Social impact career experts advise on CVs, networking, and more

If you’re pursuing a global development or social impact career, you have a lot of competition when it comes to landing your next role. Your approach to CV writing, networking, and job interviews needs to be in line with the best practices of the day to stand out from the crowd. ”It's really important to put the time and effort into really customizing your CV [and] your application for every position that you're applying for,” advised Caroline Korda Poole, the founder of the Centered Career coaching service, in response to a question on development CVs during a recent Devex Careers Event. Korda Pool was joined by Stephanie Mansueto, a social impact job hunting coach and a principal recruiter at Abt Associates, and Mike O’Connor, a career consultant and founder of The Actualized Self, to help professionals navigate their career paths and the many questions that arise along the way. Here are a few questions that came up during the event with a sampling of advice from our expert panel. The responses have been edited for length and clarity. I had to take a two-and-a-half-year career break due to family reasons. What are the recommended steps to return to humanitarian work? Mansueto: Employment breaks are not uncommon, whether they be due to parental leave, taking care of an aging parent, or just taking a year off because you just want to travel, and they’re not seen as negatively as they may have once been. Also, remember that you're not obligated to tell an employer why you took that break, as it could be for a very personal reason, but transparency can be helpful on a CV. You should feel comfortable noting on your CV when and broadly why these breaks occurred. Also, consider talking about them from a positive standpoint in terms of what you got from that career break. It might have been pursuing a personal goal that helped you reflect on your career and where you want to take it next, for example. How can I project confidence when writing a cover letter for a job application? O’Connor: Cover letters can be a differentiator, and I think speaking really specifically, in that opening paragraph, to how the values of the organization latch to you personally and make you want to work for said organization. You're trying to hit them with a hook of “This is why I want this, and this is why I’m applying for this.” So in the intro, you’re focused on the why, and the body is really about your background that is pertinent to the specific thing that you're applying for. You don’t want to regurgitate the content that's on your resume as much as shape it in a way so that the reader can see how it is specific to the job you’re applying for. What are some best practices for making real and valuable connections on LinkedIn? Korda Poole: As the person you’re trying to connect with could be swamped with many messages and connection requests, it's always nice if there is some actual existing connection to reference. Maybe it’s someone that you know through your alumni network, or another friend or colleague, or someone you in the community [who could make an introduction for you]. I will always, always respond to somebody that comes from someone in my network who is making that introduction. Another way to set up some context for having something in common with someone is to do a little research on them. Read their Linkedin posts, and because you can go to their page and look at their activity and kind of see what they talk about, and see what they've been saying, and then, when you reach out to them, reference that. Make it about them, not about you.