Why or for what reason is a Professional CV required and what added benefit will a Professional CV Writing business such as ours bring to your CV? Both are required, and the reason for this is that it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to find work, get to interview stage or a response to a job application.
There seems to be a social media CV buzz doing the rounds at the moment. The word on the web being; “Is the CV dead?”. The answer is an emphatic no. Emphatic entailing that the majority of companies still bench mark using CVs, still reference a CV during interview and expect an interview to revolve around a CV. Using Social Networking to support the paper copy of the trusty curriculum vitae is now the norm and I will come back to this later.
Not all CV writing businesses are equal
Hilary Osborne wrote this feature in the Guardian which centred around an individual and a CV writing company called Total CVs. The conclusion being that you can write your own CV and that Total CVs provided a poor service. We cannot comment on the quality of the service offered by other CV companies, but we have heard from a number of people that have suffered with poor results.
If this is the case, then what makes us different?
Integrity.
Genuine results and testimonials.
Service levels.
Professionalism.
Expertise.
Knowledge.
Experience
Writing Skills.
Format.
Accuracy.
Effort.
Presentation.
Genuine, current, Recruitment and Head Hunting Experience.
Pricing.
Not an exhaustive list but enough to make you think and question any alleged Professional CV Writer.
The question that needs addressing next is:
Why you would need a Professional CV?
It is an extremely tough market place for job seekers at all levels. Granted, if your CV conveys you as having a modicum of role specific talent, a room filling personality and a decent level of detail then you will probably be OK.
Unfortunately, the majority of people fail to realise that CV detail and presentation can change response rates. Worryingly, some people just regurgitate detail, add to an old CV and send it out to job sites hoping that a recruiter will find it and ring with a job. Fall into this category and you will be very disappointed with results.
When we write your Professional CV we put you through a process that is virtually the same as job interview. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, we need to know everything that is relevant to your career. Secondly, our process helps you to reconnect with your achievements, and when you are invited to a job interview, invariably the interviewer will want to discuss this detail. This is the crucial difference between writing (or rewriting) your CV or asking us to write your Professional CV. We strive to get the detail that you may not even realise is relevant. As recruiters, we know what is needed whereas someone who just writes CVs rarely understands the depth of appropriate detail required.
Once we have explored your talent, achievements and have compiled the Professional CV what happens next is entirely up to you. What we cannot do is go to interview for you. We will, as mentioned, make you consider your career from an interviewer’s perspective and needs but we cannot help you once inside the interview room. We can tell you to take a list of questions about the role you have applied for, and how to close the interviewer down at the end (all interviewers expect to be asked questions at the end). If you do not, you are either missing an opportunity or you potentially have missed the opportunity.
Our CV will get you noticed and will get you to interview, but only you, your personality and performance at formal interview will get you the role.
Social media. If people are increasingly using the Social web to support a CV, then shouldn’t you be able to use a regular CV and do what everyone else is doing? The answer is yes. Social networking, it’s the 21st Century version of curtain twitching. We have said before that this is something you need to be aware of, use to gain personal advantage but also an advantage for the business that employs you. You need a presence. You need a yes answer when someone asks “are you on LinkedIn”. The best analogy for why is to think business cards. Most people have fallen foul, at least once, of not having a business card at a crucial moment, then feeling that withering look of disdain and pity at the naivety from the requester. Not having a LinkedIn profile is starting to have the same gravitas as not having a business card or usually raises an eyebrow or two. There is no reason not to have a profile or for that matter, no excuse. Considering yourself a Luddite is not a reason for self-exclusion either. Remembering that if someone wants to get in touch, Linkedin makes it easier.
With the job market getting more and more competitive, having a professionally made CV becomes a necessity. The CV should present you in the best of manner and a professional knows how to go about it. CV is something that makes the first impression of a candidate. Thanks for this great info, Paul.