CV writing books by Paula Stenberg from New Zealand.
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CV Style

Welcome to CV Style's website (and virtual brochure). We are a New Zealand company with offices in Auckland CBD. With today's competitive job market, it is even more important that one creates a CV/résumé/curriculum vitae which will articulate what your distinctions are from other people. What is your X factor? And how can you put that X factor into your CV. We do not offer a templated online service which tends to equalise you with everyone else, but rather our consultations are face to face. This allows that necessary dialogue which is so critical to ensure that we can project you in the best possible way and with the most potential for your capabilities and abilities.

CV Style Profile

CV Style has been operating since 1996. Paula Stenberg saw a niche market in providing a boutique CV writing practice. This service provides the typographical design of CV documents, together with a structured behaviourally-anchored interview process that gleans from clients their competencies, skills, abilities and strengths.

CV Style produce a variety of CV products for their customers to choose from in relation to the customer's budget and needs. All of these have exclusive content design structures which form the basis of the company's intellectual property and are copyright protected.

In 1996, the founder (Paula Stenberg) wrote a book which was published by Tandem Press entitled "Write Your Own CV". This book documented one of her product lines and was on the Top 10 list, rated number 4 by the New Zealand Institute of Management in March 1997. Since that time the book is in its 2nd edition with the first being sold out. Republished 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006. Now under the imprint of Random House.

CV Style's managing-director Paula Stenberg is a qualified journalist and certified careers practitioner, advertorial writer and author.

CV Style assures their clients of complete discretion and integrity, and conducts itself in a professional and ethical manner.

Top Ten Job Searching Tips

How many of these have you read? Here we go again, but this time I am concentrating on those matters which have emerged over the last two to three years, that we often neglected or failed to use in the past; mainly it's to do with new technology.

1. Get a professional email address.
   Ditch your school one or pseudonmym name especially if it's like this: babyangel at gmail.com (I can't put it in its usual format as the AI of the search engine Bing decides to make it my contact email address). Now is the time to professionalise yourself, use your proper name or professional name.
2. Google yourself.
   Sounds egotistic doesn't it? But just in case you wrote something many years ago, and it raises its head to bite you in the foot, it is better to check what is out there on you in cyber space. As an example, I had written several poems years ago, and put them up on the web to enter an online competition; but little did I know they had changed the copyright date to last year which altered the whole meaning of the poem as it was time sensitive. Also you don't want to be saying things which you may regret later. Also while we are at it, blog your email address, telephone number and address as well, all these can leave a digital footprint exposing yourself to other information which you may wish to keep private.
   
3. Add your email address to your CV or résumé.
   How many times do I see this omission?
   
4. Start blogging.
   This is a free way of getting yourself known and building your profile. There are many blogger sites, including this one. The advantage of Blogger is that it is owned by Google and, therefore, your tagged information may appear in the rankings higher than others using different blog accounts.
5. Register on online job sites.
   There are many: www.seek.com, www.TradeMe/jobs.co.nz, and also check out your local newspaper online listings.
6. Use social networking sites to your advantage.
   Make a special professional Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo etc account specifically to your work environment, keep your personal social networks to your friends.
7. Network.
   Join societies, organisations and clubs associated to your career. Check out the Yellow Pages and online directories to see what is available, then network with these people. They will know of new openings and people in the know who will help you.
   
8. Specialize – Become a Subject Matter Expert.
   A sophisticated society has many specialist roles, therefore, the more specialised you are or can become, the more expertise you can provide, and more value to an employer's team. But don't forget to be a generalist in all areas connected with your career.
9. Lead from your strengths.
   If you know what you are good at, or above average, or just brilliant at ... then move from that area first. If you are good at public speaking then use that as your primary form of accentuating your strengths.
10. Mitigate your weaknesses.
    Similar to number nine. Play down your weaknesses. Avoid (especially in those first couple of meetings) those things that you are not so good at, or generally don't like doing. This could be as simple as handwriting (if you feel yours is too messy), or keyboarding (if you are too slow), or anything you feel may jeopardize your chances of a job.
    

Paula Stenberg 2009

Consultation Process

When people book in for a CV consultation, they often wonder what they should bring with them. So here I have developed a list of useful items to have on standby.

• an old CV (we can use as a base, foundation or a starting point to develop your new CV);
• written references (these are handy because we are reading about you from another person, any material from the references we can use 'pull quotes' and add them into your CV building credibility);
• performance appraisals (again a handy tool for us, as they let us look at you from an employer's perspective; these performance appraisals usually have major projects that you may have worked on, we can then convert these projects into achievement based statements; they also have comments that we can project into the CV – and we only ever accentuate the positive);
• personality profiles (again we use this material to help paint a profile of yourself within the CV);
• job advertisements (these are jobs you are wanting to go for, they are useful as they have key words and terminology that you may wish to use);
  
• job descriptions (both your current role or past role, and also the future role you wish to target – anything we cite from here will be credible);
• portfolio (a folio providing samples of what you do).

All these items are good resources for us to help us write and articulate your most salient features.

School Leavers: What distinctions do you have?

For those of you who are contemplating on leaving school, or are actually in the process, writing up your CV can be a daunting task, especially when you are unsure how to 'sell' yourself, or when your experience is limited.

Below I have outlined some ideas that you may wish to consider when thinking about your Point of Difference i.e. what makes you different and special in your own unique way. To help you think about this you will need to reflect on your distinctions, here are some idea starters to get you going:

• Youth Club member (e.g. archery)
• Youth Group member (e.g. church – but do not put the denomination)
• School debating team
• Scouting/Girl Guide Leader
• Peer Support Leader
• Drama Club or similar
• School Librarian
• Contributions to the school magazine (e.g. writer, editor, photographer, etc)
• School prize winner (e.g. essay)
• Merit certificate(s) (e.g. Merit Certificate in English – 1st in Class)
• Prefect
• Head Captain, Class Captain, etc
• Duke of Edinburgh Award (Gold, Silver or Bronze)
• AFS Student (e.g. AFS Student exchange to France)
• School orchestra, choir
• Student Representative
• Representations in school sports (e.g. Colours in swimming, representative in school hocky team, etc)
• Awards
• Scholarships
• School activity clubs (e.g. computer, history)
• School productions

In fact think of anything that shows your active involvement in the school community.
Written by Paula Stenberg

How to Write Achievements

When developing your CV a major focus will be to concentrate on what achievements you encountered in the positions you have fulfilled.

Achievements can be drawn from a review of your performance appraisal where you can check what projects you were involved with, or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you had to measure up to. Then re-write these as achievements.

To help you with this, I have compiled a selection of accomplishment based verbs I like to use when constructing people's CV:

Turned around ...
E.g. Turned around the company's loss into a profitable venture within 7 months.

Accelerated ...
E.g. Accelerated the ROA by focusing on corporate finance.

Executed ...
E.g. Executed asset purchase of Whitcoulls in Australia.

Consolidated ...
E.g. Consolidated 29 warehouses down to 4 generating annual savings of $5.8m.

Generated ...
E.g. Generated over 100 key client profiles.

Launched ...
E.g. Launched systems engineering group to managed predictive failure analysis, root cause analysis and remediation projects.

Surpassed ...
E.g. Surpassed all regulatory compliance standards despite issues negatively impacting product performance.

Spearheaded ...
E.g. Spearheaded prototype development of next generation products.

Enhanced ...
E.g. Enhanced product manufacturability with the introduction of an in-house systems engineering and design group.

Initiated ...
E.g. Initiated human resources partnerships with key operating divisions worldwide to drive common vision and achieve financial objectives.

Championed ...
E.g. Championed development of offshore operations to reduce labour and overhead costs associated with food product manufacturing.

Increased ...
E.g. Increased ROA on real estate investment by 26%.

Saved ...
E.g. Saved $4.6m by reducing headquarters space by 30%.

Reduced ...
E.g. Reduced costs by 20% by putting in place strong inventory controls.

Created ...
E.g. Created a worldwide international sales organisation through direct, VAR, reseller and mass merchant channels.

Instituted ...
E.g. Instituted a new procedure to increase efficiency by 40%.

Restructured ...
E.g. Restructured corporate pricing on all major product lines and delivered a 12% margin improvement.

Upgraded ...
E.g. Upgraded the computer system to SAP.

Aggressively ...
E.g. Aggresssively marketed the launching of the Dolby Prologic stereos in the markeplace.

Assumed a key role in ...
Played a pivotal role in ...
Played an instrumental role in ...

Pioneered ...
E.g. Pioneered innovative organisational development initiatives including pay for performance, diversity management, process redesign and change management.

Abated ...
E.g. Abated the number of problems from staff relating to the introduction of a new machine.

Streamlined ...
E.g. Streamlined corporate operating infrastructure.

Actively participated ...
E.g. Actively participated in company driven initiatives and committees.

Realigned ...
E.g. Realigned product mix and captured a 12% margin improvement.

Revitalised ...
E.g. Revitalised corporation and introduced market-driven management systems to accelerate revenue growth against competition.

Fostered ...
E.g. Fostered employee empowerment and participated management practices throghout the manufacturing organisation.

Improved ....
E.g. Improved occupancy ratings by 27% within the highly competitive corporate travel market.

Co-founded ...
E.g. Co-founded the company's social newsletter.

Founded ...
E.g. Founded the Institute for Editors in New Zealand.

Expedited ...
E.g. Expedited the elimination of bulk wastage resulting in a reduction of expenditure.

Leveraged ...
E.g. Leveraged the company's position into the marketplace with strong brand development.

Strategised ...
E.g. Strategised and implemented TouchTone's first ever corporate risk management insurance.

Orchestrated ...
E.g. Orchestrated complex due diligence reviews in co-operation with outside financial advisers, accountants and legal counsel.

Captured ...
E.g. Captured the niche market in scrapbooking, gaining competitive advantage.

Outmanoeuvred ...
E.g. Outmanoeurved competition in a selective field.

Penetrated ...
E.g. Penetrated the brand into new emerging markets.

Positioned ...
E.g. Positioned the company ...

Quadruped ...
E.g. Quadrupled sales within 6 months of tenure.

Significantly ...
E.g. Significantly increased sales from 12% to 50% within one year.

Troubleshooted ...
E.g. Troubleshooted technical problems and glitches in the mainframe system.

Chosen ...
E.g. Chosen to lead a team of 50 support personnel.

Requested ...
E.g. Requested to join a select committee.

Invited ...
E.g. Invited as a guest speaker to give a talk at the Career Counsellors' Association Conference in 1998.

Selected ...
E.g. Selected by the CEO to direct a cross-functional team evaluating potential re-engineering, change management and technology acquisitions.

Awarded ...
E.g. Awarded the Salesperson of the Year Award in 1999 within the company (a nationwide context held annually each year).

Yielded ...
E.g. Yielded a large gross profit margin for the introduction of a new product line.

Negotiated ...
E.g. Negotiated $2.5m in World Bank project financing for economic development programmes in Niue.

Expanded ...
E.g. Expanded the company's market into South East Asia.

Resolved ...
E.g. Resolved staff downtime by putting into place whole team/project approach based job descriptions.

Introduced ...
E.g. Introduced proactive management techniques to strengthen focus on cost avoidance and elimination within each manufacturing process.

There are many more but these will get you started.
Paula Stenberg ©