OUTPLACEMENT COACHING: LET´S REVIEW YOUR CV?*

Everybody wants to be at the right place at the right time, correct? Getting your dream job may also require a dose of luck, but let´s be honest and acknowledge that – above all else – diligent planning can also do the trick. So, make it a priority and plan to carefully review your curriculum vitae (a.k.a. résumé, CV) before sending it out!

In my daily practice as a Coach and Trainer focused on career transitions (desired or undesirable business moves), it is crucial to point out that, as important as it is to identify which are your strengths and points of concerns, it is also essential to keep a closer look on your CV, so that headhunters will show some – oh so desired – higher level of curiosity and interest in you.

One of the first considerations I invite my Coachees to get into when reviewing their CVs is to investigate and recognize levels of clarity and organization of their résumés. In other words, remember that everyone’s time is very precious, so – to keep up with a good structured, organized, concise and content rich CV (the one that will effectively draw the attention of headhunters to you), it also means to just keep it simple.

Some details are very personal and depends on your area of expertise, but I believe some hints I share in this post may still be helpful to you:

• Be Objective and Organized: when enlisting essential information in your CV, make sure all of the data from your email contacts, phone numbers and details of your education and publications are all clear and organized from the latest to the most recent.
• Highlight What is Relevant: regardless if your experience is summed up in just a few years, or if you already have more than ten years working, validate that the information you are sharing can be made a little more concise, so that only the most relevant data is present, leaving some room for you to elaborate in furthering conversations on your personal interviews, detailing the challenges and lessons learned during your career.
•  Share your True Identity: one of the topics we work hard in Outplacement Coaching is to generate and experience more of your true identity, especially in connection with your CV! Be honest, and share facts and not rumors, and reflect at all times which identity you are accurately presenting through your résumé? Your CV must be a true reflection of your values, your needs and your desires. Finding this balance can bring you not only the ideal position faster, but also allowing you to continuous growth and lasting success!
• Anticipate and Align Expectations: remember also to make a brief research; reviewing the website of the organization that you are applying for – learning of its mission, vision and values. Compare this information with your career expectations and life goals. This short assignment may well – by itself – safeguard your career in the long run.

I am fascinated by this topic and could be talking for hours on end about the ultimate CV model and how to best send it to headhunters. In practice, social and professional media, and also the flow of e-mails, are all tools that makes our communications a lot easier today. On that note, I want to stress the idea that – if you send your résumé by e-mail – please have it as an attached document, and perhaps best in a PDF format, or if in Word file, preferably locked. This is a simple organizational tip that will avoid misunderstandings and also minimizes any text formatting problems. As I mentioned earlier in this post, “less is more” when dealing with résumé reviews.

Finally, I always suggest that – along with clarity in communication, organization skills and simplification – you need to make use of good judgment and noble instinct when revising and sharing your bio, your profile, or résumé, online or in person. And remember that a simple act of kindness creates and generates more of the same thing. Think about that when in doubt of whether or not you should send a simple thank you note to a headhunter. Get to it and good luck!