We all spend a great deal of time on our CVs with a focus on what we do, our key skills and our successes within that position.  And so we should, it’s the key component in selling yourself, which is of course, the job of the CV.

But did you ever stop to think about the relevance of your current, or previous employers?

Normally, the experience you have is linked to a given industry sector and that is a vital piece of information.    Often the brief given to the Recruiter, both internal and external is based around a combination of skills and industry experience.   So, what we want to know is, what does your current or previous employer do?

So, let’s say that my brief is to find a good Business Development Manager from an IT background, ideally selling Cloud Infrastructure Support.    Great news – that is exactly what you do!! Perfect – send your CV off immediately and your sure to be shortlisted?  Here we go…..

Hall and Baker Ltd or Jefferson’s or Direktec or SCM or Taylor Long                                       2016 to Date

Business Development Manager

A highly experienced Business Development Manager working with corporate clients across the UK and achieving targets consistently month on month.  Key responsibilities are:

• Developing pipeline by cold calling, online marketing campaigns and networking.
• Write concise value-based sales proposals, reports, activities, and revenue forecasts.
• Visiting potential clients, presenting, and closing the sale.
• Etc, etc…….

So, having seen that you are clearly a great BDM candidate, the next key task for the recruiter,  is to try to work out if you have the relevant background.    So, what do Hall and Baker Ltd or Jeffersons or Direktec or SCM or Taylor Long actually do?   You could be selling Telephony Systems or pharmaceutical machines or hamster wheels.   The recruiter must start googling find out.  I’ve read your CV but still don’t know if you are right for my IT Sales post.

So you are making it harder for the recruiter to know if you are right or wrong for the position. 

Now you may think that the fact that you have applied for the position means your background is relevant. After all, you would not apply for the position otherwise!   Well believe me, that certainly isn’t the case for 90% of applicants – especially in this market.

So, how about this:

Hall and Baker Ltd or Jeffersons or Direktec or SCM or Taylor Long                                        2016 to Date

Business Development Manager

Hall and Baker are a leading IT Solution provider providing mainly Cloud based IT Infrastructure Support Services across the UK.

OR

Jefferson’s are an International Law Firm with 500 partners and offices in London, Hong Kong and New York. 

OR

100% IT Recruitment Ltd  (Oh well that’s obvious what they do! So do I need to bother? Well yes, a little fleshing out helps the reader to understand scale, geography, infrastructure, and services)

100% IT Recruitment Ltd are a leading provider of IT recruitment services for both contract and permanent services with offices in High Wycombe, London and Milton Keynes. 

A highly experienced Business Development Manager working with corporate clients across the UK and achieving targets consistently month on month.  Key responsibilities are:

• Developing pipeline by cold calling, online marketing campaigns and networking.
• Write concise value-based sales proposals, reports, activities, and revenue forecasts.
• Visiting potential clients, presenting and closing the sale.
• Etc, etc…….

Enough for the recruiter or hiring manager to know exactly what environment and perhaps scale of organisation you have come from and have experience in.   And if it fits, it is very quick tick against your name as opposed to a time-consuming research job.

Happy job hunting.