Why A CV Still Matters
I look at CVs every single day, which gives me license to know how a well written one should read. As people usually despise writing their CV, many are in need of repair. The benefit of grappling (only for a few hours at most) with your own CV is that it forces you to confront yourself. What you write about your work is to face who you are Anyone who thinks such introspection is easy has never done it properly. But as is true with many things, doing it well takes time and dedication. I have also found the CVs requiring the most help are senior level ones-which is understandable, as many executives use their network to move in their career. Their CVs are often a pastiche.
But having a strong and well-balanced CV as an accurate facsimile of your strengths, achievements, patterns and interests–that’s not bad ammunition to have close by, is it?
I helped a friend do this the other week. He’d splashed his thoughts down, [re]written his CV and asked if I could look it over. But he first went to another friend of his who is a headhunter (and for the record, I’m an uber headhunter). His friend gave it a “face-lift”, (I suppose some touch-ups),and he waltzed out of the office, thinking it was completed–and as headhunters are wont to do, told my friend that he had 3 jobs he could probably get him in on. (Another blog soon to come–why we gnash our teeth with headhunters.)
He soon sent me his reworked CV. The face-lift had not taken.. I [nicely] ripped it apart, par for the course, delving into the details; typos, measurements, profitability to philanthropy, the ‘And then what was the result?’ questions to many bullet points. A lot of red ink and many edits. It was not done to irritate my friend, but to force him to think about his strengths and achievements, distill it down to bite sized points, see his patterns of success more clearly, and market himself more strategically.
I don’t do face lifts; it was a counseling session through a CV–as it usually is.
He took my edits under counsel, and because he’s a smart guy, listened and thanked me for opening his eyes to doing what he should have done a while ago. He got it.
The CV is a very important reflection of who we are. It is not outdated old media. How can it be? It’s your personal track record. Not your LinkedIn profile, your blog nor Facebook page.
It remains an engaging process of introspection. If done well, you come out on the other side with more assurance to take on the world, a strong personal marketing tool alongside.
The CV matters now, and as long as we continue to work, will matter in the future.
Ask my friend what he thought (one of many, by the way) if you don’t believe me.
Written by Neal Horwitz, President of Henry Hale Maguire
