2. Designing effective self marketing tools
Developing Business Practice – 302LON
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Unit: 8 Knowledgecast: 1

3. Module Learning Outcomes
In this Knowledgecast, we will:
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the importance of independence in learning and the need for a ‘growth’ mindset
Evaluate own skills, competencies and attitudes required for a successful work experience
Develop an effective employment and career development strategy
In this Knowledgecast, we will cover xxx key areas:
Self marketing tools
Developing an effective employment search strategy
Evaluate your own performance in your employment search

4. Module Overview
Unit 1
Developing as a learner 2
Working independently and with others 3
Academic writing 4
Critical thinking, reading and taking notes 5
Using data in your studies 6
Business and management research 7
Career development strategies 8
Effective self marketing tools 9
Successful work experience 10
Personal Development Planning
The modules is built around 3 Elements critical to supporting students make the transition into CULC and for success in their first career step:
Lifelong learning skills
Skills for successful 21st century careers
Your Personal Development Planning

5. 5 Key Strategies for Career Success
Know your skills and strengths
Contact potential employers
Present yourself professionally
Present yourself successfully
Based on:
Cameron (2009)
So far in this module, we have considered 3 of the key strategies to career success. You have:
Developed a vision for the future and your career goals
Reviewed your strengths and the core skills to develop further
Identified your reality (SWOT) and used this to refine your career goals and objectives
Related your skills and strengths to the industries/organisations/job roles you have decided to consider in more detail
Developed your understanding about the industry/organisation/job role
Used your network to raise your profile
Developed your knowledge about yourself to help you define, plan and achieve your goals
In this Knowledgecast, we now move on to consider how to present yourself professionally to potential employers by:
- Understanding the role and impact of a CV
Selecting the most appropriate style of CV
Constructing a successful CV
Supporting your contact with an effective cover letter
Any effective strategy needs to be underpinned by your belief in its success. It is important not to forget the role of Positive Thinking in helping you define your career goals, and how it influences your actions, and the impression, when contacting potential employers.
Positive Thinking

6. The Role of the CV In contrast, a CV shouldn't:
“At the very least, a good CV will ensure you promote yourself
to your best advantage and help secure interviews”
(Michael Page International: Global Recruitment Consultants -
A good CV should:
Present all of your relevant skills and achievements
Tell a story of your professional experience to date
Introduce you as a potential candidate for the role
Reflect your character in your personal statement and interests
In contrast, a CV shouldn't:
Be an exhaustive list of your every achievement, regardless of relevance
Include a lengthy discourse about every course you've ever taken
Contain information just to 'bulk it out'! Being concise will help your reader

7. All CVs should be targeted to the specific job or organisation.
Styles of CV
All CVs should be targeted to the specific job or organisation.
Chronological
Often preferred by employers
Presents professional experience in reverse chronological order
Your most recent experience appears at the top of the list
Skills based
Often used for no direct experience or extensive employment history
Highlights most relevant skills and experience from your life
Academic
Used for applications for post graduate study and teaching
Highlights research, teaching and publications
Every CV you write will be targeted to a specific job or organisation but the format can also vary according to your own circumstances and experience. You can choose the most suitable from a range of typical CV types according to your purpose on each occasion.

8. Identify Employer’s Needs Know what you have to offer
Creating a Winning CV
Identify Employer’s Needs
Research the company
Read the job advert and specifications carefully
Know what you have to offer
Review your own skills, qualities and experiences
Identify the evidence you can use
Make the connections
Look at yourself through the employer’s eyes
Identify what will make you stand out from the rest
Write your CV
Choose your style of CV
Demonstrate what you have to offer and how you fit in
Based on:
CU Careers and Employability Service
When producing a CV, many students:
Fail to identify what the employer is looking for
Under sell and under estimate what they have to offer
Fail to provide the right evidence to support the skills and competences
To create a winning CV, make sure you follow these 4 steps:
1. Identify the Employer’s needs
Read all the information you can find on the company, such as the company website, annual reports, recent news reports
You should also research what is going on in the industry and understand where this organisation fits alongside its competitors
You should also have a sound knowledge of the role you are applying for. If this is unfamiliar, you can use recruitment websites such as for typical job descriptions, or speak to someone who has previous experience of the role
2. Know what you have to offer
Think positively about your strengths and experiences in relation to the needs of your employer
Evidence could come from non-work experiences such as your studies or voluntary work
Use your Core Skills analysis (Unit 2) to identify the key business skills which are transferable across your experiences
3. Make the connections
Take a fresh look at yourself as the employer would see you
What are the things that they would be interested in, finding out more about, excited to see in your profile?
Identify your examples of where you fit the profile, and where you could add value to the organisation
Remember that employers are looking for what they need now, and how you could be an asset for the future
4. Write your CV
Don’t let procrastination spoil your chance to impress
Plan the time to write your CV to put all this work to good use
Use Careers Experts or other contacts for feedback on your CV

9. Structuring Your CV
Usual sections in your CV are:
Personal Details
Contact Details
Personal Statement – Career Profile & Objectives
Education
Employment History & Work Experience
Personal Interests
Additional Skills
Achievements and Awards
Referees
Every CV you write will be targeted to a specific job or organisation but the format can also vary according to your own circumstances and experience. You can choose the most suitable from a range of typical CV types according to your purpose on each occasion.
Source: CU Careers and Employability

10. Transforming the CV
Source:
Brouat (2010
When developing your self marketing tools, you need to be aware of the changing expectations of how employers can view and explore your profile. Technology is rapidly allowing us to make our profiles:
Dynamic and reflective of immediate changes and achievements
Shared openly to our contacts by ourselves (pushed)
Accessed freely by those actively seeking candidates with your profile (pulled)
Brings to life who we are and our achievements through visually engaging, interactive technologies
Provides deeper insight into our achievements through personal recommendations and immediately accessible evidence
You should consider:
What types of information are employers asking for from applicants
How are you using your virtual profile to build and maintain your network
How are you using your virtual profile to market yourself (accurate information, recommendations, appropriate sites)
How can you develop awareness of your profile through blogs, social networking sites

11. How Would CVs Compare?
Source:
Brouat (2010)
Every CV you write will be targeted to a specific job or organisation but the format can also vary according to your own circumstances and experience.
You should be guided by what your potential employers are looking for and asking for. Consider:
Make sure you detail the relevant information and evidence in your CV that immediately demonstrates your suitability to the role
How can you use links to supplement this information, extend an interested employer’s knowledge of the organisations you have worked for, achievements you have made
- How can you use your virtual profile to further engage your potential employer and demonstrate your unique qualities (such as innovation, creativity, IT skills)

12. Winning CV Checklist Source: CU Careers and Employability
Accurate and truthful
Targeted to the job specification and the organisation
Demonstrates all the relevant skills and experience required
Most important facts and evidence are prominent
2 A4 pages in length and easy to /upload
Interesting, logical and easy to read with no spelling mistakes
Includes your contact details and links to your Cover Letter
Formatting your CV
Following a few basic formatting rules is the safest way to produce a readable and attractive CV. Some formatting is desirable to distinguish between different parts of the document. It helps break up the text and should make it easier to read.
do use:
• Bold to highlight headings and subheadings
• Different font sizes to distinguish between headings and other text
• A 11 or 12 point font size
• A font style that is easy to read such as Arial, Helvetica or Times New Roman
• Tables to align columns of writing, but don’t have the borders visible
don’t use:
• Too much bold or nothing will stand out
• Too many variations in font size. It confuses the reader’s eye
• Bold and underlining together, they serve the same purpose and bold is generally preferable
• Background images, they distract attention and make the text harder to read
Source: CU Careers and Employability

13. The Role of the Cover Letter
A good Cover Letter should:
Accompany your CV
Supports your job application, work placement or project opportunity
Links your suitability to the role and organisation
Engages the employer to read about you and your CV with enthusiasm
Be your chance to make a great impression!
Source:
CU Careers and Employability Service
Responding to an advert:
State the post you are applying for, the job reference and where you saw the advert.
Explain why you are suitable for the position.
You should state any technical competencies, skills or appropriate experience that is mentioned in the advert.
Employers use particular criteria to mark an applicant in order to produce a short list of suitable people to interview.
When taking a speculative approach
Explain exactly why you have contacted the company
Explain why you are applying, why you want to work in this area, why you want to work for this company
Demonstrate you have researched the company and have targeted the letter and CV to fit their needs
Making direct contact
If you opt to contact an employer direct then you should have a clear set of questions that you wish to ask, especially if you decide to phone the company.
Whilst telephone approaches can be daunting initially, it could reap the reward that you are looking for and provide inside information that you could not get from other sources.
Make comprehensive and clear notes.
Your covering letter should have clear examples that demonstrate your suitability for a role within the type of company.
Source: CU Careers and Employability

14. Winning Cover Letter Checklist
Your name and contact details
Addressed to a specific person involved in the recruitment process
Demonstrates your knowledge of the organisation and why you will fit in
Highlights key evidence why you are a suitable candidate
1 A4 page in length and easy to /upload
Written in a positive tone of voice
Easy to read with no spelling mistakes
Good cover letters:
• It should be one side of A4
• It should be made up of three to five short paragraphs
• It should contain your address and name
• Try to get the name of someone who is involved in recruitment as this makes a significant difference
when received
• Covering letters should be typed not handwritten (and in same font as your CV)
• If sending in the post, the paper must be the same colour as your CV (ideally cream or white) though of
course it is likely that you will be ing it
• You should not repeat too much information that is covered in the CV
• It should have positive tone and highlight some key pieces of information which connects you to the
opportunity and the reader
• Try to show some knowledge of the company and opportunity and why you would do well in this role
• You must make sure that it is spell checked
Source: CU Careers and Employability

15. Building Your Self-Belief
The beliefs your hold
The rights you give yourself and others
Your behaviour in a range of situations
The results from situations and how you interpret them
affects
affects
The ‘cycle’ happens to us because whatever we believe about ourselves (i.e. our ‘self-concept’) will impact on our behaviour (what we believe affects how we act).
If we relate this to performance: if I believe I am competent I am more likely to be pro-active, do things, take risks, rather than wait for things to happen to me.
Key Question
How might this cycle affect the way that we approach and construct a CV? Can influence:
Care and attention we give to tools that promote ourselves and our achievements
Use of language in describing our strengths and achievements
How we demonstrate the impact of our actions on results
Trying out new ways of promoting yourself and taking a risk
Extent to which we follow up applications and seek feedback
affects
affects

16. What are we going to cover next?
In our next Knowledgecast, we will look at:
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the importance of independence in learning and the need for a ‘growth’ mindset
Evaluate own skills, competencies and attitudes required for a successful work experience
Develop an effective employment and career development strategy
In our next Knowledgecasts in Unit 8, we will be exploring:
- Understanding how to impress with application forms
- Understanding the purpose of interviews and assessment centres
Being successful in interviews and assessment centres
Using excellent presentation skills to engage your audience

17. Knowledgecast Summary
In this Knowledgecast, we have looked at:
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the importance of independence in learning and the need for a ‘growth’ mindset
Value of feedback in developing your CV writing skills
Evaluate own skills, competencies and attitudes required for a successful work experience
Skills for presenting yourself professionally to potential employers
Develop an effective employment and career development strategy
Research and produce a winning CV and Cover Letter to engage potential employers

19. Seminar: Your Elevator Pitch
In your work groups:
Practice Your Elevator Pitch with each of your colleagues
Ask for feedback and suggestions for improvement
Use the Feedback Sheet to record your feedback
Remember, feedback should:
Be clear and concise
Describe behaviour (what you saw or heard)
Be supported by examples
Suggest how to improve

20. Career Skills: Your Elevator Pitch
The Hook
Grab their interest
How can you help with an issue
The Benefit
Give them 3 benefits
Why are you an attractive option?
The Action
Tell them your follow up
What will you do now?
Imagine you just got into a lift with some key person you’ve been desperate to meet and this is your one  and only chance to tell them about yourself. How do you get your key message across in the time it takes the lift to travel to their floor? Your pitch should be delivered naturally and automatically and take no more than a minute or two. It can be done in a number of ways but one common formula is the three-part pitch.
The Three-Part Pitch
Part 1 - The Hook – Grab their interest; why should they listen to you?
Build the pain – think of a problem that this person might have that you can solve.
For example: they have a small budget for a project they are working on but need someone with high
level skills and knowledge.
Part 2 – The Benefits – What are three main benefits of what you have to offer?
Build the pleasure – what solutions can you offer to their problem?
For example: you have the skills and knowledge they need but as a new graduate you can offer your
services more cheaply than those who might have been around the industry a lot longer; you’re also 
really enthusiastic about the project and incredibly keen to learn, with bags of energy and plenty of
spare time.
Part 3 - Action – What will be the follow-up from the interaction?
What do you want to happen as a result of this meeting?
For example: an interview at x time on x date to discuss in more detail how you can be of help to them.

21. Group Activity: Great First Impressions
Make a great impact in your first 5 minutes:
1. Take it in turns to answer the following interview questions:
Tell us about yourself
What do your bring to this organisation
Describe a time, perhaps linked to a challenging task or assignment, when things were difficult and you were working under pressure
2. Ask for feedback from your interviewers
3. Reflect on and record your feedback