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One Page Project Management CV?


Using a Mind Map to Create a PM CV

Reading Between the Lines – Project Management CV

Same Old Story – It’s Time For Change!

Stop Using PDF for Project Management CVs

The Project Management CV – Keyword Bingo

Five Project Management CV Myths

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The CV is still the most important career tool you have. If you’re currently looking for a new job, you want to make sure it’s working for you in the best way it can. Here are the five biggest myths for a project management CV. 1. I can use the same CV for each job ...

Project Management CV 2.0

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A while back I decided to have a play about with the format of a project management CV. Infographics were all the rage so I thought how can we create a project management CV which is much more visual, which gives just enough information for someone to want to see the full CV or bring ...

The Impact of Your Project Management CV

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As another year draws to a close, with many thousands of Project Management practitioners CV’s reviewed; I felt the need to use the Arras People PM Census to check out a nagging feeling of grumpiness. I desperately needed to see how others involved in the recruitment of project management practitioners were left feeling after reviewing ...

Creating a Killer Project Management CV

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If you caught one of our last emails about the impact your project management CV has on the people who read it and hire, you might have been left wondering what you could do to be in the 1% of people who create the broadest of smiles? Your Free Access to Creating your Killer Project ...

Should I Just Copy and Paste My Project Management CV into Linkedin?

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No! Your Linkedin profile should be used as a supplement to your CV and be written in a way that suits the medium which is primarily a social media site. You can still link to your full CV from Linkedin but the profile needs to be quick and easy to read and you should be ...

Project Management Recruitment Ideas – How long should a Project Manager CV be?

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In this  Project Management Recruitment Ideas, the question How Long Should a Project Manager CV be?* might seem a boringly easy question and one that should require no thought at all. However it is a populate search term that people are using to find the Camel so it’s my duty to provide a post that covers this off once and for all.

How Long Should a Project Manager CV be?

Right, I’m not going to take any prisoners, the length of a CV (and this is not just about project managers) should be 2 sides of A4, 3 max. We’ll let you do three sides if you really must but if you’re going to do three sides, make sure it is and not 2 sides with about 3 lines on the 3rd page. There you go, that’s it

But hold on a minute, Mr PM who has been working for 25 years plus says he can’t possibly put his entire career down on 2 sides (3 max) and must be allowed to use 7 sides. OK if that’s how you feel go ahead, but the reader has every right not to bother reading it. Seems like a fair deal to me.

How can a project professional with years experience condense his or her experience into 2 sides (3 max – see how I’m emphasising that?) It’s easy if you bear these two points in mind (a) employers are only really interested in what you’ve done in the last 10 years (b) track records are important but the miniscule of detail isn’t. A professional PM CV will have good details spanning the last 10 years and then after that it will be one or two lines to show the track record of you being a PM for a number of years before that. Makes sense  doesn’t it? Employers are not interested in the details of a project you delivered 15 years ago because (a) the project you delivered is probably not even relevant anymore i.e., the software you delivered doesn’t even exist or the regulation you implemented is archaic and defunct (b) it holds no relevance or bearing on the job you’re going for today.

One final word if you’re still thinking about going for a 7 page CV (remember 2, max 3), think for a second about the person reading it and also remember the purpose of a CV. Someone reading your CV is not doing it in isolation; they also have a huge number of other people’s CV to wade through too. When I see a 7 page CV, I sigh first of all, then read where they’re working now, if it doesn’t look like a good fit, it goes in the reject pile. If you can’t be clear, concise, to the point and free of waffle; you can’t realistically expect someone else to wade through the diatribe trying to find out if there is something in it relevant to the post you’re applying for. Secondly, CVs are a promotional tool, that’s their true purpose. If you think about a promotional sales tool, like a leaflet or brochure you know that you will get the headline information on the product or service; you never get the instruction manual at that first point of contact. Remember this in relation to your CV; what headlines or selling points do you want to give away that will be enough to hook someone so they will want to contact you to find out more (i.e., the interview).

*And it’s 2 sides, 3 max.

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Image © Ollie Crafoord and used with permission.

Clinically sound: Arras People’s careers clinic evolves

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Over recent months there has been an upsurge in the Arras People Career Clinic bookings – the fresh trend for my clinics is tending to be based around making an application for a specific role rather than general CV advice, feedback and careers guidance. As the market tightens and competition for new roles becomes tougher, a realisation that more work is required to achieve interviews; candidates are looking for ways to strengthen their approach to securing that next position.

Here are a few tips on how to ensure your application is a strong one:

1.First step – read the job advert, don’t just skim read either! Most candidates fall at the first hurdle by not following instructions correctly. For example: recently I was asked to review a CV against a job description – the point of the exercise was to ensure the CV would be attractive to the CV reviewer and hopefully be put into the shortlist for interview. On reading the job description I noted the instruction to apply was in fact an application form (to be downloaded from the employer website) and a covering letter stating why you are interested in the role. This may amuse but it is a very common trend for applicants to not read instructions when applying and automatically be put in the “reject” pile for clearly demonstrating an inability to follow simple instruction and poor attention to detail.

2. Once you have gathered information about how to apply take the next step of preparing the necessary information. If the requirement is a CV and covering letter; look to revisit your CV and ensure that all the competences listed in the JD are demonstrated in your CV (if you haven’t done it, and don’t meet 90% of the criteria then don’t apply). The same applies for application forms – ensure you complete them thoroughly and look to address each area of competence listed in the JD. The Arras team receives calls from candidates asking for further feedback having been rejected for a role – the case put forward by the candidate is frequently; “but I have all the competences listed in the JD, I do not understand.” When opening the CV and running through it with the candidate it becomes quickly apparent to the candidate that they may well have done these things but it does not state this in the CV. Common sense I know but it is very common for candidates to assume that recruiters and HR staff know how XXX PLC work and the candidates’ specific involvement in the project.

3. Before sending the application off; read and re-read the JD and your application form / CV / cover letter etc. Make sure you are covering all aspects of the role requirements and fulfilling the application process necessities. Once you are happy with the finished article – apply.

    All very standard advice but often overlooked as human nature tends to lead to rushing applications and callous approach to securing your next role – look at it from the employers perspective; at a time when organisations require exceptional personnel to progress are they likely to contact someone who half heartedly applies for the position?

    Careers clinics are bookable through the Arras People website. This part of the service is also covered by our free service to job seekers currently signing on at Job Centre Plus under the Job Search Support Service.

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    Project Management Recruitment Idea – Word Cloud Wow!

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    In this  Project Management Recruitment Ideas, I’m going to cover this keyword issue that always pops up in a CV.

    We know that people read CVs in a certain way – there’s even a phrase coined “the sixty second rule” which basically means you have sixty seconds for your CV to make an impact when it is first opened by someone.

    To be honest, sixty seconds seems like quite a long time when there are hundreds of CVs to look at and you’re on a tight deadline. One of the things that happens when you open a CV is a quick scan of the document – you’re trying to get a feel for the whether or not this person just feels right for the role based on the scattering of keywords throughout the document.

    You may not like, especially if you have toiled away on the CV for ages but it is human nature unfortunately. Think back to the last time you were faced with a long article or column in the newspaper, if the headline didn’t grab you, you will probably scan the article quickly to see if anything else is going to make you read on. So we know keywords are important but my question to you is; do you know what keywords your CV is majoring on? Wouldn’t you be interested to find out that actually it’s not what you think it is?

    Word Cloud – Keyword Discovery

    The Arras People new website launch used the lovely Wordle website to create some of our new images. If you are not familiar with Wordle, it’s a website that creates “word clouds”. Word clouds are those things you sometimes see on blogs that quickly show a reader what kind of subjects are covered on that blog; the bigger the word (in font size) the more often that subject is covered on that blog. In this case Wordle allows you to post in anything and see what the common themes are in any one piece of text.

    I encourage you to try Wordle out on your own current CV, just choose Create and copy and paste your CV in. You can play about with the colours, fonts and direction of text if you like too. Once you have entered your CV and seen the word cloud; is it what you would expect to see?

    Take a look at the word cloud I created for a recent candidate, this is a Programme Office Co-ordinator, she’s been doing the job for over 5 years at a Programme level;

    Interesting isn’t it? Working at a programme level and within a PMO for five years and it certainly doesn’t look like her CV is reflecting this well. Where are those keywords like PMO, Programme Office, Programme Co-ordinator?? Time to take another look at the CV and see if those crucial keywords can’t be incorporated better into the CV.

    Have a go, and leave a comment letting me know what you think.

     

    Same Old Story – It’s Time For Change!

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    Are your credentials "ticking the boxes" on the recruiter's consideration list?

    Are your credentials "ticking the boxes" on the recruiter's consideration list?

    If we’ve said it once – we’ve said it a dozen times: At Arras, we have been mad busy with lots of new diverse roles within the project management arena this past month or two, which is great news! Not only for us as it keeps us out of mischief, but also for candidates out there who are looking to make a move or secure a new role after experiencing redundancy.

    However after posting a number of roles on our dedicated PM recruitment website, we have been in receipt of some less than average CVs (amongst some exceptional ones, too) – not uncommon for a recruitment company no, but bearing in mind the follow up calls after being notified they have been unsuccessful – a familiar response is, “But why? I have done all that is set out in the advert!” The general response from the consultants after re-reviewing the CV to provide more detailed feedback is, “It doesn’t say you have in your CV!”

    Here’s a no-nonsense way to ensure you have the right detail in your CV:

    • Ensure you give enough detail about the project you are involved with – without writing a dissertation, one short paragraph should suffice. Look to include type of project, complexity, budget and benefits.
    • What was your involvement? If you managed it or part of it or if you provided support for it – let us know.
    • How did you deliver? Think about the responsibilities / skills involved and contextualise within the CV.

    Here’s a great tip: get your CV and put it next to a typical job you would apply for – remembering you should only be applying for roles you meet at least 95% of the criteria detailed. Now look down the job description against your CV, does it state clearly in your CV the key skills required? If it does then great you will be “ticking the boxes” for going into the consideration list – if not, you will be going into the reject list. I had a role recently which attracted over 280 applications; we only ever put forward 3 or 4 CVs to the client (after interviewing the candidates). Therefore only the CVs clearly demonstrating the experience and skills required will be considered for interview.

    For advice on how to best place yourself and write your CV refer to our dedicated careers support repository here or alternately, book yourself a careers clinic with one of the consultants here at Arras and we will assist you in setting yourself on the right track to securing one of the many fantastic opportunities available out in the field of Project Management today!

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    Reading Between the Lines – Project Management CV

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    My initial thought on becoming a Recruitment Consultant specialising in recruiting project professionals was “Surely it can’t be that difficult?” I will be dealing with people who know what their strengths are, professional people who know exactly what skills they have and how to showcase them in their CVs. I will be dealing with people who know what direction they want their career to take and how best to tailor their CVs to highlight the necessary skills and experience for the roles they are applying for. So, because these are the people I am dealing with it should be relatively easy to match candidates with the specific needs and expectations of the clients.

    I am now a few months into my life as a Recruitment Consultant and I have to say that my initial impression of the role couldn’t have been much further from the truth!

    To say I have been very surprised at the number CVs I see that undersell a candidate’s ability and experience is probably an understatement. It would appear that probably one of the best skills a recruiter can have is the ability to read between the lines. I am beginning to lose count of the number of times I have read a CV and thought that the candidate might have “something” and then spoken to them to find they actually have much more than just “something” – it was just really well hidden, or maybe omitted altogether!

    A recruitment consultant never wants to dig too deep to find out what you're capable of. But some candidates are hiding their true worth when they apply for roles.

    From initial experiences it appears that many candidates are taking the “less is more” adage a little too far and omitting too much information from their CV. Often, they’re giving us minimal detail on the projects and seem happy to rely on maybe the number of years of experience they have, or possibly the kudos of some of the companies they have worked for to get them through to the next stage of the process. Certainly from a recruiter’s perspective, this is not going to be enough.

    Most recruiters will make a decision within the first few seconds of opening your CV, so this is maybe your only opportunity to grab their attention and show them why you are the person they need to talk to next.

    Your CV doesn’t need to be a work of art, but there is an art to getting the best out of your CV. The very best CVs give details about what you have done already, e.g.

    • An basic outline of the projects you worked on and what they delivered
    • What sort of budgets were you are used working with
    • List some key achievements rather than a list of responsibilities (certain aspects of being a competent Project Manager are a “given” in order for you to be effective)
    • Examples of how you can demonstrate you have a particular skill e.g. stakeholder management – rather than just say “I have excellent stakeholder management skills”.

    I would also suggest that your CV is “tailored” for each application you make. It is all too easy to load up a generic CV and click “apply” for any roles you feel you could do, but you need to ensure your CV closely matches the advertised role in terms of skills and experience. There are some very simple guidelines to bear in mind when writing your CV and planning your next career move:

    1. Tell the truth! – It is very easy for recruiters and employers to check on the basic details of your CV.
    2. Give details of the projects you worked on – Details of the project deliverables, what was the size of the project team, what budgets you worked with, key achievements, etc.
    3. Tailor your CV to each application ensuring your skills & experience match the role requirements – transferable skills aren’t as transferable as they once were.
    4. Check and double check your CV for spelling and grammatical errors. Maybe even ask a friend to check it too – but don’t rely on spellchecker.
    5. Make sure it is well laid out and easy to read, but there is no need for a fancy template or any pictures – remember, don’t put form above substance.
    6. Be choosy about what you apply for and only apply for roles where you feel you meet 80% or more of the client requirements – you don’t want to get a reputation for being a “serial applier”.

    Above all, put the necessary time and effort into writing your CV – it will be time well-spent. Remember your CV is your only tool to get you noticed (initially) and get you to the all important stage of being submitted to the client.

    To find out more information about  project management CV’s visit the website

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    Standing Out in a Project Management Meerkat

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    One of the most common questions I still get asked a lot is how can I make my CV stand out when I’m applying for positions? I get asked it so often that we made a presentation and podcast about it – Differentiating Yourself in the Marketplace. You can have a listen to the detailed answer with practical things to do so here’s some food for thoughts

    The number one thing to do to stand out with your CV in the current marketplace is make it relevant

    Relevance is a fully old thing – relevant to who? Indeed what does relevance even mean? In this posting we’re talking about making your CV relevant to the person reading it, the job you’re applying for, the role you currently perform and then making it still stand out or having a distinctiveness about it so we can distinguish it from another.

    Two audiences

    Before putting a CV or application together its worth remembering that different audiences are going to be reading and trying to understand more about you from your CV. These are roughly two types –  people who understand project management and those that don’t. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes for a moment and take a look at your CV again, ask yourself the questions; do I need a course in project management to understand my CV? Am I giving just enough information about what I do to make it readable for a wide range of audiences? Would a line manager (experienced in project management) and an HR recruiter both be interested and act upon my application?

    It’s not impossible to do – just think about different audiences when you’re putting the CV together – keep them in your mind’s eye.

    Standing Out is Not Difficult

    I’ll let you into a secret, it’s not that hard to stand out and you don’t need to do very much at all – why? Because most people are terrible at writing a CV. Most people just write one CV and keep it for ever more, just adding the new jobs they’ve carried out as they go through their career – the same old CV with bits stuck on.

    To stand out for every role you apply for you need to make sure the CV changes. How can one CV be relevant to all the project management positions you’re potentially interested in applying for? Where one job advertisement has an emphasis on stakeholder management and budgets and another on large-sized virtual team management it’s not rocket science to see that a few changes to your CV to put emphasis on certain areas makes perfect sense.

    Different Project Management Roles Means Different Relevance

    As a general thumb of rule – standing out will mean different things to different people. Take a project office or support role. To really do a great job with your CV you need to focus on more details around the tasks you perform. It’s not good enough to just state you carry out project reporting – we want to see how, what do you use, what types of reporting, what process etc etc. With project managers there should be a balance between tasks and outcomes, we need to be able to see that there is skill and experience in how you manage project delivery, how you control risk etc as well as the outcome. In other words just stating the benefits of project X were achieved within budget, time…. yawn. With programme managers there needs to be seniority within the CV, complexity is managed, the strategic understood as well as programme delivery.

    The bottom line is standing out means show me you have the skills, capability, knowledge, experience, qualifications, training, and gravitas for this particular post – at this level of complexity, risk, salary and reward. Make your CV and application relevant, tailored and compelling enough and you’ll be in the top percentage of people who regularly receive leads and interviews.

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    Image – Brian Marshall

    The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

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    I think we are all aware of just how difficult the job market is at the moment with all the uncertainties around the financial status of the EU single currency and the associated knock-on in terms of recession in the UK. This in turn is leading to even more limited opportunities with increasing numbers of applications for every role, increasing levels of competition and only the very best perceived candidates getting through to interview. Throw into the mix the overriding thought of employers that it’s a “buyer’s market” and you can see why it is very tempting to make those slight embellishments, maybe add little white lies to your CV. You are only trying to get a little bit of an edge over the competition, after all you know a few people that have done it, it doesn’t do that much harm and you can do that job, all you need is to be given a chance, right?? WRONG!! In fact you couldn’t be more wrong.

    Did you know that over 50% of CVs contain ‘incorrect’ information (or downright lies, if we don’t mind being politically incorrect!) Did you know that it is actually a criminal offence to falsify your CV? Did you know that people have been prosecuted AND jailed for falsifying their CV?

    Did William Shakespeare write all of those plays? The Bard's legacy remains jaded by scholarly claims that some writers bootlegged his name. Likewise, can you get away with telling employers on a CV skills you don't have?

    The Bard’s legacy remains somewhat jaded by claims from scholars and conspiracy theorists that some writers claimed his pen name and that documented proof of his actual work is lacking. Likewise, have you ever claimed a work experience, skill or certification on a CV that you can’t actually back up with fact and/or legitmate documentation? If so, the damage to your working reputation could be more severe.

    It is very easy to bump up a grade here, add a qualification there or maybe even add £500 or £1000 to your current salary when trying to get that next position and a well deserved pay-rise too. But be warned that employers are on to you: recruiters, too. Among them, we here at Arras People do it on their behalf in the best interest of putting legitmate quality before our clientele. In general, employers may even employ a specialist firm to check out the claims in your CV and this isn’t likely to be limited to your work history. They may well check the validity of your qualifications, which universities you say you attended and even double check your referee’s (some people have given friends and family as referees in an attempt to gain an advantage!). This practice is commonplace in The States, more so than the UK at the moment, but it has crossed ‘The Pond’ and is certainly increasing in popularity here, too.

    Even things as simple as an enhanced job title are potential banana skins. You may feel like your were taking on the responsibilities of a Junior Project Manager but if you were employed as a Project Administrator then no matter how much extra responsibility has been heaped on your shoulders you need to represent the role accurately. A basic HR reference will detail your last role and employment dates and if there is a discrepancy then there are potentially consequences it may be ‘just’ an initial loss of trust but it could mean the withdrawal of an offer or even prosecution.

    Your parents probably told you that honesty is the best policy; well in this case that adage is certainly true. It is a difficult market out there and there must be a big temptation to take any advantage you can, but before you make those little ‘enhancements’ just stop and ask yourself “what are the consequences of being caught? Is it really worth the risk?” The answer has to be a resounding “No!” because a well written, factually accurate CV will still find it’s way to the hiring manager and the opportunities will still come your way without running the risk of damaging your reputation or even worse.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: For those intrigued by the Shakespeare fraudulence debate, start here.

    Shakespeare image c/of tonynetone @Flickr, re-used with permission.

    Graduates in Project Management

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    Last week I was invited along to the Manchester Metropolitan University‘s Business School to talk to soon-to-be graduating project management students. We’ve done a number of presentations at different universities around the country – and it’s mainly a presentation about getting ready for the realities of life after studies.

    Part of the presentation can feel demotivating – but the bottom line is, it’s a challenge for most people these days to end up in the job they’re going to love – which means it’s no different for students that are soon graduating too.

    Like any presentation – you can’t just knock people down without bringing them back up so the second half focuses on what you need to do in preparation for the marketplace. There’s the practical advice around personal stock taking – understanding who you are and what you have to offer. This applies to practitioners as much as it does graduates.  There will be plenty of graduates in the marketplace at the end of the academic year – so what can be done to stand out?

    There are two important pieces of advice I can give:

     

    Get some experience – any experience.

    Without some works experience of some kind you’re just a graduate with a degree. So why not be a graduate with a degree with works experience? This experience can be whilst studying – paid or unpaid, or making immediate plans when the exams are over. Graduates in PM often make the assumption that they’ll be able to secure a project management related position straightaway – but it is not so. Many graduates still enter the workplace through any means they can – and the key to pursuing the PM career this way is to find a position within an organisation that has a project management department.

     

    Think like a project management graduate – write like one too

     

    Half of the battle with graduates finding good opportunities is this issue of “people won’t employ you if you have no experience; but you can’t get experience because no one will hire you”. Classic Catch-22. So you have to work with what you have – which is some works experience (PM related or not), project management knowledge and understanding, plus (hopefully) the intelligent, ambition and drive to make it happen.

    Let’s take the CV which will be used to try and open doors. What I would expect to see is the works experience written with a project management slant wherever possible – I’d like to know how your approach to planning your work; dealing with issues; handling people; leadership possibly. With a degree in project management there will be an expectation that you’ve managed projects within the course. Again, good detailed information about what the projects were and what project management competencies you used and demonstrated are the most important things you’re trading with in the job market.

    For more information on graduate led advice in project management recruitment, visit the website.

     

     

    Manchester Met University PM graduates

    Manchester Met University PM graduates

    Manchester Met Business School

    Manchester Met Business School

    It’s harsh but so much is true.. graduate project managers take note

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