Paragliding the Alps? No one cares. (How CV writing needs to change)
Twenty years ago, writing that you’d been BASE jumping in Zakynthos or you’d tried a weeks desert island survival in French Polynesia on your CV may have got you an interview ahead of similar qualified candidates. Not any more. No one cares. These activities have become the new CV cliches.
Part of the reason for this is that there has been an arms race with pastimes. Where once you might have played squash and enjoyed Italian cookery, now you go ice climbing in the Andes and home-cure your own hams. Of course, you know this may not be enough. Who’s to say you won’t be up against a candidate who farms his own pigs? Or someone who was part of that ill-starred Everest expedition with a 65% mortality rate? Oh the dilemma.
The real problem is that most people don’t know how to write a good CV. It’s often not easy. Describing ourselves on paper, while blindly attempting to live up to the expectations of others, makes it all feel like a giant lie, doesn’t it? And CVs are a particularly thorny dimension simply because we have to brag about ourselves.
Start by reminding yourself what the purpose of the document is. It is meant to get you a job interview. That’s it. The best way to do this is to show a prospective employer that you’re brilliant at your current job and would be a great candidate. Done right, all the normal CV stuff will do this. By the time they get to the bit about heli-skiing in Patagonia, the recruiter should already have made their decision.
Ask people in your workplace who have experience of you as a professional, people whom you trust to give you a true answer as to what you’re really like. Ask them to exemplify their answers and this gives you some easy to use content to tailor your CV around your personal brand.
Instead of a string of unsubstantiated assertions and waffle along the lines of: “I’m hard-working, motivated and enthusiastic – a born marketeer and passionate about solutions” what might be refreshing would be to include a “how my colleagues describe me” section to offer employers raw, first hand peer knowledge of your work etiquette. Personal statements are also a good opportunity to address big questions employers might have, for instance if you’re changing careers or have an unusual background.
And the real trick is to lead employers to draw their own positive conclusions about you. Tell them what you achieved and how. An award-winning marketing campaign is far more impressive if you had a tiny budget.
Which brings us back to your outside interests. You need to be asking yourself “so what?” and “is there any point?” If your role is to join a tour operator of any sorts then perhaps there’s value...but if you’re largely going to be office bound and your skills in skydiving not tested then leave it out. And if you really must showcase something that you do outside of work, try and highlight something you’re laughably bad at. We’re British. Trust me this will work wonders.
