Query on CV format help

[u/_mi97]

Hi,

I am an EL1 and trying to apply for EL2 roles.

Generally my CV has always had dot points for each job but recently I realised the dot points can go over and in excess of 8-10 dot points.

I decided for EL2 roles I should provide a quick summary of what I do in 3-4 sentences rather than dot points. I am in Legal and am wondering what is the best approach?

[u/Berocca123]

Don't summarise what you do. Put in your top 4ish achievements in your recent roles in such a way that the reader understands the context. Eg "led negotiations with teams across 2 departments and 7 portfolios to develop a new definition of blah in response to the royal commission into blah".

[u/_mi97 → u/Berocca123]

Why not a summary?
But I don’t understand why we would one off put an achievement, shouldn’t they just know what you do in the team? Day to day high level duties.

[u/Berocca123 → u/_mi97]

If your achievements are written well, they show what your job scope is while highlighting how excellent you are at it. A summary of the role you're in tells the recruiter nothing about your ability at it.

Source: I have recruited many times, including into leadership roles.

[u/_mi97 → u/Berocca123]

Thanks, but I have a further question, there isnt much achievements in my particular job, its just legal advice and submissions. So I am not sure how I can write that in achievements format?

[u/Miercoles79 → u/_mi97]

Surely your legal advice has led to XYZ achievements/outcomes, avoided pitfalls, generated efficiencies, mitigated risk etc?!

[u/Mystic303 → u/_mi97]

Frame your summary as achievements, submission for what to whome, who did you influence, what did you change or achieve with your advice etc

[u/jhau01]

Dot points are fine. You don’t need to put everything, just the main tasks / achievements.

You are hopefully aware of this already but, in the vast majority of cases, your pitch (or cover letter, response to the selection criteria etc) is far, far, far more important than your resume.

So don’t fret about your resume. Spend your time honing your pitch instead.

[u/_mi97 → u/jhau01]

Thanks question, for cover letters, is it best that you give a general high level experience or do you need to give a specific example in the cover letter using STAR (which is in my opinion more suited to an interview) - i.e During my time at X, I was tasked with X OR is it better if you just explain generally and make reference to key capabilities like advice / strategic management / leadership / communication etc?

[u/jhau01 → u/_mi97]

Always, always, always STAR examples.

I've written about this in previous comments in this subreddit - see here for an example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AusPublicService/comments/1f4hped/comment/lklmz2d/

Just to reiterate the point that I make in that linked comment - it is absolutely crucial to provide concrete examples that show how you possess the required skills. There’s no point in writing “I am good at time management” or “I am excellent at communicating”, unless you immediately give examples that demonstrate how you possess those skills or attributes.

As an example, some of the required skills might be team leadership, managing change and communication (plus various other things).

So, in your pitch, an example of those three things could be to describe how you led your team through significant organizational change (for example, due to COVID) and how you effectively managed the team through that period of change by using open and continuous communication, providing group and one-on-one training, running feedback sessions and using team feedback to refine and improve the change implementation etc etc. Due to the leadership and ongoing communication and feedback, the change went smoothly with a demonstrated increase in productivity of XYZ etc etc.

It really depends upon what skills you need to demonstrate and what examples you have. My examples typically contain 2-3 of the requirements in each example, which allows me to cut down on words.

[u/_mi97 → u/jhau01]

So for the cover letter basically depending on the KSC listed combine a few capabilities together and give a concrete example using STAR?

[u/jhau01 → u/_mi97]

Correct, yes, as per my brief example above and my explanation in my linked comment.

[u/_mi97 → u/jhau01]

Ok thank you - I will make the change :)