Insights

It’s an odd thing, but managers often underestimate the importance of how a candidate presents and behaves in a job search. They’ll sense when a candidate does something admirable or jarring, but they can’t always articulate why, or they struggle to assign proportionate meaning to the moment.

 

This is the second of three articles that highlights (through contrast) how top talent distinguish themselves in their journey to secure a new job. The intended audience is hiring managers (wishing to make better hiring decisions) and job seekers (wishing to benchmark themselves against top talent).

 

This second article looks at the marketing collateral (written material including CV and LinkedIn profile) of top talent (in bold).

  

  

Tend to write CV & LinkedIn profiles that positively distinguish them from the crowd, due to their originality and shining achievements.

Tend to write CV & LinkedIn profiles that position them in the middle of the crowd (or worse), due to lack of originality and shining achievements.

 

Have a social media presence that reinforces their CV & LinkedIn profile.

In some instances, have a social media presence that undermines their CV & LinkedIn profile.

 

Have extracurricular interests or achievements that reinforces or adds to their career persona.

May have extracurricular interests that detract from their career persona – or have no extracurricular interests at all.

 

CV & LinkedIn profile content can be either expansive or bare bones. Both are by design, with the bare bones approach due to not wanting (or needing) to attract extra recruiter attention.

CV and LinkedIn profiles tend to be expansive due to the frequent need to be looking for a new job.

 

The CV is clear, well written and easy to digest in a CX friendly format.

The CV may be difficult to digest. Common faults include small fonts, poor spacing, long sentences & paragraphs, language errors, crowding to fit content to a desired length (one page?).

 

CV & LinkedIn profile About sections are original and authentic, distinguishing them from the crowd. The About section is written with the aim of precluding themselves from unsuitable opportunities.

CV & LinkedIn profile About sections are often unoriginal and inauthentic, positioning them (at best) in the middle of the crowd. The About section is written with the hope of including them for all opportunities.

 

CV and LinkedIn profile effectively balance brevity and content. Emphasis is on distinguishing achievements with context provided and outcomes quantified.

CV and LinkedIn profile are heavy on self-characterisation rather than letting distinguishing achievements tell their story. Other common issues include the overuse of superlatives, too much detail on responsibilities, and repetition of responsibilities and achievements.

 

Progressive career movement with meaningful tenures.

Zigzagging career movement with several short company tenures. Conversely, the implications of very long company tenures need to be evaluated for institutionalisation or complacency.

 

No ambiguity or inconsistency in career movement or tenure. Their CV mirrors their LinkedIn profile and other publicly & privately available data.

Occasional inconsistencies in career movement and tenure between their CV their LinkedIn profile and other publicly available data. Ambiguity with dates being presented in a foggy manner. Signs of airbrushing with job titles being exaggerated or very short tenures removed.

 

Use language that is universally meaningful.

Use language (including acronyms) that is arcane.

 

Tend to frame achievements in terms of their customers’ success first, and their employers’ success second.

Tend to frame achievements in terms of their success first, their employers’ success second, and often without regard for their customer impact.

 

Use unvarnished metrics consistently, typically substantiating performance with the key decisions & actions that drove success.

Often bring meaning to the phrase - lies, damn lies, and statistics - by using partial and selective metrics to skew the perception of their performance.