There’s Only One Way To Do This Right

You know, everyone thinks the personnel profile is the easiest part of the CV to write. They also think it’s the least important. Fancy that. And just think they all messed it up from the beginning by not following what I’m about to show you.

I can’t stress this enough when I say it’s THE most important part of a CV to perfect, hence the whole post dedicated to it !

So anyway why is it the most important part of a CV? Well imagine you’re a recruiter named Billy. You’re sitting there with your narrow specs, slurping a cup of tea whilst you eyeball a mountain of CV’s on your desk and you’ve got to navigate your way through them to find a handful of candidates to bring in for one job role. Boring.

And on top of that, It’s not their only task for the day.

Where am I going with this is? Well if you don’t make a good impression within your first 3 seconds you’ve lost their interest. You need to learn to speak to their interests directly whilst demonstrating your capabilities. You’ve got one shot.

“I am a Maths graduate looking for a job in X Y and Zeee”

Quite frankly I don’t care about what you want, what you want is not what the recruiter wants. The recruiter wants to pick 5 CV’s from 150 so they can give their full attention to 5 of them after Lunch. C’mon do better.

“Highly motivated Maths graduate, seeking a career in X Y and Zeee”

You’re so, so close. Whatever. In this case you entered a big buzzword “Motivated” – doesn’t everyone want someone motivated ? The world would sure be a better place with more motivated people, that’s for sure. But you’re not backing up your claim. Anyone can say they’re motivated, it means jack shit until you prove it to them.

Oh you were going to prove it to them when you got to the interview? Yeah that’s cute, let’s get you to the interview first buttercup. Swing your bollocks around a bit, or your lady parts and say “this is what I’m made of, take it or leave it Mr(s) recruiter”.

“High achieving Maths graduate, with experience in quantitative statistics and computer programming”

Woooooo

We did it. Well you did it! You showed them what you’re made of and you haven’t even brought in what you’re looking for yet. You see here’s a hidden secret, no one cares what you’re looking for if you’re good enough they want you regardless. It’s all about them.

You’ve giving them everything they’re looking for and therefore they’ve just committed more time to looking over your CV you literally gave them a boner, you sick freak!

Let’s step back into Billy’s mind. Billy’s been given a task to look for someone who can manipulate data sets and with programming ability in the language of, well lets say Python as that’s the only language I know of. Billy knows jack shit about the position, Billy understands people and employment Law, that’s it. So make it easy for Billy.

When Billy looks at your personnel profile and sees “Looking for a career in x,y and z” Billy thinks “Oooohh that’s nice, but can you do the job ?”. You may be able to do the job but you haven’t demonstrated that to Billy. Let’s imagine Billy picked up two of the CVs (the second and third one we created together)

Billy goes to your future manager,”I’ve found two potential candidates for the role”. The manager asks naturally “Tell me more”.”Well” says Billy, “One’s a highly motivated maths grad looking for a job in computer programming “, “The other is a high achieving maths graduate with experience in quantitative statistics and computer programming”.

Which one will the manager pick to bring in based off of that information ? It’s an easy decision.

Anyway, were where we. Oh yeah, swinging our private parts on their desk. Right you’ve made a good first impression, great. Now you can tell them what you’re looking for, and loose the word “job”, replace it with “career”. Job gives the impression you’re there for a paycheck (you are but don’t make it obvious).

So anyway, by using “Career”, you sound a lot more professional. You sound like you’re wanting to stick with them for a long time.(statistics say you won’t though but shhhhhhh). Career, is a more elegant word. It’s more prestigious and shows your level of maturity.

So far we’ve got

“High achieving Maths graduate, with experience in quantitative statistics and computer programming. Seeking a career in Computer Programming”

Almost there, just another sentence to add and more genital swinging. Onward.

You want to add after the career you’re looking for, the word “benefit”. Or more specifically “That will benefit from my”. Remember this is about them and not you. Give them the ammo to go to your future Manager to sell you to them.

Now, the next part you have to prove. You can’t just list off a load of made up benefits, or stupid buzzwords motivation, enthusiastic, Intelligent . You can however, if you back up your claim, either in the personnel profile or within the rest of your CV

Again imagine Billy is up there fighting your case to your future manager, Knees shaking, voice trembling and glasses almost falling off. Billy’s feeling nervous and needs ammo as your managers a bit of a hard arse.”Well Billy, why are they a motivated person ?”. “Well Uhmm, because they said they were on their CV”, “No one ever lies on their CV, please believe me”.

“Not good enough”, the manager bellows whilst pulling the leaver for the trap door.

You get the picture? Give them ammo, make a claim and back it up. let’s finish off this personnel profile once and for all.

“That will benefit from my entrepreneurship, competitiveness and discipline, as evident in my CV or as evident with my previous experience in x, y and z”

Way to go, that’s a great finish as you’ve just invited them to read the rest of your CV. Ok, I’ll agree it’s stronger to showcase the evidence within the profile itself. However, you’ve only got so many lines to grab their attention and force them to invest in the rest of your CV.

Incidentally, if there’s one thing to take away from this, it’s that the personnel profile’s only job is to SELL the recruiter on reading the rest of your CV.

Anyway, let’s see the completed project in its infinite might.

“High achieving Maths graduate, with experience in quantitative statistics and computer programming. Seeking a career in Infosec data analysis.That will benefit from my entrepreneurship, signature analysis and discipline as evident in my CV. ”

And that’s how to write a CV, well the first part (the most important part) to get the job career you want.

And if you missed it or need a Summary;

It’s not about you, it’s about them

You have 3 seconds to grab their attention

Don’t use buzzwords without evidence

Put your balls on the table – tell them what they’re getting straightaway

Delete Job from your vocabulary, use Career

Tell them what you’re looking for in the middle or end, not at the beginning

Tailor each personnel profile to each career you apply for

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