9: So first, we're going to talk about CVs.

11: CV stands for curriculum vitae, Latin

14: for the course of my life.

16: In America, they use resume, a summary of your life.

19: The CV remember, is only to get you the interview.

21: It's not to get you the job.

23: What it should do is contain just enough

25: to intrigue the reader that the next thing they want to do

28: is actually meet you.

30: So the three points you're trying to get over in a CV

32: are that you take responsibility,

34: you achieve things, and that you're nice to have around.

36: But first, let's hear from some of our students.

42: I'd definitely like to steer my career in a more

45: creative direction where I'm less

47: restricted by corporate boundaries

49: and I can be a bit more creative in my approach to my work.

51: Last year, I took the decision to leave my job in finance

56: and pursue a master's in neuroscience.

58: It was a bit of a risk at the time.

60: And it's never nice to stop making money.

62: As well as fashion, music is something

64: that I'm really, really, really enthusiastic

66: and passionate about.

67: I've performed with choirs at the Brit awards.

70: I performed in front of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

73: My biggest achievement is working

75: with a big US bank on the Brexit project

78: during my summer internship.

80: And another big achievement of mine

82: was actually getting into university

84: despite my poor grades.

86: I had lived in three different continents and I travelled over

90: 25 different countries by the age of 25.

93: Something I'm very proud of is that I'm

95: doing my second degree on the side, which

97: is a distance learning course.

99: And I'm teaching everything to myself,

102: so at least I've been told that this

104: is something to be proud of.

110: So CV, the main rule is to think about the reader.

113: Think about the person on the other side.

115: It could be a wet Wednesday night

116: and they've got a column of 80 of these things to get through.

120: And they'd really rather go home now than be in the office

122: and they've got to work through them.

124: So it's that first no more than two seconds

127: that someone is going to read them.

129: So they're going to glance, let's just pick this one,

131: and what you want is the person to say, oh, OK.

133: Well, that's good, rather than the.

135: the heart sink, too much to read sort of stuff.

138: So thinking about the reader.

140: What we want on here is evidence, not assertion.

144: And my first point would be, many of you

148: have put a little background, or a little sort of commentary,

152: at the start, a paragraph at the start, a personal statement.

155: And you called it, Nithya, you called it background.

158: We've got a profile from Bradley.

160: And another one from Cosima.

161: In fact, nearly all of you have done it.

163: The problem with them is A, it takes up

165: space, which you would be better used with some more

168: evidence on here.

169: And secondly, a lot of it is assertion

171: with no evidence behind it.

172: And you've got to think anybody could write some of this stuff.

176: So anybody could have written: "I have a strong record

179: in extracurricular activities."

180: "I'm an ambitious third-year student."

182: I wouldn't actually have the personal statement

185: because you're going to need the space for evidence

187: of other things.

188: And we also, ideally, going to get this

190: onto one page rather than two.

193: There is a variation in these, and that's fine too.

195: It is your CV.

196: There is no standard one format to go.

198: You've put education at the top.

200: Generally, at this stage, education and then experience.

204: And I would put all experience together,

206: not just volunteering separately, or skills

208: and achievements, or work.

210: I would just have experience, in reverse order,

212: and then, finally, other outside interests.

216: Hi.

216: Let me just interrupt for a minute.

218: My name's Elizabeth Uviebinene, and I'm a marketing manager.

222: I've also just co-authored a bestselling book

224: all about empowering women.

225: As you start out on your career, I

227: want to share something I found empowering for myself

229: - building a personal brand.

232: When I was 16, I was convinced I was going to fail my GCSEs.

236: I decided to find a job before disappointment on results day.

239: It forced me to step out of my comfort zone

241: and apply some creative thinking.

243: I pitched an outdoor film screening

245: to a London gallery and ways to appeal

247: to a younger, diverse audience.

249: They took up the idea and it became my first experience

252: in marketing.

253: I did do well on results day and I went on to college.

255: But what I didn't know was I had already

258: started to build an authentic personal brand -

261: collaborative, creative, enterprising.

263: And it's a brand that's been vital

265: as I progressed in my career.

267: So what does a personal brand even mean?

269: Ultimately, to understand your brand

271: is to understand what makes you unique, special,

274: and what makes you stand out.

276: Ask yourself, what are you good at?

279: What are your values?

280: Which qualities do you want to accentuate?

283: What contribution do you want to make?

285: What do you want to be known for?

287: That's something that you should start thinking about

290: as you sit down to write your CV and start applying for jobs.

293: Find three words that best describe you

295: and the impact you want to make at work.

297: Yes, it's a bit about marketing yourself,

300: but it's also a self-reminder of who you are or want to be.

304: I've heard people say, "if I'm good at my job,

306: then that should speak for itself."

308: And that's true.

309: But your reputation is part of your brand.

312: It's what people say when you're not in the room.

314: And it helps you stand out in a competitive professional field,

317: meaning you no longer have to chase all the opportunities,

320: they'll start chasing you.

322: So remember, branding is not just about businesses or logos,

326: it's about your own unique selling points.

329: Right.

329: Back to the classroom.

331: Three things we're trying to get over

334: in the content of what you write.

335: That you take responsibility, that you achieve things,

340: and that you're nice to have around.

341: That's why I would employ you.

343: So in all the bullet points, a great way

345: to write them is to actually start them by saying,

348: responsibilities included, or achievements included.

351: We don't want process.

353: Process is boring, actually.

355: And also, it doesn't tell me if you spent 10 minutes producing

359: the annual report, or six months,

361: and who you presented the annual report to.

363: Here's - I'll pick out one here - "attending team meetings."

366: Well, but that's what you do as part of the job.

367: But what was the outcome?

368: Did you write the minutes?

369: Did you arrange things?

371: What did you achieve?

372: Because that's the only reason people

373: pay you is that you achieve stuff.

375: So you could just say, key responsibilities

377: included X, Y, Z. Included means there's

380: so much I could write to you about.

381: But remember that point, we're trying to intrigue people.

384: I really want to find out how they did that.

386: How did they raise a business?

388: How did they work with this company?

389: What was that?

390: But now, I'm going to have to meet them.

392: And then you've won because then you're in the room.

395: Make your applications look attractive, clean, easy

398: to read.

399: Short sentences.

401: Active verbs.

403: No jargon.

405: Use Anglo-Saxon words, not Latin-based.

409: Check you've got the correct use of apostrophes.

411: No overused words like honed or passion.

415: And certainly, no typos.

418: Above all, remember that no applicant

420: meets all the criteria.

422: So if you think you only meet 80 per cent,

425: you're doing really well.

427: Show how you have equivalent experience or skills

431: to meet their criteria.

433: Finally, polish to perfection.

438: So lets go into more detail within the bullet points.

441: And let's pick yours, Cosima.

443: Numbers add power to all of these bullet points.

446: So, for example, you said, "Helped the site administrator

449: with a diverse range of procurement-related tasks."

451: It doesn't tell me whether that was half a day,

453: or two months of working there, or whether it

456: consumed a lot of your time.

457: If you told us what sort of tasks,

459: what the values were, even rough ranges of values.

463: When you talk about "wrote a technical manual,"

466: who is now using that?

467: Has that been implemented and rolled out

469: to the rest of the company?

469: What happened with that?

470: What was the achievement you got there?

473: "Wrote a research report for somebody."

475: Again, kind of give us a length of how long it was,

478: who it went to, who you presented it to.

481: There was one over here: "Organised a charity event" -

483: which is great because, especially with students,

485: there isn't a lot of work experience,

487: but there's lots of other stuff you've done

489: - "to raise money for underage refugees."

491: Brilliant.

492: Great things to have done.

493: Tell us how much money.

494: And it doesn't matter if it was $50, $500, $5,000 or whatever,

499: because getting people to part with money

501: is pretty difficult usually.

503: Everyone says they will, but you've actually

505: gone out and done it.

506: So tell us how much it was.

507: And that tells us two things - that you

510: know that money is important and that measuring things is

513: important.

514: And that's a really strong implicit message

516: to send to any recruiter.

518: Remember the third thing of a CV is teamwork, always

521: nice to have around.

522: You can't really write on here, I'm

523: a nice person to have around.

525: But what you can do is show, with third-party endorsements,

528: that other people think you're nice.

530: So if you were elected to a position, tell us about it.

533: How do you deal with gaps in your CV?

535: Every employer recognises that you're human beings.

538: People get ill.

539: You have to look after other people who are ill.

541: You might have been travelling.

542: It's fine, but explain what happened.

544: We want to make sure you weren't in jail.

546: Even with travelling, like if you take a gap year,

548: you can make a big virtue out of it about,

551: I visited 17 countries in three months.

554: I photographed four active volcanoes, whatever it was you

558: did, I swam in four oceans of the world.

561: This third section, which is classically interests,

563: community activity, social activities you do,

567: try to avoid things that we all do

569: like reading, going to cinema, cooking, socialising, using

573: Facebook, or whatever it is.

574: And focus on something that's going

576: to start a conversation, something common that's

579: not about the job that you can talk to the interviewer about.

582: Any good interviewer would spend a couple of minutes warming you

585: up anyway and say, oh, I see that you've

588: driven a car to Ulan Bator.

590: Tell me about that.

591: How was that?

591: I've never been to Mongolia, so how did that go?

594: Are there any major red flags that you'd say we

596: should avoid having on our CV.

598: We don't need to know about your clean driving

600: licence or your Microsoft Office skills

602: because everyone has those, or if they don't, you're

604: probably not applying for a driving job anyway.

606: Minimise it to just exactly what is needed here.

609: References available upon request, waste of ink.

612: We know that.

612: Don't bother putting it on there.

614: And remember, there's all that discrimination legislation.

616: So we don't want to know about age,

618: marital status, sexual preferences, or any

620: of that stuff.

622: It's not appropriate.

623: It's not relevant.

624: So, in summary, people read the CVs

626: as like a capital letter F, down the side, and across the top

630: to get your name, and somewhere in the middle.

632: That's about 1 or 2 seconds to read that.

634: And when they read that, they want

635: to pick out that you are someone who takes responsibility,

639: you achieve things, and that you're nice to have around.

641: So I want some very strong words down the left-hand side.

644: Things like I ordered, presented, responsible for,

647: those sorts of strong words.

648: And you can make it shorter and cut out all the process.

651: Overall, it's something that everyone can learn to do well.