Writing a CV After Ten Years of Experience

After ten years of experience, a CV must, more than ever, demonstrate consistency in one's professional career. To do this, you must define a professional project for the second part of your career and select information to support it.

Contrary to popular belief, a good CV is more about the future than the past. "It must be oriented towards the future with a clear professional project," explains Malika Eboli, career coach. "You will therefore need to explain to the recruiter, through your curriculum, the position targeted and the type of company sought. Once this is done, the candidate writes the CV and updates it by introducing elements that support their professional project, both in terms of content and form."

1- Revenue Growth
It will therefore be necessary to select professional information proving that one is a good manager, a good technician, or a good salesperson. At this stage, it is essential to provide clear, concise, concrete, and valuable information. "The main function of a CV is to allow the candidate to obtain an appointment," adds Elisabeth Montauzé, consultant at APEC La Défense. "Keywords, career thread, and quantified examples reassure the interviewer. An engineer converting to purchasing will highlight in their CV everything that can serve their future project." This is a delicate exercise because a candidate with more than 10 years of experience feels they have a lot to write. It will then be necessary to sort and compile everything onto one page. This is best; two pages would be the maximum. Obviously, within this imposed framework, the last five years of professional life should be mentioned rather than internships and early experience. The classic, but fatal, mistake is to compile and stack everything. The good idea is to show the recruiter a revenue growth with a target exceeded by a certain amount between 2010 and 2011. You could also specify the implementation of an information system for an SME of 300 people after analysis and audit for costs 30% lower than the planned budget. The candidate should not describe their position but explain how they work: their methods, their participation in equipment purchases, and their commercial negotiations. The results achieved are highlighted with volumes and percentages. There should be figures for the reduction of general expenses, increased production, and problem resolution.

2- Professional Experience
In terms of form, sober and legible characters and colors should be preferred. A photo can be a plus for the candidate to be remembered. However, it must be of good quality, and the CV must be readable when printed in black and white. Avoid colors and shaded areas.

In terms of layout, it is important to reserve the first third for essential information: civil status and professional project. Then, the professional experience should be detailed. In France, according to the recruitment firm Robert Half, recruiters first look at professional experience (for 42% of recruiters in companies), professional qualifications (21%), and technical skills (14%). 6% first consult personal information (age, family situation, address, hobbies, etc.), and 3% start by looking at the photo…

You should absolutely avoid non-reverse chronological CVs. Therefore, the curriculum should start with the most recent events. Recruiters are extremely conservative, cautious, and suspicious people. You must reassure them by being as unoriginal as possible. You must simplify the recruiter's life.

Finally, be careful, everything is verifiable. If you have been unemployed since January 2012, it is counterproductive to indicate in your CV that you are employed. The recruiter can verify this via Google. It is better to specify that you are involved in consulting assignments, associative experience, or business creation.

At the end of writing the CV, the candidate is ready to approach recruiters. They have developed their arguments and plan to develop a presentation explaining how they overcame obstacles in the development of their assignments, the methods used, the type of contact they had, the action plan implemented, and the results obtained. They therefore have a CV presentation for the interview. They have a project, a CV, and a presentation to defend it. They should therefore find what they are looking for.

3- The Seven Deadly Sins of a CV

1. A 2-page CV in size 6 font because the candidate wants to show everything.
2. No more than one page of CV. The reader is a recruiter in a company or agency reading CVs all day. One page of reading is enough.
3. Frills and colors. The CV should be sober, concise, concrete, and personalized.
4. The thematic CV with skill areas. It looks nice on paper but is not suitable for a recruiter. In addition, it creates doubt in the recruiter's mind. Why didn't the candidate create a reverse chronological CV? Do they have things to hide?
5. Inconsistencies in dates. This can only be a typo. But it worries the recruiter.
6. Spelling mistakes. These are unacceptable on a CV. You must read, reread, and have someone else read your curriculum.
7. Company logos. Some candidates fill their CVs with logos. These logos should be avoided as they unnecessarily weigh down the computer documents.

Gwenole Guiomard.


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