Webinar: Your guide to a standout consulting CV

As an independent consultant, it’s likely you have a lot of experience to fit into one CV. Still, it’s important to keep your CV precise and succinct, while still showcasing your accomplishments and level of expertise. It’s equally important to tailor your CV to specific postings and clients, and ensure that it’s up to date with your latest experience. In a Devex Career Account online event, Kate Warren, executive vice president of Devex, gave her expert advice on how to create a standout CV specifically for development consultants. From the basic elements you should include, to the differences between a consulting CV versus others, to optimizing a CV for digital recruitment, she talked through the ins and outs of how to create a top consulting CV. Here are the top three key takeaways. 1. Optimizing your CV for digital recruitment Recruitment has become much more digitized in recent years. It’s increasingly important to make sure your CV is optimized for digital recruitment. Using core keywords, particularly in the “key qualifications” section at the beginning of the CV, is essential. Likewise, including any languages or donor experience you have is also highly important in order to show up in search results. “In this day and age, most likely, if you are applying to positions, you are submitting [your CV] online,” Warren noted, adding that a CV is often passed through a recruitment tracking system that scans for keywords related to the job posting. Additionally, you may have uploaded your CV to a database, such as Devex, which recruiters use to search for people with similar expertise. “The more of those keywords that you have, usually, the higher you rank,” Warren revealed. Have keywords present in your key qualifications section, as well as “peppering” them throughout your CV, mirroring the language used in job descriptions or the websites of organizations where you’re applying. 2. Don’t just say you’re an ‘independent consultant’ As an independent consultant, it’s likely you have a wealth of experience that spans different sectors. However, simply stating you’re an “independent consultant” won’t help recruiters pick up your CV. Be more specific about the particular area you have expertise in. Also, don’t limit yourself to just one sector if you have experience across many. Instead, having multiple CV formats tailored to different fields is perfectly acceptable and, in fact, encouraged. Some professionals may hesitate, but recruiters often appreciate consultants and professionals who do this, Warren revealed. On Devex, you can upload up to five different versions of your CV and label them accordingly. “Most recruiters understand that you’re a multifaceted professional and that there are many experiences you can draw upon,” she added. Warren recommended maintaining both a long and short version of your CV, with the long version serving as a “database of assignments” for your own record. “You can keep a long version of your CV and then just pick and choose those as you need them,” she said, making it easier and more practical to edit and tailor CVs for specific positions or sectors. Additionally, you can keep various versions of your CV tailored to individual donor formats. Find links to the templates for different donors here. 3. Use the ‘CAR’ formula to talk about your experience In the development sector, your CV should be “detail-rich,” which can be different from other sectors, Warren noted. “People tend to talk a lot about their duties rather than their accomplishments,” she said. Recruiters want to know the details of what you have achieved. Make sure you’re presenting the deliverables and the value you bring to clients in your CV. Using the “context, action, results” formula — or CAR — is a great way to do that. This involves, “describing the context of the situation you came into; the actions you took; and then what the results were,” Warren explained. If you missed the webinar, there’s still a chance to catch up. Watch the full recording below or download the slides here.