Your CV
Avoid any phrase that may sound overly formal or ‘pompous’. Different people have different views on this of course, but here are examples that we feel generally fall in this overly formal category:
- CVs written in the third person (e.g. ‘Clive has in-depth experience....’)
- Covering letters with phrases like ‘herewith’
- Use of the phrase ‘curriculum vitae’ rather than less formal abbreviation ‘CV’
- Use of the phrase “I have over twenty years’ experience” – recruiters are – of course – after quality (i.e. what you did) not quantity (how long you did if for)
Above all, make your CV a good one. A good CV highlights your strengths, is relevant to your target audience and is easy to read. We will feature an article of General CV writing rules later.
• It is important to understand which elements of this are down to your company (and therefore by changing company they may change) and which could – with a concerted effort – be resolved by you.
• If other companies seem attractive because they have the culture ‘thing’ sorted, it’s worth remembering that looks (and brochures and websites) can be deceiving. After all, externally maybe your current company looks just as good.
• Even if you are planning on leaving make a point of understanding what you like about your existing company culture and make sure that exists (or you can deal without it existing) in potential employers. For instance you may want to move to a larger company because you are attracted by a greater level of support, but don't be caught out about how much you now miss the – say - entrepreneurial focus of your previous employer.
• Ultimately the culture of the company comes from the CEO. What do you think about him / her?
• It is vital to acknowledge that the grass is not always greener and your selected employer may have conducted a good selling job on you. It is vitally important to do your own due diligence on your new employer, establish a clear understanding of their culture by meeting as many people as possible, looking for evidence which supports the culture in its communication and reward structure. Look for evidence of personal development and team work. Furthermore, it is not impossible to access opinion of your new employer through the internet and with people who may know the organisation. Thorough due diligence is key.
In summary, factors that may encourage you to leave include:
• You have a good objective view about what you don’t like about the culture, and a firm objective belief that other companies offer a better environment.
• You feel that there is nothing you can do to change the situation.
• You can also understand what is good about the culture, and can live with leaving these ‘good’ things behind, or believe you’ll be able to find them elsewhere anyway.
• There are also plenty of people who have spent 10+ years with their organisation and have a CV that looks rather less flattering, with long periods at the same level doing pretty much the same thing.
• The latter scenario is one you want to avoid.
• New challenges can come from your existing organisation. In fact if the new challenge you seek is slightly outside the line of your natural career progress your existing employer might just be the one company which is prepared to take the ‘leap of faith’ with you.
• That said, a change of environment, with new people, products, services and markets to work with can make a real difference to you learning and development…and ultimately your career.
In summary, factors that may encourage you to leave include:
• You are fully up to speed with how the business is going to evolve and don’t feel that this represents opportunities for a new challenge.
• The challenge you want doesn’t require a ‘leap of faith’ in your skills by your employer.
• Your CV is at risk of looking stale
• But these questions are surmountable, especially if you have shown a good history of ‘stickability’ with your previous employers (and that means good 3+ year stretches with each employer), so don’t let that hold you back.
• If you do have a history of changing jobs in quick succession, it may well be worth taking stock of why. There may be deeper reasons why you are moving that won't be solved by a quick job change.
In summary, if this is a one one-off, genuine mistake, making a move may well be the right thing to do.
For information the following related article appeared on the OAM as part of the ‘Ask Clive’ series:
Question:I have just completed my first year with an International Engineering organisation and the role is not working out the way I expected. If I left so soon after joining, how would that look on my CV?
We are often asked “How long should one should stay with an organisation?”. How long is too long and what is too short?
As a general rule of thumb, when people assess CVs, anything less than two years does raise potential questions about your 'stickability' with an employer. Why so short? Are you likely to leave your future employer just as quickly? Were you pushed? If the job wasn't what you expected, what went wrong with your assessment of the job before joining? There are other reasons, such as when an organisation is acquired, it went into administration, or the parent organisation decided on a strategic redirection that was based on withdrawal from certain markets. The questions go on! The key advice is to ensure these are addressed in your CV and certainly at interview, with conviction.
The reality is that from time to time we all make mistakes and if you don't have a history of changing jobs in short succession then making a move isn't so much of a problem. It certainly wouldn't get in the way of you being selected for interview. If you do decide to make the move here are some thoughts:
• Think very carefully about how you will explain why you are leaving so quickly. Negativity about your employer and comments like "I was misled" generally don't go down well (even if they are correct). Admitting you made a mistake and acting on it quickly (if that's what you did!) can be a virtue if presented in the right way.
• If you do have a history of changing jobs in quick succession, it may well be worth taking stock. There may be deeper reasons why you are moving that won't be solved by a quick job change.
• There may be a temptation to resign straight away so you can search the market at your leisure. Generally not a good idea - it may give you the time to do it, but being out of work raises even more questions from potential employers and it can also be very psychologically draining on you.
]]>• Do you know for sure that your boss isn't going anywhere? The average length of tenure for a ‘C’ level person is around five years
• What succession planning is in place in your organisation? It’s a dangerous question: if succession planning is in place and you don’t know about it, the chances are you are not part of the plan. A motivation to leave perhaps. Conversely many organisations don’t formally make a succession plan, and asking the question could put you more in the frame. Is this a subject area you could approach your boss with? Clearly a matter to approach (very) sensitively.
• The best way to approach the subject of succession planning and what plans may be in place for you lie in the formal review process. Any well managed business will have an appraisal process in place and part of this appraisal is to establish your career ambitions and create personal development plans for you. This is the safest environment. If you are in a company that doesn’t have formal appraisal we suggest you open a dialogue with your immediate superior whereby you suggest you meet every six months or so to discuss how you are doing and what more you could contribute towards. In this informality you can open the subject around plans for the business and measure what is intended with you in balance with corporate development.
• Do you genuinely know you want to move up? What about moving along (for instance to head up a different function)?
The big career move in anyone’s progression is to move into a role where you are no longer managing your specialist function. It is quite natural for the sales professional to progress through to sales management and into a Sales Director’s role. The quantum leap in someone’s career is to move into a role managing the other specialist functions and then on to general management. To facilitate this and make this ultimate move easier, advanced organisations move their high performance individuals across the organisations to manage new functions. In this capacity the new manager is leading people who know more about the technical elements of their disciplines than their new manager does. Success in this new post is a clear indication of leadership and general management capability.
In summary, factors that may encourage you to leave include:
• The only move you want to make is into your boss’s role
• You have a good feel that your boss is planning to stay for some time
• You are not part of the succession plan
• You see little value in investigating other roles outside your natural career path
You should place remuneration down the priority list and ensure that your motivations from a push factor are well founded and not just local to your particular division or manager and once this has been established and you have absolutely concluded it is time to move on then ensure that the type of new employers that you are considering resolve your issues. Money ultimately will rise to a priority once all else has been satisfied.
• The package. Gain an appreciation for what is your complete package. So include share options, pension scheme, bonus, car. How does that compare to the market? (you can take a look at comparable roles in the Online Appointments Magazine). How realistic is your desire for more money?
• Are you certain more money is not available in your current role? Around one-quarter of candidates Harvey Nash make job offers to are subsequently counter-offered by their employer. Whilst counter-offering is actually a pretty poor way to retain staff (most people who decide to stay put, end up leaving within 12 months anyway - counter offers are the equivalent of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted) its prevalence does illustrate that sometimes salary increases can be achieved without changing jobs.
• Money alone isn’t usually a good reason to leave and – of course – would make a rather poor answer to the ‘what is your motivation for moving?’ question.
• …but getting a firm understanding of what your needs and what is realistically possible is critical in deciding whether making a move is right for you, selecting what roles are worth pursuing and – later on down the line – salary negotiation.
In summary, factors that may encourage you to leave include:
• Ensure you have assessed all aspects of your rationale to move on and from a career perspective that it is the right time to move on and you have clarified your objectives
• You have investigated salary increase options and the type of role you seek
• Salary is not your sole motivation
• You have conducted your research in the market place and believe you can raise your salary by moving
• The motivation question is also something that people considering a job change should ask themselves. And they owe it to themselves to provide deep, honest, meaningful answers.
• This section: deals with some of the key reasons people tell us why they move, and some ideas, questions, comments that we recommend you think about. It is not an exhaustive list but it does cover the main areas we as headhunters come across again and again. We hope that it helps give some insight into that difficult question: should I stay or should I go?
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]]>• Working with headhunters: If you are dealing with a headhunter, they will handle a lot of your negotiations on your behalf. He or she will be able to advise you on what sort of salary range the job should command. Do not be afraid to talk openly with your consultant about salary expectations. They can also help you from making a big mistake, either by undervaluing yourself, or by going in to negotiations with too high expectations. If you are working with a headhunter then, most of the issues or concerns of salary negotiation is handled for you.
Choose your time carefully when discussing your salary expectations
“How much are you looking for?"
• At some point you will be asked this question. The key here is that you only answer in detail when (a) your potential employer knows they want you – more than any other candidate they are talking to, and (b) you have a good view of what the possible salary (and it might be a range) on offer for this position
• But what happens if the question is asked earlier? Essentially you need to avoid providing the detail, without appearing rude, indecisive or unhelpful. Of course only you can make a judgement about what kind of response would work in your particular situation but the following are some example responses:
“What is your current package?
•Again try to avoid answering without appearing negative. Example responses that work include:
When to discuss salary
• Not until they have gotten to know you, at your best, so they can see how you stand out above the other applicants
• Not until they have gotten to know you, as completely as you can, so you can tell when they are being firm, or when they are being flexible
• Not until you've found out exactly what the job entails
• Not until they've had a chance to find out how well you match the job requirements
• Not until you're in the final interview at that place, for that job
• Not until you've decided 'I'd really like to work here'
• Not until they've said 'we want you'
• Not until they've said 'we've got to have you"
What color is your parachute, Richard N Bolles
Talking salary expectations
•When you do get to the point of being ready to talk salary expectations, here are some things to think about:
• Understand the package, not just the base salary. Make sure you know what your current package consists of so that it can be properly compared to an offer you may receive. Base salary and car allowances are easy to compare, but less easy are factors like pension schemes, share options, shares, bonuses, equity, insurance. You may want to consider speaking to a financial advisor.
• Factor in risk. The more risky the business is, the more you would expect to see an upside in your remuneration.
• Compare: Take a look at similar job roles and the packages on offer. There is nothing more powerful – and confidence building - than having good data to back you up.
• Give a range, rather than a figure. When it comes to finally presenting your salary expectations, present these as a range, with the minimum your true minimum and the maximum being 5 – 10% more. Don’t be tempted to give a larger range as it will look indecisive
]]>• The interviewer is trying to gauge how much you are worth to him and – in some cases - how little he can get away with paying you
• The interviewer (even though he may be your potential boss) may also be on a similar salary having been promised a raise once this hire has been made
Example bad answers:
• "At least £160K – I think I’m worth it"
• "A similar package to my current if it’s the right job"
Good answer:
• See section 5. Salary Negotiation
]]>• The interviewer wants to understand if you are jumping or being pushed. How quickly will you jump from the interviewer’s company? How likely is it that they will have to ‘push’ you?
• It is also a chance for the interviewer to see how you deal with negative subjects. Although a ‘simple’ question it has often been said that understanding why people leave is the single most insightful piece of information you can find out about a potential employee.
Example bad answer:
• "The executive management in my organisation is terrible and there's a huge amount of disagreement about where the company is going. I've also been sidelined onto a ‘special project’ type role which doesn't interest me."
Example good answer:
• "I have enjoyed my job and believe I have achieved a great deal. I also feel that I am ready to move upwards, but that it not possible in my current company because..."
]]>• The interview wants to understand your ambitions and how realistic you are with them. It’s a double edged sword, aim too low and you won’t look ambitious enough, aim too high and the interviewer themselves may think you are a threat or ‘too arrogant or big’ for the role.
• Also, avoid cliched answers (one is coming up)
Example bad answers:
• "I want your job." Commentary: if you say that - what happens if the person interviewing you wants to keep their job for more than 5 years?, anyway - it’s a horrible cliche
• (In a waffly type style:) "I want to achieve all that I am set and work in a productive environment where I feel that I have a significant influence"
Example good answer:
• I don’t have a detailed plan, but my broad aim is to continue my existing career progression working towards CEO/board director/functional head etc level in a FTSE100/Medium/Small company etc. What's more important to me though is...
• The interview wants to gain a better picture of exactly what you did in your previous role. This is a very open question and may tempt you to waffle in your response so avoid this by being very specific and illustrating your role with a well thought through example.
• Look to use facts and figures in your answer
Example bad answer:
• “We improved sales significantly through a major change initiative”
• Commentary: there is no clear evidence of what was achieved by this person, who is the ‘we’? How significant was the sales improvement? Did it make any difference to the bottom line? What was the change initiative?
Example good answer:
• "I was responsible for improving sales by 25% throughout Europe through a major restructuring of the sales and account management team of 45 people."
• Commentary: this is a good opening response as it focuses on the facts to draw in the interviewer's attention. Look to move quickly onto putting a 'personal' slant onto this by emphasising the particular challenges the project had and how your overcame them.
• Ask what the next stage is and when you can expect to hear. Ask how many other candidates are being interviewed for the role.
• Follow up with a thank you letter or email. Keep the note short and business-like. Avoid trying to oversell yourself; the thank you note is to remind the interviewer of you, not to reemphasise your selling points.