Blogging, everyone is doing it. So why not give it a go? Now I am not what you call a tech savvy person, nor would I say I was a technophobe, I would sit in that space in the middle. I have an iPad, an iPhone both of which I can work, I play Xbox online and can even download movies using my Love Film App.
So why is it that the concept of Twitter and Facebook concern me so much? Specialising within Sales and Marketing Recruitment across the UK and having done so for the last 10 years you would think that I would have a lot to say, all the time! However I find it hard or pointless to tell people what I am doing at each milestone of my day, I have no doubt that my daily routine is not special; it is not anything that people would wait on tender hooks to see what my next update would be.
This did however get me thinking about how poorly some Sales and Marketing people tell us about themselves when writing a CV. How many times have you read a job advert or description and thought I would be perfect for this role only to apply and not even get a reply? Why does this happen? How can recruiters not see how great I am for the role? Why will they not consider my application!!??
Well there are a number of arguments / reasons / excuses that may be the factor in non-selection. The first one will always likely be that the recruiter is not good enough to understand how perfect I am for this job, all the way down to the client is not looking at the bigger picture!
However let’s look at this from another angle. In my experience in this industry the main problem is that even great sales people sometimes struggle to sell themselves as well as they sell their products!
The number of times I have met a candidate about a role and said “you are great, you have the right culture fit, the majority of skills and the industry background but you haven’t done xxxx” only for the candidate to come back to me and say “yes I have in fact I have done X, Y, Z and A,B,C” !! Brilliant but why is that not on your CV?
The answer to that question is often “well it is just part of my role, I just do it.” This does not help you and certainly not the recruiter who is looking for that special candidate out of the many that apply. The job market is competitive it is busy and clients are becoming more and more demanding to get the perfect or as near to perfect candidate so your CV needs to show us how good you are.
A CV should have in it:
Facts
Figures
Wins
Achievements
Skills
USP (unique selling points)
No spelling mistakes!
A CV is a window into your professional life not an extension of your Facebook it should make people want to speak to you and from a recruiters point of view want to meet you! That is when you get to shine – face to face. Sales and Marketing people are extrovert, they like people and should like to speak about themselves. Your CV should be the carrot that makes that happen.
Not all recruitment people are the same, yes some will purely look at a CV and tick boxes, and yes as I head up the Sales and Marketing department at Frazer John I would say we are different but I want to meet people in fact I won’t put people in front of my clients until I have! You are my product and I want to see if it is good before I sell it on! I don’t want numbers, I don’t want the chaff. I want to work with fellow professionals that have a desire and passion for what they do!
I want to work with people that are perfect for the role I am advertising for and can show it as well!!
CV writing and recruitment is not an exact science it changes for each individual, I genuinely want to help people to find their next role, one where they will be a huge success. This is not always the role you apply for but if you help me help you, I can always come up with some ideas.
If you think you are perfect for a role then show me!! I am here to help. Give me a call or send me an email, better still tweet me on @FJR_salesandmarketing and force me into using Twitter!!
