Making the Shortlist:

CV Workshop

11th August 2008

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Agenda

• What this session is about?

• What is a CV?

• How to write a “killer” CV?

• Common CV pitfalls

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Objective of today’s session

Help you understand the art and

science of writing a good CV

This session is meant to be… …and NOT …

“Useful for you” - a session to give you A pre-placement talk

a jumpstart on CV making
A lecture on consulting
“As you want it” – with lots of live
examples A part of the evaluation process

“An interesting and interactive Boring ☺

session” – Informal and fun

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Agenda

• What this session is about?

• What is a CV?

• How to write a “killer” CV?

• Common CV pitfalls

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What is a CV?

A Curriculum Vitae is your first

1 communication with your potential
employer – mostly, in your absence

Curriculum It is your marketing tool – companies

Vitae Tests 2
use CVs to identify potential candidates

Personal Group During initial short-listing, the panel

Interviews Discussions 3 spends less than 5 minutes on a
resume!

It doesn’t end with short-listing. It is the

4 anchor for your personal interview –
Be comfortable with it!

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IIT Bombay – the rules of the game

Three types of resumes No major restrictions on Fixed time-line for

allowed for submission content, structure and flow submission defined

• One 1-pager Standard student information • To be announced by the IIT

1-Pager (Name, DOB, CPI etc.) Bombay Placement Team
allowed for
specific • For 1-pagers, only one-fifth of
the page to be used
companies • For 2-pagers, one-fourth of the
first page to be used

+ ASC
+
generated
content
2-Pager
• Two 2-pagers
allowed – typically
one management
and one technical

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How does a typical IITB CV look?

Sample 1-Page CV

Five major sections in a CV

• Academic section:
– Consists of ASC generated student and
1 academic information
– Other scholastic achievements

2 • Positions of Responsibility
– Leadership positions held by the candidate

• Awards and Honours

– Medals/Certificates/Special Mentions

3 • Projects and Internships

– Academic/Non-academic projects and
4 internships undertaken

• Extracurricular activities
5 – Participation in other extra-curricular
activities

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How does a typical IITB CV look?

Sample 2-Page CV

4a

4b

No major structural
3 difference between
the two except that
one is more detailed

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Agenda

• What this session is about?

• What is a CV?

• How to write a “killer” CV?

• Common CV pitfalls

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5 steps for a killer CV

Think “achievements”
Think “evolution” • What have you accomplished so far?
• Whose opinions should you • What are your major strengths and
take? weaknesses?
• How should you incorporate Review 1
feedback?
your CV Know
5 yourself

Think “impact” 2
Write
• How would you write
in a way that conveys your CV Know
outcomes or impact? your Think “research”
4 • What is the employer
target
Plan looking for?
your 3 • What types of students
message have they recruited in
the past?
Think “selling”
• How will you tell your story in a
compelling, effective way?
• How are you going to highlight
your uniqueness?
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1 Know yourself

List down all achievements and

activities

Filter on the basis of impact/ end-

result

Understand self’s strengths,

weaknesses, successes and failures
– Derive from past experiences
– Talk to seniors/wing-mates
ments”
Think “achieve
ccomplished
• What have you a
so far?
ajor
• What are your meaknesses? Categorize achievements and check
strengths and w for emerging “spikes”

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1 Know yourself – Case example

Strength Weak-
(quality ness (if
Activity Achievements reflected) any)
Founded a Student company, Leadership ...
website average hits of
Mobilemart.com 2000/month
Selected as top Passion ...
enterprise in a
SJMSOM competition
Invited for guest ... ...
lecture on it
5 publicity articles in ... ...
national media

ments” Poster from Presented a poster in Problem- ...

Think “achieve
ccomplished research in PT an international solving
• What have you a conference
so far?
ajor
• What are your meaknesses? Based on PT work Dedication ...
strengths and w (which also gave
performance bonus)

... ... ... ...

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2 Know your target

First, define your target

Research! Research! Research!

• Attend all talks/PPT
• Reach out to the presenters – take their contact
• Talk to alums/old-friends in the company

Understand what the qualities mean

(e.g., what is problem-solving?)

h”
Think “researc
ployer What they
• What is the em Consulting Co. I-Bank (front-end) Technology firms
e
looking for in th are
position? looking
udents • Problem-solving • Problem-solving • Academic concepts
• What types of st d in for?
(analytical) (analytical) – esp.
ite
have they recru • Academic
the past? • Communication with numbers performance –
• Teamwork • Academic department, rank, CPI
performance – • Research excellence
• Drive/ Aspiration/ department, rank,
Passion (signified CPI • Problem-solving
by “spikes”) • Programming
• Communication
languages
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3 Plan your messages

Put the “relevant-spikes” lens –

depth in a relevant area is more
impactful than breadth in many
• There’s no necessity to have a
spike
• A spike with no relevance is of
little value

Po-
Get the order right – what Acad- sition Inter-
Sports
should go on the first page? emics of nship
resp.

”
Think “selling
ll your story in a
• How will yo te tive way?
u Do a “hygiene” check – is the
compelling, effec CV consistent and coherent?
ng to articulate
• How are you goi ?
your uniqueness

Best-practice: Elevator-
story - If you had 30
seconds with Prashant,
what would you tell him?
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3 Plan your messages – Case example

Three questions to ask yourselves,

• What are the “relevant – spikes”, if any?
• Is the grouping of points and order of points useful?
• Is the CV coherent and consistent as a whole – what’s
the feel?

”
Think “selling
ll your story in a
• How will yo te tive way?
u
compelling, effec
ng to articulate
• How are you goi ?
your uniqueness

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4 Write your CV (1/2)

4a. Content
“Impact, not activities” - Companies are more
interested in knowing what you have achieved, delivering
“impact” first is ideal
“Use numbers” – Wherever possible, use numbers to
quantify impact. Numbers add significant weight to your
claim
“Be Relevant” – Don’t include personal details that
have no relevance (e.g., political views, favourite EPL
club)

4b. Style
“Concise, crisp sentences” – Avoid using long,
” confusing, repetitive sentences (e.g., Demonstrated, in a
Think “impact
write in a way, leadership capabilities by…; A paper, in all
• How would you impact?
ys probability, is expected out of this research)
way that conve
“Action verbs” – Start with action verbs, wherever
possible, to increase impact (e.g., Organized,
Coordinated, Assessed, Evaluated, Conducted)
“Sell subtly, don’t oversell” – Do not over-engineer
your cause. Selling is crucial, but in the right way

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4 Write your CV (2/2)

4c. Language
Grammar: Give preference for active voice – more
impactful, get your grammar double-checked. Use short
sentences instead of long sentences
Words: No room for slang and abbreviations
(e.g., interned with EPFL)
Punctuations: Use proper punctuations. Avoid tendency
to include everything in one sentence by using commas

Spellings: Use spell-check ☺

4d. Looks
Consistent: Be consistent with your writing format. (e.g., If
you are putting dates in square brackets – [ ] – always put
”
Think “impact them in square brackets)
write in a
• How would you impact? Avoid Excessive highlighting:
ys
way that conve
• Use maximum of two formats ( bold, italic, underline,
CAPS, (brackets)) to highlight
• Don’t follow “Spray and Pray” – use highlighting judiciously
Font: Use a true-type, conventional font (e.g., Arial, Times
New Roman). Avoid very small font-size (must be greater
than 10). Make sure that the bullet-spacing is consistent
and paragraphs are justified
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4 Write your CV – Case example

Check for the following,

• Content – is it conveying the right message with
impact? Is it relevant?
• Style – Are the sentence lengths ok? Action-verbs?
Overselling?
• Language – Active voice? Grammar?
”
Punctuations? Slangs and abbreviations?
Think “impact
write in a
• How would you impact? • Looks – Looks great at first reaction? Readable?
ys
way that conve Consistent? Spray and pray type?

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5 Review your CV
5a. People who should review your CV

Seniors in your target organization: Take organization

specific inputs from them

Friends: Check whether your key strengths are coming

out or not

Family members in corporate world: Check whether

your key strengths are coming out or not. How does your
CV fare against the best they have seen?

5b. “Watch out for” areas before finalizing your CV

Don’t over-sell yourself: Always remember your CV will be

on”
Think “evoluti referred to during the recruitment process many times. So,
should
Whose opinions be yourself
you take?
u
How should yo
dback?
incorporate fee
Be focused in selecting achievements for your CV:
• Don’t mention various participations to show enthusiasm
• Focus on your key strengths, they are enough to sail you
through

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Agenda

• What this session is about?

• What is a CV?

• How to write a “killer” CV?

• Common CV pitfalls

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PITFALLS
What some of you might think?
I can exaggerate!
• Firms don’t understand the campus – I
can magnify the scope and importance of
my work
• I can build up my project work to make it
sound significant
I should go broad and deep!
• I must mention all events I ‘participated’ in
to show enthusiasm
• I must mention each and every position of
responsibility I ever had
Must use management jargon!
Using a lot of terms like “executive
organiser” & “proactive leadership” will
impress the recruiters
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What is generally true?
We know IIT Bombay
• Firms which have IITB alumni who have
recently graduated and are up-to-date
with campus trends - they are closely
consulted for resume screening
• Recruiters are careful to judge the impact
you had from your claimed project work
We want winners
• Unless competing was significant
success!
• Choose the top few, other positions will
only distract the recruiter from your real
achievements
We appreciate simple, precise truth
• Resume screeners cut through the jargon
to identify valuable impact – the more the
jargon, the more difficult it is for them to
be impressed by you
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