what you were supposed to do. They are more interested in what you

t ensure you are able to substantiate your claims think about what you

a

Experience

Objective: to

If using the C

e

employer).

Include the following:

Job Title Dates (years only,

A brief ou

two lines

ou are using the Skills CV format then all you n

c

History section.

Responsibilities are almost totally irrelevant. After all, you could have been responsible for something which you were not suited for and consequently

managed quite b

th

actually did and the impact it had on the organisation.


By all means you can give a brief synopsis of the role and its significance, but

do not list all the activities and tasks of the job. Quite frankly, its boring and a

aste of premium space. w

See the following example:

1987 to 1993 XXX YYY Limited

XXX YYY Limited provided full range of services to the xxxxxxxxxxxxx market, including xxxx, xxxxx

and xxxxxxx systems.

NATIONAL CALL CE TRE MAN N AGER

Reporting to the Director of xxxxxxx; responsible for the merger (and subsequent

management) of ten field-based service desks into one National Call Centre with minimum

disruption to existing customer base. Key achievements included:

Achievements

Objective: to demonstrate that you have done it before and re-assure

recruiter that you will be able to accomplish the

objectives of the job

Achievemenimportant as ts are paramount. And they must e demonstrable. You must breakout your demonstrable achievements

1. LIST - How your current organisation defines success? What parameters do they use to demonstrate success? e.g. in terms of:

a. turnover

the

ts vs. Responsibilities the latter is not even one third as the former! Achievemen

b

(things that you have achieved for the company which are demonstrable

not just hearsay or speculation) for each role.

Follow the process below:


b. profitability

c. shareholder value

d. funds raised

ed

improved

ised

2. TH ould contribute to the overall success

par n defines success in terms of

increased turnover, then an appropriate metric would be new business

sales revenue, or increased customer retention leading to increased

repeat business; profitability might have increased efficiency or

3.

4. under each job think long and

5. o each achievement and

organisation,

as far as is possible. You may need to estimate

thes ontributions, if it

specificity is more believable!

6.

ey have had on/for the

ct in a positive way.

7. THINK for each achievement also explain how you accomplished it briefly e.g. increased sales revenue by 10% through addition of 3 new

client accounts worth over xxxK each.

e. patients treat

f. houses built

g. market image

h. financial risk minim

i. etc.

INK about what metrics wameter e.g. if the organisatio

reduced operational costs as metrics.

LIST - Repeat questions 1 & 2 for all your previous jobs, as shown onyour current CV.

THINK for each responsibility listedhard about what you achieved.

THINK go back t

now quantify each one in terms of the success parameters used by the

e c but be specific e.g. was 19%, say it do not round it up

THINK if you cannot put your achievements into these quantifiable

parameters, think about what impact thorganisation. Record this impa


ou should

heory goes. Its as simple as that.

g slightly similar, then you will have

Ca

Then b you are

applyin hat parameters

the

targete

Remin oing on in the recruiters mind.

ood

the

Now, enter your CV!

bjective)?

Answer 80% - your previous demonstrable achievements; 20% everything else.

again or so the t

t, or you have done somethin

more convincing to do using a Key Skills section and a great cover note.

nt about your ability to succeed in the

job, based on what you have achieved before.

pture the above information in your platform/master chronological CV.

efore you start to compile your tailored CV for the job for which

g, think about how they might define success and w

y might use. This will give you a good starting point for generating a highly

d, high impact CV.

d yourself of the psychological process g

They understand the type of job/role on offer. They (should) have a g

understanding of what will be expected from the person doing the job. They

probably have an image established in their mind therefore, of what

person looks like in terms of previous experience/achievements.

What is going to convince them that you are worth talking to (which is your CVs o

Because, if you have done it before, then y

be able to do it

If you haven

The recruiter will make a snap judgeme


Golden Rule # 4

Do not leave any si your employment gnificant gaps indates unexplained

question what happened duRecruiters will spot it and ring that time. If it looks

like it is a small time lapse they may give you the benefit of the doubt, but mostly their suspicions will be raised and so you give them more of a reason

to place your CV on the thanks, but no thanks pile.

an MBA or raising a family, you should say so. Otherwise the reader starts to

wonder whether you were in jail, on long-term sickness break, gone fishing

It is OK to stretch the dates in your CV a little, so long as you explain this at

Qualifications

Objectives: to provide more ticks in boxes, demonstrate your ability to

nk for yourself, broaden your outlook and endure.

therefore, jus ighest

first e.g. your MBA. Include the year in which you graduated and the institution

There is no need to list every single course you have ever attended. Once

again, pick out those which you believe to be 100% relevant to the job for

hich you are applying, and also those which demonstrate that you have had

at least some exposure to other areas of business.

Even if you were unemployed for some time, between contracts, studying for

etc none of which bodes well in terms of your application.

interview stage, in case the recruiter decides to take up references.

thi

This section merely supports your application so far. Dont make this too big

t list the relevant courses of learning, starting with the h

at which you studied.

w


Unless you have had little further education since, do not list your

secondary/grammar (teenage years) schools.

These days it is often very useful to mention something about your level of IT /

web literacy. Also include concise statement(s) about your language

roficiencies, especially if you can conduct business in another language.

Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) XXX Business School (2000)

p

See example below:

BSc (Honours) degree in Electronic Engineering - University of XXX (1987) Various management training courses undertaken in Business Strategy in Action,

Action Centred Leadership, Lateral Thinking & Creativity, Presentation Skills, Sales &

Negotiation, Financial Management, Team Development and Coaching.

Strong working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, Project, FrontPage, Outlook, ACT contact management, Time/Personal Information

Management software. Conversant with TAS Books (accounts) and Qgold (payroll)

software.

Fluent in French and Spanish (to business level).

Further Training

bjective: to demonstrate your willingness and desire to continually

and better yourself.

taught or on-t

O

learn

List any relevant further periods of training undertaken whether formal class-

he-job.

This section can actually be combined with the section on Qualifications (as

shown above).



Objective: to add credibility and weight to your application, and

identify which professional networks you might be involved

If you are involved in any professional institutions such as an Association of

BAs or Institute of XXX then it is useful to simply list these (or some of

to reveal something of your work / life balance

side a work

nvironment. What do you do? Where do you do it? What do you enjoy?

and

ome/leisure life.

in.

M

them) under a separate heading (say Professional Memberships). This simply

gives the recruiter an understanding of the professional extra-curricular

activities and networks you might be involved in. I say might, because just

listing it does not mean that you attend any regional meetings or take an

active part in the organisation it might simply be for the status afforded by

being a member.

Interests

Objective:

Finally give the reader a little something about you out

e

Essentially everyone looks for balance a balance between work

h


Proof-reading Whatever you do, do not miss out this step.

Get someone else to do it. Use a word-processors spell check, grammar check and word count functions. Have a dictionary and thesaurus to hand

there are only so many ways you can say achieved 20% growth in

A word of caution however be very careful of the use of these standard

word-processor tools, as they are usually set to reflect US grammar which

is often very different to European/UK grammar!

Why not ask someone to view it from the perspective of whether or not

they would employ this person

Get lots of feedback but dont forget that at the end of the day it is about

you and so you should decide what stays and what goes. Weigh and balance all the different views you receive.

But ask someone who you KNOW will give you the truth.


Reviewing & Re-writing

Do so regularly; youll never know when you might want to send out the

latest copy of your CV in a hurry! Therefore we suggest updating it at least

every 3 months.

Continue to tweak it as you remember something else or see other good

CV examples

Get others to review it for you objective feedback is worth a lot

Benchmark, copy & IMPROVE on other peoples ideas - check out other

web sites and their careers advice, look at other peoples CVs borrow

good ideas and employ them in your own

Golden Rule # 5

Dont waste any more time on your CV than you really need to

Put a good amount of effort into generating a great CV (or get it professionally written), and then move on to the next steps in the process dont stop here

this is not the most important step!


Appendix A

Summary CV Dos & Donts

3Do

Make it original and personal it must convey information about the real

you

Refer to your MBA appropriately within both your CV and cover letter/e-

mail

Use the space on your CV very carefully & economically

Turn your responsibilities into achievements

Always quantify your achievements (as far as possible)

Test your CV with a few recruiters before using it

Take the necessary time to construct a highly professional base

(chronological) CV from which to spin-off variant tailored CVs

Employ someone else to provide you with an objective view of your CV

Be Creative whilst following some of the general guidelines above, do

your own thing

Ensure your CV is less self-centred and more prospect/client-centred

Make it fascinating, exciting, stimulating, and informing otherwise it will

automatically become boring, tedious and ego-centric

Be careful when sending your CV by e-mail as the recipient sees the title

of the file if it is Johns CV for Consultancy jobs the recruiter will realise

that you are being a bit of a chameleon and will trust the information

presented less! Solution set up many different sub-folders which are

entitled appropriately for whatever demarcation you have decided upon (as

suggested in section XX above). Then save the tailored CV under the

tailored sub-directory with a standard generic file name e.g. John Doe CV.

Send a hard copy follow-up if you have had to fax it in a hurry

Make your CV personal

Refer to your MBA appropriately within your cover letter/e-mail

Use the space on your CV very carefully & economically



Turn your responsibilities into achievements

Always quantify your achievements (as far as possible)

Test your CV with a few recruiters before using it

Dont

Write a CV greater than 2 or 3 pages (generally)

Have MBA in huge letters at the top of the CV e.g. Jon Doe MBA as your

heading

Use subjective words in a profile (if you choose to use one)

Simply list responsibilities

Use the standard business school CV/Resume template without

personalising it & testing it

Allow your electronic CV to be a large file (for attachment purposes).

Make sure it is less than 100KB in size, otherwise the recipient may not

thank you especially is they are downloading it over a slow internet

connection in their home/mobile office

Waste all your valuable time tweaking it up once your 80% happy with it,

put it down and get on with the more important parts of the overall job-

hunting process

Ever send a zipped up (.zip) or executable (.exe) file either it will get

filtered out by the organisations anti-virus software or the recruiter will not

have any un-zipping software to use

Include a photograph unless the employer has asked for one

Include lots of attachments unless you have been asked for some

MBAmatch Health WarningGolden Rule # 1Golden Rule # 2Golden Rule # 3Golden Rule # 4Golden Rule # 5

Top MBA CVs

Documents

Transcript of Top MBA CVs