Your CV is probably one of the hardest things you will ever have to write, partly because it is about you and people generally find it hard to sell themselves effectively, but also because so much rides on it. After all, this is your career we are talking about. There are no written laws on CV writing. It is something which is very personal. No two agencies are the same and as such, they will therefore have different preferences when it comes to CVs and what appeals to them and what doesn’t. You need to ensure that your CV is specific to your chosen profession of advertising. Make the employer feel comfortable and assured that you have researched the industry and understand what would be involved when working in it.
A good starting point is to pull together a list of personal, educational and work experiences including:
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An outline of experience to date and how this might be of value to prospective clients/organisations
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Achievements and benefits you have brought to employers
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Educational qualifications
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Training undertaken.
It is from this that you can then start to produce your own CV in your own style.
Given that advertising is a creative industry, you may be in inclined to send in a really wacky CV. People have been known to send in CVs embossed on to anything from cakes to cushions, as well as trying various other unusual formats for CVs in order to get their application noticed. Whilst there may be the odd agency that might like to receive an eccentric CV, the majority don’t. It is the content, practical skills and achievements and work experience that agencies are interested in. If you do want to send in an ‘off-the-wall’ CV, it is probably best to focus on putting together a standard CV first. Ensure the content is right and from there, then focus on design.
In terms of content, the biggest mistake that many candidates make is to assume that the reader knows what value they have to offer. Agency employers are looking for certain key qualities and your CV needs to cover these off. Ensure that you include on your CV those strong achievements that could be useful to a potential employer. Think about providing information which show you fit the key competencies that an agency might desire that show your competitive advantage. Look through your achievements and your experience and identify those which are particularly relevant, which give you a competitive edge over others and which illustrate the contribution you can make in the future. Make the examples as specific as possible and use interesting language rather than stereotyped jargon, words that will catch the eye and therefore the attention of the reader. Every word counts on your CV so when describing your achievements, try using strong action words which can convey in one word, the strength of your experience and its implications for the future.
If you have a website, ensure that you provide a link to it in order to show your portfolio or anything else you may want to your potential employer to see. If your interests include photography, you could have a link to some photos you have chosen. Similarly if you are a music lover you could have links to some of the tunes you listen to. Adding links to your CV shows that you are familiar with digital technology and moreover adds that personal but interactive element to your CV.
Here are some other CV tips to bear in mind:
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When answering application questions use up to date cultural and creative references to help illustrate your unique assets or talents.
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Read Campaign magazine and broadsheet articles relating to the industry, these can really useful to make you informed opinions and so you have something engaging and relevant to talk about during interview.
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Spell any difficult to pronounce words phonetically (to avoid interviewer embarrassment) e.g. names, universities etc.
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Don’t be afraid to send you CV speculatively, it’s good to make yourself known to companies you with to work for
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After you have sent your CV call a few days later to confirm the addressee has received it. Even if they have no vacancies this is a good time to enquire about work placements etc.
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Tailor your CV to the agency, the worst thing for prospective employer to read is a CV and/or covering letter that feels like it is the product of a mail merge!