Here's what we're looking for, is this you?
We're looking for a talented marketing executive with a flare for digital and social communications. Being organised will be key to your success as our small team will bounce ideas regularly and we look for your ability to take 'mind dumps' of ideas and turn them into quality content.
We'd like a presence of relevant content on our social media platforms (primarily Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn), whilst keeping our blogs up to date with engaging content.
Newsletters via Mailchimp and also a quarterly printed version will be handled by the Marketing Executive and having the confidence to suggest new ways to improve our presence is always welcomed/encouraged.
Our websites are easy to edit with an intuitive CMS available, and Shopify experience also advantageous for our poster printing store.
Aside from the above, as a marketing enthusiast you can expect to utilise all your planning, analyse, brainstorming, communication and general core marketing skills.
Your dream job pops up, and you're confident you've got the skills and attitude to succeed in the role. Unfortunately getting a job isn't like buying a new outfit, and if it was, you'd be the outfit not the buyer. So how do you, the personified everyday functional outfit, get lifted off the shelve and taken home (to the office)?
Before even touching your CV/Resume ( or
résumé
to be properly fancy
), there are steps well worth taken to help you succeed.
Skimming by and getting the gist simply isn't the best tactic. Many job descriptions have 'hidden' requirements or questions within the body of the advert, or often at the end. In our Marketing Executive advert (linked above) we asked applicants to let us know why the part-time role appeals to them because we understand it's the ideal flexibility for some but others would see it as a stepping stone towards a full time similar position. Unsurprisingly, the majority of candidates simply haven't answered their question in their cover letter - if indeed giving us a cover letter at all! Don't fall down at the first hurdle, read the advert before you start your application. Give yourself the maximum opportunity to meet the advertised role.
Note-taking is generally a good practise to get in to.
As you read through the advert (see advice point 1...), take notes of things you need to address or stuff you might want to highlight.
Everyone's different, so we're just going to imagine a scenario and how someone would tackle it with useful notes.
Advert
: Meticulous individual required.
Note:
Run a spell check through application, then proof read, then pass over to a highly educated individual to give a second proof.
Note 2:
Give a proven example of this skill from a previous role, e.g. working as an editor for an online news company and the editors course you completed to aid it - with attention to detail at the heart of the work.
Advert:
We're looking for someone as passionate about the environment as we are.
Note:
Be sure to mention the CSR functions of my last position and my active engagement in various eco-rallies in recent years.
Many will wait until they hopefully get an interview to do their homework - but the research phase can strengthen your application. The better you understand the company, the easier it'll be to tailor your application effectively and grab their attention.
Check out their website, their social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and beyond) and any news stories based on them to gain a rounded view on the company.
Top tip: On LinkedIn you may be able to find employees either in the same role, or having previously held the role you're applying for. Why is this helpful? You can see what qualifications and experience they had and perhaps learn something about what the company looks for in applicants. This is a useful practise in general, to help plan your route to your dream job.
We could spend much longer thinking of prep tips, but let's be fair to the article title - it's all about the CVs today. So, let's start looking at the actual design and content of your lovely resume.
Sending someone a 6 page CV is unlikely to grip their attention, but rather put them off reading it. Perhaps imagine your CV is you standing up in a circle of applicants to give a 2 minute introduction to you and why you're so great. 2 minutes is fine, it should be enough time to sell yourself without waffling on but also it's short enough that you'll have to carefully select what to mention - you want the best content shared.
Generally, 2 page CVs are recommended. These are ideal if you have a fair amount of experience and education, it gives you the space to properly explain your relevance and excellence without missing anything out or droning on.
1 page CVs are brilliant if you're good at being concise. These can be very digestible and visually appealing. Again, let's imagine a coworker saying 'Sorry mate, can you spare 30 seconds to check this for me?' compared with 'Hey mate, got 10 minutes?', the former is almost impossible to ignore, the latter might seem a chore. Your interview is where you'll be going into proper depth and making lasting impressions - think of the CV as a punchy appetiser to get the mouth-watering at your skill set.
Top tip:
Don't base your content around a template, base the template around the content!
This works both ways, if you find it difficult to condense all your experience into a one page style, then you should be looking at a 2 page design. Don't take away quality content for the sake of a pretty design. Similarly, padding out a page of content with fluff doesn't do you any favour.
In summary, write out all the content you are confident you want to include in your CV before you consider design. Having all the information ready to copy paste into the right format is better than designing something not suitable for purpose!
Notice that we've switched from numbering our points (1. 2. 3.) to letting (A. B. C.)?
This is just us being painfully hilarious. Don't do this.
Keep it consistent, otherwise your work looks sloppy and your attention to detail appears poor.
There are a number of things to check, here are just a few to be aware of:
As a good rule of thumb, less is more for CVs.
Too many fonts or too many colours can make a CV look busy and uncomfortable.
Pick a font for headings, and a font for body (or use the same for both). If you really want to highlight something a third font could be useful but only use it if necessary.
Following a colour scheme can be a good idea and there are many blogs on colours that work well together - and also what the colours represent. For example, green is a good colour to promote the idea of eco-friendly and would be ideal for headers/impact in a CV geared towards showing you're an individual that cares for the environment.
Top tip: Find out what colour scheme the company your applying for uses, theme your CV to their colours to subliminally make you feel an instant comfortable fit.
We appreciate it's exciting to create your own design, and we're confident that a lot of non-designers can make something brilliant.
However, this is just recommending caution - there are lots of common mistakes to worry about when putting something together. With thousands of free high quality templates available online, save yourself some time by picking something out and tweaking it.
Professional designers study fonts, spacing, sizing, arrangement, highlights, etc etc. Trust in them.
Throughout this, we keep getting reminded of 'Menu Engineering', a study we look at often for our SuperTuffMenus® brand. In a nutshell, it's a way of tweaking a menu to increase profits and although a CV is clearly different we can definitely draw a lot of useful tips from it. However, that's for another day, we'll update this article with a link to 'How to use Menu Engineering principles on your CV' when we write it...
Top tip: Remember the most important part of the template isn't the aesthetics! You need to ensure your content fits with the template, don't pick the prettiest design if it won't fit in all your information or will have too much blank space at your lack of lengthy/relevant content. We've seen cool templates with a map of the world used to display the languages people can speak, that's great and fun... but if you only speak English and basic French then don't bother with a chunky map to show how non-linguistic you are.
Now... it's Friday and clocking off time... but after a glorious weekend we expect many more applications and likely an extension of this article with more CV tips!
Happy applying!
Created by Olive + Ash.
Managed by Olive Street Design. 
