Your CV – the most important document you will ever write..

Firstly, I may rant here (which is, after all what a blog is for). So forgive me getting on my high horse, but this is a post very close to my heart and I feel the need to share.

Your CVs is the first thing a potential employer will see. It is the document on which you are judged, and has to represent you and your career to date, whether that’s at its earliest stages, or a story which unfolds across forty years. Which is the most compelling reason for you to become proficient at writing this document, making sure it’s accurate and correcting the spelling and formatting. I’m horrified to count how many CVs I receive with misspellings, varied fonts, and strange bullet-pointed creations…..

The Guardian wrote an article advocating using a professional CV writer, stating that candidates often “struggle with a variety of problems; such as incorrect English, not knowing how to structure a CV and not knowing how to best highlight their most relevant strengths.” I say: If these are things you struggle with then you absolutely have to learn to do them properly. A CV is an evolving document over a professional lifetime and if you can’t be bothered to run a spell check over it, or get a friend/ colleague to proof read, it makes us recruiters question your commitment to the job searching process.

But help is out there, and as for learning how to structure a CV, there are general formats you can follow, but find them online - for free - then adapt them to your own experience. There are general rules of thumb which can apply; for example, if you are writing a technical CV then a skills matrix works, an achievements section is always good, and if you are a project manager then bringing things in on time and within budget is key. But aim for clarity, simplicity, making relevant points, and above all else it needs to be accurate! Trust me, if your CV isn’t accurate, you are massively reducing your chances of being shortlisted, hiring managers notice this sort of thing.

The jobs market is tough, and there is a very real need to spend time on your job applications; make them stand out and show you have put some thought into it. I completely understand that this is tedious and time consuming, and the longer the job search goes on the more soul-destroying this can become. But to give yourself the best chance, attention to detail and accuracy is so important. I can’t stress it enough.

February 2012

Competency-based Interviewing.... friend or foe?

Several people have asked me recently about competency-based interviewing. So what exactly is it, why do organisations use it, and why does it strike fear into the hearts of otherwise perfectly confident interviewees?

In its simplest terms, competencies measure what people can do. Competency interviewing is basically applying situational examples to core know-how required for the job. For example, in a role which deals with customers, you may be asked: "tell me about a time when you dealt with a difficult customer?" or for roles involving people management: "tell me about a time when you came across conflict in the team, and how did you handle it?"

Lucy Mills, Head of Culture and Performance at BBI says: “Interviewers will often want to hear about a departure from the norm, such as when something went wrong, or when you had to think quickly and be flexible to make it work, rather than just an example of your day-to-day responsibilities. Nothing goes perfectly to plan all the time, and how people handle the rough times is a good measure of their flexibility and tenacity under pressure”.

So what are the pros and cons?

Well in its favour, it is a uniform, non-discriminatory way to compare candidates across the requirements for the role. It’s a level playing field, and a great opportunity for you to really highlight your achievements and experience in a pragmatic way. You can prepare effectively in structured manner, and can avoid that blank moment when an interviewer asks you something you haven’t thought about!

However one challenge with competency based interviewing is not knowing what they interviewer is trying to unpick. If they ask you about handling conflict, are they interested in your management style generally or do they have a dysfunctional team? Have their had experience with a manager previously whose style went against the culture of the company? It is important to do your research on them as well as your own prep, find out what their organisational culture and values are, and make sure you are aligned. Examples which are too extreme, or to which they can’t relate, might be detrimental.

How can you best prepare for competency based interviews?

Avoid generalisations; the more specific your answer, the more credible it is. How exactly did you solve the problem, and think on your feet under pressure? Keep it business-focused not personal, and be prepared to answer questions relating to your emotional intelligence; if your answer is about dealing with conflict or change, it’s possible that tempers ran high, and working effectively with people, whether they be colleagues, peers, suppliers or staff, is key in every role.

Always pick the best example, which might not be the textbook one. This might be a time when you outperformed and dealt with a particular situation really well, or it might be a time when something went really badly, but you learned a valuable lesson from it which has stood you in good stead since. This takes a bit of thinking about; a lot of people aren’t particularly comfortable selling themselves for fear of appearing arrogant, and it also takes some nerve to admit you didn’t handle something well. Your recruitment consultant should be able to guide you as to the culture of the company and the nature of the interviewer, to help you pitch this appropriately.

Often one situation can encompass multiple competencies. For example, if a project was going off track then bringing this back in line would require a whole raft of competencies, including flexibility, communication, relationship management, customer facing skills, leadership, and decision-making under pressure. Don’t be afraid of highlighting this in conversation.

And finally, competency based interviewing – like anything else - gets easier with practice. The more thought which goes into the preparation, the easier it will be come.

To discuss the roles that are available within BBI, please contact Helen on

careers@britishbiocell.co.uk, check out our vacancies online or follow us on Twitter: @HelenAtBBI