Hutch Writes

There has been volumes written about CVs over the years, here’s another one. I get asked if I’ll have a look at someone’s CV about 5 times a month, so I’ve put this together. This covers mainly style – if you want advice on content then you might want to consider some career coaching. If you want a FREE consultation, then please use the contact box below.

The Myth of The CV Expert.

There is no such thing as a “CV Expert” – it’s all subjective and not an exact science, however most people will agree on a few key elements. Beware – a lot of CV guides seem to be written for the US Market and it’s a bit different this side of the pond, slightly more understated.

I will show you what I think looks good after 18 years recruiting for some of the most well-known FMCG companies in the UK – you may disagree, if this is the case I would be delighted to give you a guest blog.

A note on interim.  I now specialise in interim recruitment, therefore it makes sense for me to talk about this but the same rules/formats generally apply for interim/perm roles.  Whatever happens, if you want to be an interim, you need an interim CV. This CV is different to a permanent CV in that you must show 100% commitment to interim in it, especially if you are pitching to interim providers- you must also place emphasis on previous interim or project work. If people want an interim they need to be signposted that this is an interim CV they are looking at. If you have had no interim assignments then you need to reflect projects etc.

STYLE RULES:

·         KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid.

·        Gimmicks generally don’t work. You are a brave person if you try a gimmick, but hey, if you want to be a pioneer go for it.

·         Succinct sentences are better than rambling.

·       Photographs – I’ve seen some hideous business portrait pictures in my time and not all of them have been my own.  Many years ago I knew of a recruitment office that kept the very “best” CV pictures on a hidden noticeboard, a sort of gruesome rogue’s gallery  – it’s for this reason that I tell people that a picture on a CV is probably not a great idea. If you are lucky enough to be beautiful you will get ogled at (by both sexes) if not then probably derided – don’t shoot me for telling the truth about human nature.

Don’t Funk It Up   

I have yet to meet one recruiter or senior hiring manager who upon seeing a radically different CV has said “WOW, BLACK PAPER, that is so different, it’s amazing man, we have to hire this person”.

Font

Style rules – A business font – Arial is starting to look a bit tired I’m using Calibri but Verdana, Trebuchet and Helvetica always look good.

First Person

Avoid the first person pronoun. Instead of “I delivered BRC” it should be “Delivered BRC” also avoid the third person “Jonny delivered BRC” unless you are The Queen it just sounds naff.

Contact Details

The first thing you need on a CV in the Header Section is your Name & Address and Contact Details. This needs to be on every page – people need to know how to get hold of you at all times. It does not need to say CV in the top – people know what it is.

Profile

You then follow this with your profile WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO, WHY IS THIS USEFUL? Underneath the Profile you may wish to bullet point a few successes. I would also definitely list cross-functional skills as keywords – they will be useful to future employers and especially for people searching for you on databases. Examples might be “Prince2 Qualified” or “Change Management”. This is probably one of the few times you can use jargon.

Body

Move on and cover all aspects of your career to date, gradually reducing the emphasis as you work through in reverse chronological order.

First, start off with a description of the company. How many people work for the company, it’s size and it’s market. Where it fits into the sector. You might know who Acme Pies are but nobody else does.

Then the role that you performed within this business, who you reported to, how many reports, the scope of the role or (if interim) the terms of reference for the assignment.

List your achievements in Bullet Points, (always use verifiable % or Numbers, it provides weighty proof).

End

At the end, you need to list your RELEVANT qualifications – you can leave the date out here if you are conscious that you are getting on a bit, although I have never really found age to be a barrier at all in interim.  You do not need to put your 11 Plus, your Scouts Badge, Cycling Proficiency.

·         Next comes your work qualifications.

·         Next your Hobbies and Interests – leaving Politics, Religion and Controversy out of here eg FOX HUNTING or SCIENTOLOGIST LEVEL 8

·         Finally any Volunteer work that you do, again leaving anything contentious out.

·     You are under no obligation to put your children or your age or your marital status, so don’t worry. Leave off “Divorced” and don’t say things like “Father to a lovely pair of daughters” you sound like Russell Crow in Gladiator.

You can click on any of these pictures to make them bigger…

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Length & Content:

You have probably always been told “keep it to X amount of pages” to be honest, this is not necessary, as long as you keep it to three you will be fine. As you win more interim assignments you need to put together separate case-studies.  As you become more experienced in Interim Management you will find that your assignments are all that people wish to look for and your “Corporate Career” can be hidden in a few lines in the back. Until then concentrate upon the epic struggles you have personally helped your business overcome. Delivering BRC, developing a fantastic new product, implementing LEAN, moving a factory to China. That sort of thing.

I have coached literally hundreds of people to career success. If you want to join them drop me an email on scott@malhamconsultancy.co.uk or use the form below

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

All studies into performance improvement and changing your life for the better agree on one thing – that to achieve anything you need to have a clear goal (or more correctly goals) to focus upon. All high-achievers set goals. Jessica Ennis, when training, didn’t say “I’m going to go out and run really fast” she had two goals –

1. An Outcome or Dream Goal (Olympic Gold)
2. Performance Goals to achieve the Dream Goal (Fitness Training Programme)

Goals will be critical (if not essential) if you wish to change your life or improve your performance – your goals should be like your North Star, guiding you to where you want to be.  You are much more likely to achieve your goals if you have written them down, it also helps lots of people to keep them somewhere visible (I have seen them laminated on keyrings, written in diaries, taped into black & reds, on monitors, on mirrors etc etc).

Whilst I would love to achieve Olympic Gold, I know that it is unattainable for me at my age and ability – it is important that goals are achievable, but not too easy or they are likely to be perceived as boring and irrellevant – you need to be pushed. They should also be specific eg “I would like to do an Olympic Distance Triathlon in under three hours” is better than “I want to get fit”.

The time honoured (and yet to be bettered) way of developing Goals is to remember to keep them SMART :

• SPECIFIC – eg To have a new career
• MEASURABLE – eg Affording more satisfaction, better hours, happiness and a better use of my skills
• ACHIEVABLE – (do I have time and the ability to achieve this?) Yes
• RELEVANT – eg relevant to a wider goal of achieving personal contentment
• TIME-SPECIFIC Goals must have a time element attached to them to provide momentum and urgency eg “By September 2014”

Taking the example above a typical programme for a new career would be broken down into smaller performance goals eg:

• Produce new, enhanced CV by 1st February.
• Update Linked In Profile by 28th January.

And so on and so on. Smaller, short term achievable performance goals leading to the “dream goal” are more motivational than huge outcome goals – break it down into achievable pieces and start to see results. Whatever you do remember to make a start – the longest journey always starts with a single step.

www.scotthutchinson.co.uk

About seven years ago  I decided it would be great to sponsor an award at a food science University. I approached Reading (they were nearest, I was based in Bath) and the annual award, with cash prize, for “Best Student on Industrial Placement” was born.

It’s gone through a number of name changes since it’s inception. It started off as the Hutchinson Award then the Hutchinson-Jonas Award. When I exited Hutchinson-Jonas, I got the impression (rightly as it turns out) that charitable donations were not going to be a key part of their future oeuvre so persuaded the University to let me take the award with me to Malham. They did.

It now has it’s final name as far as I am concerned – The Graham Jelfs Award, in memory of one of the food industry’s good guys who tragically died last year.

Rosie Patrick is the winner of this year’s award and the first winner under this new name. By all accounts Rosie had a brilliant placement at the British Pepper & Spice Company, where she was treated as a key member of the technical team.

Like all winners of this Award, Rosie found herself thrown in at the deep end – for example taking control of specifications after a very short period of time to cover for a key member of the team.

It was a real job and Rosie found herself dealing directly with most of the major UK Grocery Retailers and working on a 3 month NPD project over Christmas.

Her placement was excellent, but she had to overcome a final hurdle before she won the award – there were three potential winners so we asked for an essay as a “tie brake”. The question put was:

“How can we attract bright graduates to the food industry?”

Judging the essays was extremely tough as they were all of a high standard, however Rosie’s to me was the most knowledgeable and eloquent. Here it is. Congratulations Rosie!

How can we attract bright graduates to the food industry?

Attracting new graduates to the food industry is of such importance for a number of reasons. Firstly the country has an aging workforce, it is estimated that by 2020 we will have over 170,000 jobs to replace in the food industry alone due to retirements (FDF, 2013). Attracting new graduates is also important as the demand on the existing workforce is growing due to more extensive legislation and expectations from governing bodies and customers. It is therefore essential to attract new graduates to the industry to fill these gaps in areas including engineering, technical, development and management.

Part of attracting new graduates will of course be to make them aware that these jobs exist in the first place and what kinds of jobs are available. From my own experience I have learned that people who have not always had an active interest in food do not even consider the food industry when thinking about their careers as they just do not know the depth of the industry in the UK. In order to attract the brightest graduates, this needs to change. To achieve this, food companies could have a more prominent role in events such as graduate fairs at universities to demonstrate the great variety of job roles on offer so people start to consider the food industry as more than simply the supermarkets that they already know well. This would give companies the opportunity to speak to students and therefore get across that the food industry is more than supermarket work and cooking, as has been the perception, and that it offers a rich variety of careers which are and always will be relevant and evolving.

 It is also important to make careers advisors at school more aware of careers in the food industry. When I spoke to my school career advisor about working in the food industry, they assumed I wanted to be a chef and had almost no information about food related degrees. I have heard similar stories from friends on my course, showing that knowledge of food related careers is very limited to those who have not actively searched for information on the industry.

The most promising graduates will also be those who are interested in their career development in the long term, therefore I believe it is imperative to convey the progression opportunities which the food industry offers. During my placement year I was lucky enough to have this idea instilled in me early on- that the opportunities for ambitious young people are there. This is a powerful draw for young people, many of which are uncertain of just how to further their careers with many industries cutting back and making progression difficult. This availability of jobs is something that sets the food industry apart from many others at the moment, and is something that should be promoted to new graduates.

Attracting new graduates is an important and complex issue facing the food industry at the moment and while I will have by no means fully explored it here, I hope I have shown some understanding of this and possibilities for the future.

Rosie Patrick

Reference

Food and Drink Federation (2013) Position Statements: Skills http://www.fdf.org.uk/keyissues [23/11/13]

Actually, there is only one way in this world to achieve true happiness, and that is to express yourself with all your skill and enthusiasm in a career that appeals to you more than any other. In such a career, you feel a sense of purpose, a sense of achievement. You feel you are making a contribution. It is not work.

William J Reilly – How To Avoid Work, 1949

What were you put on earth to do? Oh, it’s a bit of profound question at 10:30am on a Monday morning, but this is no time to be reserved and British.

Is it your job that you want to change or is it your career? The difference is simple – if you enjoy your role but just don’t like your current setting then you need to look at working in another environment that can offer you a better working life.

If, however, you will get a very similar feeling wherever you go in your current role then it might be time to take a step back and look at your career as a whole to see if you could do something you will enjoy.

It’s important to have a look at what you want to do – your ideal career, balanced against what the market will allow you to do. Before you can identify your ideal career you should take some time for reflection by asking yourself some questions and making some detailed lists. You need to go into as much detail as possible.

WHAT skills knowledge, education and experience do I have? 

What out of all these skills do I most enjoy using?

What are my favourite interests?

What are my favourite values?

WHERE do I want to use these skills?

What kind of environment suits me? Geographically? Culturally?

What salary and levels of responsibility do I need?

HOW do I identify roles that match these requirements?

Next week we’ll look at the next steps once you know what you want to do and the questions you will need to ask yourself before you start your quest to change career.

For full career coaching, visit my website www.scotthutchinson.co.uk

Before you drive up to Aberdeen on a Tuesday evening in February on a wild goose chase, you might want to ask your interim provider / recruiter some of the following questions. If they can’t answer them then you might want to wonder why.

Am I meeting The MAN?

No, not gender specific MAN stands for the person with the Money (can they afford interim) the Authority (can they sign this off) and the Need (are they just seeing what’s out there or do they have a need?)

Is there a real job here?

Are you just filling up someone’s interview quotas for the week?

Am I in competition (how many others)?

Make a calculated decision – you might not want to be one of five.

Have we qualified a day rate in line with expectations + expenses?

Pretty self explanatory.

How has this role come about?

Are you the 576th Interim to take this role, like when Evercreech went through managers like Cardiff City?

How urgent is it?

How long is the contract?

Pretty self explanatory.

When will they make a decision?

The Supremes said it best. Set me free why don’t you, get out my life why don’t you, you don’t even love me, you just KEEP ME HANGING ON…

What are some of the big challenges the person hired will need to address?

What is the most important thing the person needs to do in the first month to be considered successful?

Both these will help you plan your interview preparation…

 There is literally tons of stuff like this on my career coaching and training courses, all the juicy bits of information you would expect from someone with 18 years experience.

www.malhamtraining.com

Mondays are great – maybe it’s your career that needs changing? If your Mondays are great and you love your career, you don’t need to read this, crack on. If not, then….

My father never resented a day’s work in his life. In 1979 he moved us to a cottage in a mountain school in the middle of nowhere. He took over a 50% pay cut, forgot any idea of career and moved us into a financial zone whereby we qualified for free-school meals. In terms of money we were in poverty. In terms of a childhood in those mountains, we became multi-millionaires, rich beyond our wildest dreams.

Not everyone has the nerve to make such a move, but if you are not happy then you can either carry on with the stiff upper lip or change things.

Change is not easy, it takes courage, you are bound to be worried – most (all) high achievers have a fear of failure, it is completely natural and an important element in human survival.

But I can assure you that most of the obstacles you think you have are in your mind.

If you are worried about changing, why not work out which is the stronger motivation for you between Doing Nothing and Changing Career. You can use this exercise:

On a blank piece of paper, using the example below, write down the positives and negatives you think you’ll get from both looking for a new career (motivation towards a new you) or staying as you are (motivation away from change).

Fill it out with & go into as much detail as possible. Work out where your motivations lie. Next week we’ll look at where to start if you want to change. (We’ll begin with the end in mind).

If you want to further information on how I can help you with a career change, contact me on scott@malhamconsultancy.co.uk or visit my coaching website www.scotthutchinson.co.uk

What is a mood hoover? A mood hoover is a moaner who sucks the energy out of a room. We’ve all come across them. They bring negativity to any situation. They might be technically competent at their role but they are poison for your team’s success. In my previous business we called them “Eeyores” – after the pessimistic grey donkey in Winnie the Poo. Whatever you call them, never underestimate how they can bring a whole team to it’s knees.

No matter how great your vision, project or start-up, if you want it to succeed, then the energy sappers either need to change their attitude or you need to move them on.

In 1998 Sir Clive Woodward took the England Rugby Team training with the Royal Marines. Afterwards he asked the instructors for their honest assessment of the players in their platoons. One of the senior officers was brutally honest:

 “there are men in your squad whom we wouldn’t go into battle with…………..it’s not about skills. It’s about attitude and the effect on the team. One wrong team player can sap all of the energy from the group”.

He realised he needed a team without any energy sappers, he needed “energisers”. He defined the roles as following.

His final word on it was “I think energy sappers are the biggest obstacle to success”.

Often compared to Woodward, another leader with no time for the mood hoover is Sir Chris Brailsford, arguably the UK’s current best coach, who tells a very indiscreet story of Sir Alex Ferguson’s advice to him on team building’s first rule: “get rid o’ the ****”.

Brailsford elaborated further:

 “The big danger is having people with the wrong attitude and behaviour. They could be dishonest, in the worst case, or they could be very traditional; they could say, ‘What you’re doing is bulls*t, I’ve been doing this for 20 years; I know what I’m doing’. That type of attitude is disastrous in a team. And we had it at Team Sky.”

(Moore, Richard (2013-05-08). Mastermind: How Dave Brailsford Reinvented the Wheel)

You need to be a strong coach and leader as it’s obviously a lot tougher in business than it is in sport. After all, in sport all you have to say to people is “you are not selected” and the place will be immediately filled with someone equally competent. It may also seem expensive to replace technically adept members of a team, however it will probably end up far more expensive and detrimental to your success in the long run to keep them.

5 Point Plan: Managing Mood Hoovers

1. Make sure everyone is aware of the vision.
2. Make sure everyone knows what constitutes an energiser/energy sapper.
3. Make it clear that your vision cannot work with weak links.
4. If it continues, meet in private and discuss it openly, try to turn them around and see if there are underlying issues.
5. If it will not change, manage out before the whole team is dragged down.

I’ve just finished watching “Moneyball” (I classify this as work) and I liked it, not really because it was a good film but because it laid to waste the myth of an old style of management still prevalent in the UK, especially in Football. Whilst last summer we have seen success in almost all areas of sport – Cycling, Triathlon, Rugby and Cricket, Football lags behind. It lags behind because of poor management, poor coaching and an inability to see new methodologies. What has this got to do with business? Business is sport and I’m now a qualified business coach – modern business coaching has it’s origins in sport, in particular with Tim Gallwey’s groundbreaking book “the inner game of tennis”.

Here are my Top Ten Business Movies, in no particular order:

Moneyball (2011)

Is it about sport or is it about business? It’s about the business of sport and that is why it is on the list. I loved this film it just said everything I wanted to say about oldschool thinking versus logic, reasoning and fact. Brad Pitt plays real-life figure Billy Beane who realises that the stats don’t lie.

Wall St (1987)

Definitely about business this one and a movie that needs no real introduction. A lot of people got rich in this decade, which is somehow supposed to justify the greed and narcissm. Oliver Stone intended it to be a damnation of Reaganomics but some people actually admired Gekko. Give me strength.

Citizen Kane (1941)

Not just the best business movie but possibly the best movie ever. Could be about most media moguls. Building a business and the price, you (and others) pay.

The Social Network (2010)

Loved this film, lifted the lid on “The Facebook” and how it all came together. Tim Berners Lee must be delighted that the biggest use of the miracle he created was putting pictures of our meals, dogs and holidays on a monitor.

Glengarry Glenross (1992)

“Hit the bricks pal” Anyone who has ever sold anything can relate to THE scene featuring Alec Baldwin let loose on the unsuspecting sales force. You have to see it, but be warned the language is like the language in most sales teams “potty mouth”.

Here is the scene – enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AXTx4PcKI

Up In The Air (2009)

Clooney flys around the US with his company “Career Transformations Company” sacking people for managers too frightened to do it themselves. Part time, he’s a motivational coach who extols the virtues of living light. He finds himself up against technology and lives in hotels a lot. I’m not really selling this am I? You might need to watch it.

Trading Places (1983)

It has been described as a modern Opera and a new take on Mark Twain’s “The Prince And The Pauper” but really it’s a very funny film with commodities trading, insider dealing and nature versus nurture at it’s core.

Jerry Maguire (1996)

SHOW ME THE MONEY.  Another sports/business crossover, I think (off my head) it was the launchpad for Renee Zelwegger’s career. Jerry does what we all wanted to do in this film – he writes an honest and value driven mission statement entitled “The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business” – it is honest and rammed with integrity and talks about changing his industry to be more caring. He gets sacked, obviously.

American Psycho (2000)

I recently re-read the book after 20 years. Brett Easton Ellis and AGAIN the 1980s (what was it about this decade)? This film adaptation with Christian Slater is pretty good and contains a great “Business Card Envy” scene. You can see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y

The Long Good Friday (1980)

You might think this is a gangster film, but really it’s a business film. It’s about a deal. Bob Hoskins wants to be a straight businessman, but he needs finance and rather than go to a bank he’s looking at his US Mafia friends for finance. To be honest they seemed a lot nicer than the pair of vermin I once got financed by. A lot of themes in this – free-market economics (just starting in the UK in 1979) property development and a plot to develop the East End as a future site for the Olympic Games. Ahead of it’s time.

DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE? – I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW!