Creating an interview generating CV
Whether you are looking for a career change in to the space
industry, a move up the space career ladder or are applying for an
internal position, preparing an attention grabbing CV is the first
step to achieving your goal and obtaining you're dream space job. Long gone are the days when a CV would be a simple list of
your qualifications and work experience. In today’s
competitive and results orientated work environment, your CV should
be a marketing tool; an opportunity for you to succinctly tell a
space employer, in the brief twenty seconds they spend on your CV,
what you can do for them.
There are elements of a CV that are
very personal and what appeals to one person, may not appeal to
someone else. You need to appreciate that your CV will not be
every employer’s cup of tea, but by following some of these simple
tips, you are greatly increasing your chance of selection.
Achievements -
It is not enough to tell an employer
what your key skills are; they need to see it. They need to be
able to flick their eye over your space engineering CV and see how
you can add value to their organisation. One way to do
this is to separate the information under each role into key duties
and achievements. Alternatively, for many sales or executive
level positions within the space industry, your achievements will be
what makes or breaks your application and so, in some instances, a
completely separate section to emphasise your achievements, may be
appropriate.
When writing your CV, you need to
consider what the reader wants to see. Do your homework and
determine what skills and achievements the reader is looking for and
ensure that it is this information that is emphasised throughout the
document. Remember, this is a marketing tool and therefore
drawing attention to those elements that match the employer’s
requirements is the key to success.
A final point to remember is that a
really effective CV will make the interview process a lot easier. A
good CV will dictate the direction of an interview and you will know,
from looking at the skills and achievements highlighted on your CV,
on which competencies the interviewer will focus.
These may seem like simple concepts,
but you need to remember that during the first stage of a recruitment
process, your CV will probably not even reach the hiring Manager. The
job of short listing candidates will fall to a HR Manager or
specialist Space Recruitment Consultant and they may have hundreds of
CVs to look through. They will not have time to read your CV in
detail, so by following these tips and ensuring that, when they flick
their eye over the CV, they see the key skills and achievements they
are looking for, you stand more chance of securing your place on that
all important space job shortlist.
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