Category: CVs

Why we dislike writing CVs–but shouldn’t

For many of us, writing our own CV is unpleasant, a thing to be put aside until it needs to be done. Often the resistance is because a CV rehashes the past, forcing you to highlight your genius, repeating how many times you’ve re-organised the company and saved the day. Seldom do we write–or talk–about…
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The CV is alive and well, thank you

Last week was typical-I had 4 people ask for help with their CV. All senior, around 25 years work experience, all very smart and polished. None had done a CV in years, hesitant about where to start, length, format, content, buzzwords to put in or avoid. All had a crie de coeur of ‘Aaarrggh, I…
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A robotic resume?? CNBC misses the mark…

A CNBC business on-line article, March 22nd, headlined: “The Killer Resume. How to Get Hired By the Machines.” Here is the link, for those of you with time to waste: http://www.cnbc.com/id/46823506 The column gives tips on how to write a CV in order for resume search engines to ‘see’ enough relevant words, and if so,…
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Interviewing? Warning signs from both sides of the desk

Whether candidate or interviewer, there are telltale signs during an interview that something is amiss. It is your job to try and correct it and get back on track without getting thrown off stride, or realise that not every interview goes as it should and make the best of it. Below are 8 warning signs…
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The CV–and the person–no one sees

The Wall St Journal runs a ‘Careers’ section, which lists tips to job-seekers. A column this past week was entitled “Your Resume vs Oblivion”, and particularly snide title which attracted my attention. (Link) The article highlighted the woes of job-hunters who answered job adverts on-line or off websites, juxtaposed with the in-house company recruiters and…
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The CV of interest

I look at many CVs, rewrite a fair number, and often tell people that under “Interests” there should be something beyond the anodyne ‘reading, hiking, traveling, listening to music’ line. This is important–not because of any blather of ‘work-life balance’, but because it distinguishes the person as having a passion, another type of innate intelligence…
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From lowest to hire! Vignettes from the trenches

Who sets the hiring pace within an organisation? The hiring manager? HR? CEO? CFO? Board? External stakeholders? Peers? All of ’em? When one group wants a specific candidate profile, and another group has a different perspective on what is needed, trouble is ‘a brewin’… All the ‘war for talent’ chatter quickly erodes into corporate turf…
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HR: value-add or vapour

[framed_box]A man in a hot air balloon realised he was lost. He reduced his altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted: “Excuse me, can you help? I promised a friend I’d meet him an hour ago, but I have no idea where I am.” The woman below yelled back…
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The interview addict

I wrote this last year for the Straits Times, and have gotten a number of requests for it, so here it is again.. [framed_box]Use your time to search for the right job, don’t squander it on attending as many interviews as possible. People panic when looking for a new job. This creates a mindset of…
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