Crafting the Perfect CV: Your Ultimate Guide to Landing Your Dream Job
- truthaboutlocalgov
- May 7
- 5 min read
Your CV is your shop window. It is your opportunity to clearly articulate your proposition to the market and communicate your brand to potential employers. It should capture the essence of your characters whilst simultaneously making it absolutely clear how you fit into a local authorities eco system, as a solution to the problem they are experiencing. This is the case whether you are positioning yourself for permanent, interim or consultancy roles. You also need to evidence your proposition using the 360 recommendation model. Now I know what you are thinking, how can I fit all of that onto two sides of A4?
You can. You will. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, just engage with the below structure and you will be able to curate a CV that helps you secure whichever role, you are pursuing. I have attached a word document that you can use, that has an example of this.
Step 1 – Clarify your proposition.
Treat your CV being read like a sales experience. You have roughly 7-10 seconds, when the person skimming your CV is going to make a decision on whether it is worth engaging properly with your CV, or whether it is rejected out of hand. You need to grab the employer’s attention and you do this by putting as directly and dare I say bluntly as you can, what your proposition is. Your opening statement needs to be no longer than 4 sentences. Think of yourself like Ronseal, you do exactly what you say on your CV.
"The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead." - William Zinsser
Step 2 – back up your proposition with career highlights.
Now that you have told the market exactly what you are offering to do for them, you need to back it up with tangible examples that reinforce that proposition. No less than three and no more than six. Include tangible metrics like value, timescales, politically challenging or eve what you are most proud of. Ensure that the examples you pick up are the most relevant not just to your proposition but also the solution that you are positioning yourself as. Ask yourself what are the themes that this particular local authority is looking for? Look at the corporate plan or any statements you can find from the Leader and Chief Executive and utilise these as a steer to what examples you think will resonate with the organisation.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." - W. Edwards Deming
Step 3 – succinct career history.
Watch out for the trap here. Your CV is not an opportunity to write down every responsibility and activity you have undertaken in your role. This is not your auto biography. Be really strict with yourself here. Provide a 2-3 sentence summary of the role that you undertook and then include any achievements that you delivered in that role that you have not already covered.
From a structure perspective some people like to do an executive summary for their career history. A one line, job title, company, dates of employment and then go into specifics on each role below. There is no right or wrong with this, but just remember the golden rule, that you are only going to include on your CV details that add value and reinforce your proposition. This is the area that the employer will read the least. They will scan it, but there attention will be spend in the first two sections and the last.
With that in mind, only include roles that are suitable for your proposition. What I mean by this, is if you are applying for a leadership role, putting what you do before your first leadership role is not relevant. Everyone has a career history, but include what is relevant.
"You have a finite amount of time to capture your audience's attention, so make every second count and guide them exactly where you want them to go."
Step 4 – Education and qualifications.
Anything pre university need not be included. Only include qualification and courses that are relevant to the role that you are applying. If it is a role that needs a DBS or a driving license, put that in here as well. Keep this section short, neat and to the point because the next section is where you want them to get to as quickly as possible.
Step 5 – 360 recommendation model.
Listing a referee’s name on your CV adds no value. Literally none. When a local authority makes a hire into any role, they will want to know:
Is this individual going to be a good peer / team player?
Does this person have the temperament and capacity to thrive within a political environment?
Will managing this person be a positive experience?
For those in leadership roles:
Is this person going to be a good manager?
"People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising." - Mark Zuckerberg
They want to know this because it minimises the risk of the hire. So look to your network and ask who can provide me with a recommendation that would reinforce my proposition. Ask someone who managed you, someone you managed, a peer you worked alongside and a member you worked with to provide a recommendation. Having this 360 overview of your character, provides a level of depth and support for your proposition that employers will love.
Either you can write a paragraph for them and then ask them if that is ok, or ask them to write a few words. Ensure the recommendation aligns with your proposition. Particularly for those roles, where there is an interaction with members, a recommendation from a politician can be really powerful. I would be clear in saying that this is not to replace formal references that will need to be take upon a formal offer being made, but instead adding an additional dimensional to your CV, so that the person reading it really gets to understand who you are, without meeting you.
I would not have more than four recommendations. I would recommend creating a bank of these and utilising the one that you feel is best placed to support your brand with this specific application.
Step 6 – general house keeping
These are just my opinions, but I would not put your home address on your CV, merely the town or city you are from. Don’t put your age, it is not relevant. Unconscious bias is real and local authorities need to focus on what you can bring and not on how many years you have been alive for. I would disclose if you have a disability in your cover letter, rather than your CV, just as your disability doesn’t define you, but it is important that you make the local authority aware, as they will be Disability Confident Employers. There is no harm in putting your contact details on there, but make sure your email is appropriate and put that in the header so it doesn’t distract from your message to the employer. I would not make reference to whether you have children or a non-smoker, it just isn’t relevant. Only include voluntary roles if you they genuinely feel that they add value to your proposition, if not, get it out.
Conclusion
In a sales event, which the reading of your CV most certainly is, the person reading your CV, will remember the first and last thing and the best thing. This is your opening statement that clearly defines your proposition, your career highlights and your 360 recommendations. Remember the golden rule, nothing goes on your CV that doesn’t reinforce your proposition. Be clear, be consistent and be yourself.
N.B. Please see the word document that you can use as a starting point for your CV.
Comments