I’ve been reading hundreds of Executive and Manager CVs lately and it’s amazed me how few Business Management skills are included in almost 75% of the files we receive.
Your career may have followed a specialist path, whether in Human Resources, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Maintenance or any other sector but once you begin to climb the Management ladder, a more rounded CV is needed. Don’t assume that your Job Title conveys everything you do within that role. The ONLY thing the HR Manager knows about your experience is what you include in your Resume and Cover Letter, so how can they know what awareness and experience you have in areas such as Client relationships, departmental budgets & costs, quality standards, strategic planning and staff recruitment & training, if you don’t provide a picture of your specific knowledge?
Look at these examples, taken from 2 real CVs this week:
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Example CV1 Extract:
Maintenance Manager, Post holder for EASA Part 145 organisation.
Responsible for 150 staff and all aspects of line maintenance for a fleet of 25 aircraft.
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Example CV2 Extract:
A General Manager, leader and communicator with strengths in regulatory, production, heavy maintenance, line maintenance and planning management.
Delegated Civil Aviation Regulator Part 145 Accountable Manager
Project management, business integration, work place reform and environmental law requirements.
Licensed Aircraft Engineer in Airframe and Engines with Avionic extensions
Leadership experience across all business including: Financial control/P&L management, Contract negotiations, Health and safety systems and practices, Technical services, Industrial relations, Materials purchasing and inventory control, Quality assurance, Resource planning – manpower, materials and services, Personnel training and Sales and Marketing
Successful track record in changing workplace cultures from cost plus to profit focused.
The introduction and development of Total Quality Management processes.
The development of customer focused attitudes and teamwork as well as in staff selection, recruitment, leadership and staff development.
Introduction of cost effective purchasing techniques and reduction in spares support.
Management of the performance and delivery of contractors.
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Both are clearly responsible for substantial Operations (and both may be equally good at what they do) but based on what you’ve read, who would you be most interested in inviting for an Interview? What do each tell you about the Candidate? Which one has probably added more value to their job than the other? The truth is you can’t be sure without meeting them, but shortlist decisions have to start somewhere when 50 Candidates may have applied for 1 Vacancy…. and don’t forget, bringing a new Manager or Director into a company is a major investment. Companies have to factor in the cost and time to cover advertisements, recruitment agency fees, CV selections, interviews, visas, tickets, equipment, inductions – and that’s before you join the company and your work impacts on the wider business.
When hiring for such a critical position, there’s no margin for error – and decisions begin with your CV.
Take the time to read your own Resume again; use the internet to supply you with a list of typical Company Departments and use that list to include your own knowledge, experience and skills in each area, so potential Employers know that you’re the person they’d like to meet and talk with.
Good Luck!
Fiona
April 2011
www.BettsRecruitment.wordpress.com The Betts Blog – a free resource for everyone who works in aviation
I have been an hr generaliat for 14 years. I have a broad experience base indcluding six sigma. I am at the senior Director level and have dealt with large buggets, large scale projects and people management experience. How can I transfer these skills to another vocation. I am located in the GTA, Canada
Hello Kyii
You’ve asked a big question with only a few outline points to refer to, so it’s difficult to give you a detailed reply without understanding a little more about who you are, what you want from the next 10 years, which sectors you’d like to move into and your geographical reach – as just some examples of the points to be considered.
The simplest response (jumping straight into any applications you may choose to make) is to recommend that you create a Functional resume, rather than a Chronological one, to highlight your skills and abilities whilst playing down your previous job titles.
The big negative with that style, however, is that most people who read Candidate CVs don’t understand how to interpret them – they don’t have the expertise to both correctly interpret the details and also apply the information to the role which they are shortlisting for.
Having pointed out a major potential negative though, I would still suggest you begin with that style, but take the time to create a document which a mid-level employee can understand because they are often given the task of selecting the first shortlist of potential Interviewees. Most importantly, on that point, don’t assume that the person reading your CV has heard of (for example) six sigma and that they know all the acronyms and industry standard abbreviations you may naturally use. Build in brief explanations and context, so they can easily match your details to the role that you may be applying for.
Make sure that you really do read job specs fully. Create a list of the core competencies they are looking for and change page 1 of your resume, per application, to bullet point how you provide those skills and how application of them has added value in your current and previous roles.
Taking your question back a step, to consider which sectors and vocations you move into, has to come from within yourself to the greater degree. What do you want to do?
You refer to large scale budgets and projects; from that I interpret that you’re looking for new challenges. You don’t give any idea of your age and earning expectations, so if you are mid-30s to mid-40s and would be happy to earn a mid-range salary, you’ll find (as an example) many big name charities who are always looking to hire expertise and, due to their nature, are often much more flexible when considering people who want to change careers. You could find yourself working overseas in a relatively Senior role that offers brand new experiences.
If, however, you want to commute locally to work each day, then you could draw on your local network of friends – and the relatives of colleagues.
Do you know people at Church, or the Golf Club, or similar environments where you can make new contacts; being recommended by someone who knows you personally can go a long way.
It might be worth spending some time online. This website, for example, lists over 12,000 job titles and just spending an hour reading through it might open up avenues that you haven’t even thought of: http://www.careerplanner.com/DOTindex.cfm
You can then decide if going back to college to completely retrain is an option – or if you stay in HR and use your free-time to do other things that you’d like to try out, before taking the plunge and making the change in a cut and dried way.
You should also use LinkedIn and other Social networks to build contacts.
Does your local area have a Chamber of Commerce or Business Link community that you can join, to meet other local business people and potential employers?
I hope this has given you a few ideas and provides some help to get you thinking from a fresh angle.
Making the change may go smoothly, or it may be a bumpy ride and you can plan for either option (or a mid-point) as part of your career rethink.
Good luck with your plans! Let me know how it goes.
Fiona
Dear Fiona, thanks for this informative post. It’s true that the CV still plays an important role in the selection process. I receive a lot of CVs from pilots who are looking for jobs, but must say that many of them contain errors, come with a poor layout or are simply too short or too long to read.
It’s good to hear your thoughts too; thanks Stefan. We all have our speciality areas, but everyone needs a CV and I’m astounded at the poor quality we often see!
WHEN MONKEYS BECOME MANAGERS THEY HAVE NO BIODATA THAT CAN DETAIL EXPERIENCE IN A BROADER WORK ENVIRONMENT.SO YOUR COMMENTS ARE APT.