The reality of CV writing

I had recently written a post about rewriting your CV in todays work climate, what I learned, how to present it and all that kind of stuff, I had passed my new CV round colleagues, previous bosses and clients to make sure that it was exactly the CV they were looking for. and after some corrections nearly all of them stated that it was just what they were hoping to see coming across their desk.

Perfect.. New role here I come!!

The only problem was, that two weeks into job searching, and I was simply not getting any response to my CV submissions, so much so that I started to worry about my skill set and if I was missing something core in my abilities.

By the beginning of the third week, I decided that something had to be done. So I went back to the traditional way that I’d written CV’s for ages which is absolutely bring everything to the table. So I rewrote my CV again, but this time I listed every one of my skills, how long I had used them, everything I’d done, all of the improvements I brought to every client and company, all the successes, everything!

It was a full five pages, and I started using it on the following Monday, within three days I had four interviews lined up. I was apparently exactly what people were looking for, phew!!, just had my CV written wrong then..

However when I went to the interviews, I was asked for details that were already on my CV, I would answer the questions but was then asked why I had not listed it, this happened multiple times, after checking, it would turn out that agents would take my 5 page CV that their search filters would find, then quickly trim it down to the 2 page version before submitting it to the end client.

Ultimately all has ended well and I have a perfect new role, but the lessons I would take away in hindsight would be:

  1. You need 2 CV formats. 1) A full length full detail one that will get you through initial Agency filtering and 2) A 2 page summery version that clients want to read.
  2. When you are contacted by the Agent after they have filtered you from your 5 page CV, send them the 2 page version trimmed in the way they want 1
  3. Maintain a version of the full length one on-line in an easy short URL that you can give to clients in the interview if they ask.
  4. Makes sure your LinkedIn job history and skills match your CV exactly 2
FootNotes
  1. No personal contact details and highlight which skills they want from your full list[]
  2. Some clients just go to LinkedIn rather than ask for your CV so keep both up to date[]

My First IISYG Meetup

Last month I got to go to my very first IISYG Meetup, now IISYG is one of the oldest Cyber/Security Groups in the UK, and up till now, I simply haven’t been senior enough or brought enough to the table to be invited as a member. I had seen it for years as a tantalising event that people went to, but other than the subject of its talks I did not know its contents, only that there was a number of senior guests speakers, and a lot of conversations about details in the security industry. So it was with much excitement I received an invitation and potted along to the House of Lords with my security ID, all suited and booted.


Now, the whole of the meetup is under Chatham House rules, which will make this review understandably vague, however it wasn’t its actual content that I wanted to review. It was about the fact that I have seldom enjoyed a professional meetup more, particularly as it was my first time, everybody was instantly friendly and likeable, easy to get on with and most surprisingly, there was none of the normal conference posturing, there was no titles or anything like that, I was engaged within minutes of walking through the door, and people said what they did, but not the level that they did it. when we did a quick roundtable of who was there, it was like a who’s who of security, massive industry representation across the board, incredibly impressive but not one of them was trying to me the most important 1. It was a minimal name, title, and what they did, which was an indication of things to come.

This was a forum in which people share expertise, shared their knowledge and shared them in a way that everybody else could learn from, it was truly a safe space where you could ask for help, where you could repeat how you’ve done something and would do it differently again, or what plans you had, and people with decades of experience would help you address issues that they could see coming up for you. It was simply like that. there was so little ego in the room, it was unbelievable, just a vast amount of help and experience. conversations would go from deeply technical security details, to laughing and joking then back to serious. It was a very dynamic and very, very open experience.

I don’t know what else to say about it, other than I felt like the most junior person there and I have not felt that for a decade, also that in a couple of hours, I learnt more that weeks of Internet research and public conferences.

However, I did make one mistake. It turns out that even though it officially finishes at 1pm, people go to the pub, have lunch and keep the conversation going, and I’d already got stuff booked for the rest of the day. I’m not going make that mistake again.

FootNotes
  1. Often on a new project when you do a round table, there will be a few people that can’t resist tooting their own horn, there was none of that here[]

Use Dioralyte for Leg cramps after biking/spin

This is apparently a common issue but one I hadn’t experienced before now. If you’re like me, and getting on a little bit in life, and you do anything with a huge amount of hard cardio in it, then you will shed a lot of water. Judging by the weight of my kit after a session, I can shed a litre of water in an hour and even with proper stretches, that means I am going to cramp up hugely if I don’t deal with it, and while thrashing around on the floor in shrieking pain is a life choice. It’s no way to spend an evening. Obviously people talk about posh sports drinks to restore your electrolytes, but my PT said to just have a Dioralyte 1, and ill be dammed it worked like a charm, no more cramps, That’s it, just thought I would pass the tip on

FootNotes
  1. In addition to replacing the liquid as normal[]

Corporate term: Mary Poppins candidate

Definition:

A Job candidate that drops out of seemingly no where with the perfect set of skills just when needed.

Explanation:

This is a form of job candidate that can exist under 3 circumstances

  1. In the minds of managers who are feeling slightly deluded, that don’t have a solid grip on the job market or the process of getting the right person.
  2. (more cynically) When a candidate has already been picked and a job spec has been written to match them perfectly so they get the role.
  3. They are genuine… 1.

For those of you that haven’t seen the film Mary Poppins, there is a scene where two completely impossible lists of requirements for a nanny are created by children and their father. The Children’s ones are ripped up and thrown into the chimney. Next day a number of candidates turn up to match the fathers requirements, but they are blown away and a perfect candidate floats down from the sky with the children’s requirements in hand, she is ‘practically perfect in every way’.

If you are watching this process from the outside in a corporation, its fun to watch to see if you can guess which circumstance as happening and if its the one with the pre picked candidate, are they up to the job 2

 

Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.

FootNotes
  1. I have only heard of this happening in close communities of companies where people know each other and word can spread of a suitable candidate being available via the grape vine, so the normal search channels are bypassed[]
  2. I have been the pre picked candidate a couple of times and you really have to bring your A-Game to prove its not favouritism[]

The most basic tips for running teams

I’ve been doing quite a few interviews recently, and I am being asked a lot about team management as expected, but unexpectedly the majority of the answers that people are looking for are based around the core need to not hire a self centred horror and get someone who can help and support a team or project to hit deliverables.

This should be an absolute base line, but as it does not seem to be, here are the 6 most BASIC tips I implement when working as a team or department lead from the perspective of the people you are responsible for:

  1. Learn International public holidays. This is a simple one. Go to Google calendar or any major web calendar and load all of the public holidays for the countries of all people that you are responsible for, Learn the public holidays and do not be surprised when someone is not working that day, Bonus points if you can pronounce them and learn their relative importance in the year.
  2. Never use any variation of “Well if I’m in, you should be in as well” responsibility and work are nearly always linked to remuneration, or to put it more simply, you tend to be paid more than they are so they are not supposed to be doing as much as you.
  3. Don’t pit yourself against the more important real life things. Your monthly report is not more important than their only child’s graduation. Use your judgment rather than your ego.
  4. Learn to handle the truth. Anybody who is responsible to you should be able to bring you any related problem in confidence that you will work to make it better, you might be upset, you might even utter a few swear words, but you must not aim it at them, this is now a shared problem and your goal is to help them and to solve it. Do not scream at them, do not take out your anger, fear or whatever on them. They have brought you the truth, If you freak out no one will bring you the truth again. You will have proved yourself incapable of handling it.
  5. Do not allow familiarity to breed contempt, This is quite a common one. Someone does something amazing and everyone is impressed, but the next time they go that extra mile, people are less impressed and they get less praise, so now there’s now less reason for them to go above an beyond. Judge each time someone is amazing as a stand alone action, and if they do it a lot promote them or provide a longer term reward.
  6. Most importantly never ever, EVER throw them under a bus, you must stand in front of your team or department and take the hit if there is a major issue. after the problem as been resolved there might be repercussions internally, but you stand united and you back them during the time of the crisis against a third party.