By Michael Morretti
Michael has 15+ years of pan-European contract recruitment experience as both a successful Consultant and Sales Manager, within both the private and public sectors. Before joining Greythorn in November 2011, Michael worked in the SAP, central Government and Defence markets for both Modis and Parity. He currently manages the IT Contract Division in London and his current focus is Business Analysts and Project and Programme Managers.
Maximising your talent and visibility to a recruitment consultant
As an experienced recruiter I have been asked by my clients throughout my career 'what makes you stand out from the crowd?'. It's also a question I consider on a daily basis when viewing the myriad of job applications received from candidates. But is it a question that candidates are asking themselves when responding to recruiter job adverts?
A large percentage of candidates that apply to vacancies on job boards via agencies never hear back. Whilst the onus is on the recruiter to get back to every candidate, when you receive 200 replies it is often impossible to speak to everyone, so agencies will only often call candidates whose CV catches their eye.
With more technical roles, the decision of whether to contact the candidate or not is easier as you can assess whether they are suitable for the role against more tangible criteria. However, for more generic roles, where the skill-set has many differing permutations, it is a less straight forward.
An example of this second scenario is Project Management, an area I receive the largest responses for. The term is quite generic and there are many different types of project managers on the market. More often than not, project managers make up the largest percentage of candidates registered on a job board and project management jobs make up the highest percentage of jobs advertised.
With so much competition how can project managers stand out from the crowd?
Identity
Decide what type of Project Manager you are and sell yourself as such (the two main categories are technical and non-technical).
- Clients will often be clear on whether they need someone hands on and what the main technologies are.
- If you are technical, clearly define your area of expertise on your CV e.g. Development or Infrastructure.
Project lifecycle
Decide how 360 degree you are as a Project Manager and what areas of the project lifecycle you have been involved in.
- The size of an organisation project managers’ work for will often determine what stages of the project they have been involved in and what they have been responsible for.
Value add proposition
Promote your value
- Explain how you added value to projects you worked on. Examples of this could be you completed a project under budget, delivered it early, provided high stakeholder satisfaction or that your project had a positive impact on efficiency for the business.
Length and style of CV
Keep it clear, concise and legible
- There are differing views about this, but I believe you cannot outline 10 years worth of experience in only two pages, but you can’t write about each project in too much detail. Too short and the detail needed to accurately showcase your experience is negated. Too long and you’re in danger of a recruiter giving up after one page. In my experience around 1-2 pages is perfect (the most I have ever seen is 25!).
- The key is to present all your key experience and achievements in a clear and concise manner and where possible relevant to the skills needed for the job you are applying for.
- Do not try to squeeze a 10 page CV into three pages by using a smaller font size, it simply makes it harder to read and a recruiter may give up reading. 10 or 12 point font is recommended.
Title
Carefully decide the title you give yourself for each project you have managed.
- If you describe yourself as a Project Manager / Business Analyst (unless the client is looking for that combination), it may impact the recruiter’s view of how much experience you have and undermine it.
- Similarly, if you are going to call yourself a Project Manager, make sure you are able to outline your role and responsibilities clearly.
- Too many candidates call themselves project managers when in fact, on close inspection they have not had any real input into the running of a project.
Be proactive
It may sound like a cliché but being proactive is crucial.
- As soon as you send your CV, call the recruiter to confirm they have received it. This may seem obvious advice, but project managers often fail to do this. Being proactive to call, draws attention to you, helping your CV to stand out from the other CVs received.
Be honest with yourself
Be objective and decide whether you are really suited to the role.
- For the Project Management roles I advertise, on average only 5% of the CVs I receive include the relevant skills and experience.
- If the advert states the employer is looking for someone with a Financial Services background and your main experience is in Retail, the chances of you being contacted - let alone getting the job - are slim. Or if role is to manage projects with a value in excess of £5m and the most you have had exposure to is £500k, question whether you can manage the responsibility of this.
On average, an experienced recruiter will only need to scan a CV for 15-20 seconds to assess whether the candidate is worth calling for their role. So next time you see an advertised role remember to consider how many of your peers will be vying for the same job and whether your skills really do match the role. If you think this opportunity is right for you then use the above tips to help yourself stand out from the crowd.
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