Work Experience and the Job Search
I am sure you understand the importance of the right packaging. You must have seen, at one time or other, gifts of medium and low costs exquisitely packed, making the gift irresistible. The same applies to the presentation of food. Even of worst cook can get away with it, if he/she presents the food in a grand manner. Companies win contracts on the strength of their presentations of what they plan to do. People make friendships, accept marriage proposals, job applications - all on the merit of presentation. Wow! This is quite something. Let us see how the right 'packaging' or 'presentation' of experience can make all the difference between 'Selected' and 'Rejected' vis-?-vis a job application.
WHAT - The importance of the designation - Shakespeare had said, 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet'. There is a lesson to be learnt from here. Experience is something that resembles a guarantee to the employer, confirming that you can deliver. The more relevant your experience is, the less apprehensive would your employer be with complicated jobs. Hence, the right experience would make you much more valuable to the company.
A very good way to sell your suitability, is by presenting your experience not only by the designation you were assigned, but also by sub-heads of the other responsibilities you were carrying in the previous employment.
Let us consider an example to make this point clearer. Lets say you were designated as 'Secretary'. However, your role covered taking care of day-to-day office administration, which included roster duty of your team, accounting their leave, checking their daily attendance, and coordinating their duties. This would make you Administrative Assistant.
Your role would also cover liaisoning with new clients when they contact the office over the phone and in person, and solving their problems and/or referring them to the right grievance officer. This would make you Customer Service Officer.
You were also responsible to organize and coordinate national and international training programs on marketing and related topics. This would make you Training Coordinator.
Lastly, you were to coordinate the meetings within the office and with corporate heads as and when required by the Chairman of your company, as well as his trips, schedule, appointments, and so on. This would make you Personal Assistant.
From the above you can clearly see that you were working as four professionals in one. If you were able to project your ability to multi-task so efficiently, it would definitely be to your advantage. Hence, when you should not write that you worked as a Secretary; rather you mention that your job involved the roles and responsibilities of four designations, i.e. Administrative Assistant, Customer Service, Training Coordinator and Personal Assistant, describing the same in tight bullet points (choose those which suit the job you are applying to, the best).
WHERE - The importance of company name - You have been successful in projecting your skills and expertise. The next important thing would be where you got this experience and skills. The bigger the name of the industry you have worked in, the more significant would your experience weigh. Hence, if you did work in companies of renown, ensure that you present it in such a way, that it will catch the eye of the employer who surfs your CV in just 10 seconds.
The simplest way to do so is to use bold text or color (only blue or grey) and left hanging indent. In this way, the company's name would be standing alone and would be highly visible even when the employer only scans the CV.
Another way to highlight the important places you worked in is to put it on the first page in the summary. Have a five-six line summary where you mention that you worked with companies like such-and-such and you look forward to work with this company as well. That would be sufficient to catch the eye and prompt the curiosity of your prospective employer.
Lastly, if your company is nothing to rave about, then ensure that the attention is targeted to your skills rather than where you got them, by inversing the way your present the data. Use the same tactics that are described above in reverse.
WHOM The importance of the titles - The next impressing factor is for whom you have worked or with whom you have worked. For example, there is a great difference between being a Secretary in the typing pool and the Vice-Chairman's Secretary, or the Chairman's Secretary. Hence, be sure you project this factor as clearly. When you mention your employment history, you should clearly mention for whom/ with whom you have worked. Your caliber will be judged by the level where you place yourself. Say, 'assisting the Vice Chairman, Marketing in policy decision' under the designation of Marketing Manager, would a greater impact than 'coordinating a team of 30 Marketing Executives to achieve their targets'.
You should be careful that what you write does not sound too pompous. It should also be as brief as possible as the prospective employer would not have the time to go into too many details.
HOW - The importance of achievements - A very critical aspect of one's experience is the achievements in one's career. It is very important to quantify and qualify your achievements clearly, so that the prospective employer can judge your usefulness in tangible terms. The employer would be happy if he/she can anticipate a potential of a high achiever in your style of work. The past should prove that given the responsibility, you tend to drive it beyond expectations. An achiever is always strength to a company, and highlighting your achievements carefully would multiply your chances for an interview.
In order to catch the eye, the achievements should be heading the bullet points when the responsibilities are described. Be careful not to overdo this aspect, as the achievements are the first things that are crosschecked with references you give, and during the interview.
Keep in mind the above points when you present your experience on you CV, and you will be winner every time you will apply for a job!
