Marketers Unleashed

How to Write a Kick A$$ CV

• Kathryn • Season 1 • Episode 16

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Join Kathryn Strachan on Marketers Unleashed as she sits down with Rebecca Pay, expert CV writer and career coach, to explore the art and strategy behind creating an impactful CV. Learn how to build a personal brand that resonates with employers, leverage AI tools in your job search, and position yourself for career success.

Rebecca breaks down critical topics like CV length, keyword optimization for ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems), the evolving role of cover letters, and maintaining a positive job-hunting mindset. Whether you're pivoting careers, re-entering the workforce, or competing for top roles, Rebecca's actionable tips will help you stand out.

Key Takeaways:

  • Essential elements of a winning CV in today’s market
  • How to strategically integrate keywords for better visibility
  • The role of AI in modern job applications
  • Do cover letters still matter? Rebecca’s expert take
  • Mindset shifts for a confident, resilient job search

Perfect for: Job seekers, career changers, recent graduates, and professionals looking to elevate their career opportunities.

Resources & Mentions:

Kathryn:

Welcome to Marketers Unleashed, the podcast where marketers break free from the noise and dive deep into the raw truths of the marketing world. We're here to go beyond best practices and uncover the bold ideas, untold stories, and hard lessons that shape real marketing success. From dissecting Daring Campaigns to confronting the challenges keeping us awake at night, we're unleashing honest, unfiltered conversations to inspire, educate, and challenge you to think differently. Get ready to conquer the untamed side of marketing. I'm your host, Kathryn Strachan, and this is Marketers Unleashed where we're not just talking marketing, we're redefining it. For anyone who doesn't know me yet. I'm Kathryn Strachan, author of Scaling Success Building Brands that Break Barriers, international Keynote speaker and fractional CMO for cutting edge brands. I have spent years navigating the ever-changing world of marketing and have seen it all. As your podcast host, I bring my expertise and curiosity to the table diving deep into honest conversations with industry leaders to uncover the insights, challenges, and bold ideas shaping our industry. Let's get started. Hello and welcome to Marketers Unleashed. Today I'm here with Rebecca Pay and I am super excited for this episode because it's gonna be all about how to build the perfect CV so what do you need to know when you're creating your CV? How can you make it truly kick ass? How can you stand out when it comes to applying for jobs? And the hoards of hundreds of people that apply for jobs on LinkedIn and all the other job boards. So I'm really excited to have a Rebecca here today. Rebecca, thank you so much for joining me.

Rebecca:

Thanks for asking me along. I'm looking forward to chatting about CVs as I'm the one of those weirdos that actually finds CVs interesting.

Kathryn:

Yeah, and I'm super excited to learn about it because I ran an agency for a long time, so I didn't need a CV. So I think there's probably a lot that I can learn from it as well. But to get us started, do you wanna tell the audience a little bit about who you are and what you do, and how you got to where you are today?

Rebecca:

Yeah, sure. I'm Rebecca Kickass- Pay as I like to call myself. I basically write CVs for senior leaders and I'm career coach. and I run a community called the Kickass Job Squad. Which is for job seekers to kind of get together and share the pain of trying to find a job. And we have loads of master classes and experts coming in helping everyone with all the different elements of what you need to get a job. I kind of got into the CV writing in the first place 'cause I've got Autism and ADHD and I've done every job going. So I've got quite a lot of experience in lots of different areas and lots of different industries. Then when I had my first child, I was like. I don't really wanna go back to work now in an office or a school or wherever. And when I got onto LinkedIn someone asked me to do a CV. I was the kind of person that had always done CVs for their friends. Found it quite easy. So I started doing the odd CV for people on LinkedIn. And then obviously I've been doing that now for 10 plus years. So I've learned a lot along the way.

Kathryn:

You say that CVs come easy to you, but I don't think CVs come easy to a lot of us. And not a lot of people know what makes a good CV. What does make a kick ass CV?

Rebecca:

It's difficult'cause it's a bit of a how long is a piece of string?'Cause obviously everyone's different, and you don't wanna be exactly like the next person. You need to be able to stand out in your own way. I think the old fashioned way of standing out used to be, let's print it on pink paper, or do something a bit wacky with the border, or have a like crazy picture or whatever. And to be honest. The best thing now is probably to keep it quite simple. Especially if you're applying online, like layout wise. Let's not go crazy with colors and things unless you are a graphic designer, in which case fine show off your graphic design skills. So it sounds silly, but to make it kick ass, you almost need to break it down to the basics, and keep it really simple. Really, the crux of the whole thing is that you wanna be able to get across, that you can fulfill a job role and that you're suitable for it. You wanna get that across as quickly as possible. You wanna make it an easy job for any recruiter or hiring manager, whoever's looking at it to go, "Yeah, this person meets the criteria of what we're looking for. They sound really interesting. Let's give them a call." And it really is almost as simple as that. It's not, obviously when it's your CV and you're trying to break it down yourself. But sometimes people overcomplicate it, they waffle on, it's far too long, more than two pages. Why? occasionally people do need more than two pages if they've got huge bibliographies of things that they've contributed to and stuff. But for the average person two pages is enough. You just need to get to the point, make it easy to read. Make the skills stand out. Don't make it a treasure hunt for them looking for what you do and what you offer. And be yourself on there. Have some personality for goodness sake. Some CVs are so boring to read, you think, no wonder people aren't spending long reading them. They're just awful. Make them spend a few more seconds on yours because it actually reads really nicely, and this person sounds really interesting. It needs to come across as you rather than just someone that does your job. So it's balancing all those things. Writing about ourselves isn't easy, obviously I get it. It's easy for me to say. But there are ways to do it.

Kathryn:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, one of the things that you always hear is that you have to make a custom CV for every job that you apply. If you're on the job market and you're applying for quite a lot of jobs do you really need to do that or do you just have one CV? What's the best approach?

Rebecca:

I think for people that are going for different types of roles, it's better to have different versions of your CV for those. Sometimes people are going for two slightly different roles or something. I'll do different versions of it for clients. It makes sense to have a few different core CVs that you've got ready for that. If you're just going for head of marketing and whatever. Then you can stick to one core CV. But I would still adapt it for every application. Which yes is a pain. It is a little bit of work, but you shouldn't have to rewrite the whole thing every time. If you've used a simple layout, then it should be as easy as adapting some of the skills, maybe rewording a few things, maybe a little bit of tweaking on your profile summary at the beginning, I call it a profile usually. Which is written in first person about you. That you might wanna tweak a bit so it sounds more aimed at that specific job that you're going for. I think it's one of those where, oh God, it's gonna take so long to do that. But actually if you can put the time in to do that little bit extra, and someone else isn't doing that. That gives you a bit of an edge above those people. And also it's all very well saying, oh, you're gonna apply for hundreds of jobs. Hopefully you're not. Don't just apply for every single thing you see. Be a bit more picky. Do a bit more research. Think, actually is this a job I definitely want to do? Then you'll have less applications to have to spend time on adapting for. And have those core kind of things that you are definitely not gonna negotiate on. So there might be, you need a specific location or whatever, or you need it to be remote. Like whatever your minimum salary is that you need to get by on. There might be certain things that you are not gonna like compromise on. So get it clear in your head what those things are to start with. A job does not meet that criteria, don't apply for it. Because you're wasting their time and yours essentially.

Kathryn:

I guess if you're not willing to take the time to like update your CV for a specific role, that's maybe a good indication of like how you feel about the role as well. And maybe it's not the best role for you. So say you find a job on a job board that you think is really you, you'd love to work there. What's like the first thing that you should do and how do you go about making sure that your CV matches that job description?

Rebecca:

It's actually probably a good way of using AI, because much as a lot of people would be like, oh God, a CV writer talking about using AI, I thought you'd all hate AI. Things like ChatGPT or any of your favorite AI's out there. Are really good at reading information and dealing with data very quickly. Much quicker than our brains can deal with. So if you've got your CV and you've got the job description, you can cut and paste them both into ChatGPT and just say, what would I need to change on my CV to match this job? And it'll tell you. It'll say, oh, you need to showcase a bit more of this experience, or you haven't mentioned this. You can just get it to give you bullet points of what you need to change. It'll make it so much quicker than you trying to do that yourself. That would probably be one of the first steps I'd do, 'cause then you've got a clear idea of what you need to change. And then I probably would Google the company and stuff as well and just have a look at their website. What are their values, what's their tone of voice in their marketing and stuff. And get an idea for the kind of thing they're probably looking for. if it's a young startup type thing, versus a huge big corporate that's been around for like hundreds of years. There's gonna be a different approach that you're gonna need. You don't wanna change your tone of voice too much. But there is gonna be that element of the kind of stuff that they're gonna be looking for. You're gonna want to come across as their kind of person, if that makes sense. So I think you need to combine those two things, together really to. get it right.

Kathryn:

Yeah, and I mean the AI that you mentioned there is an interesting point.' Cause I think AI has a lot of potential to help us with lots of different things. How else in the job search or in the job recruitment process can AI help us?

Rebecca:

Yeah, I think it can be really good. It can sometimes help as well for people if they're not sure what kind of job they want. you know, You might use ChatGPT and say, given my history and my CV, like what kind of jobs could I apply for? And it might give you some ideas that you hadn't thought of.' Cause sometimes people narrow themselves too much until they think they just have to carry on doing the same thing. So you can use it for things like that to come up with ideas for you. It will certainly help you get the bones of some kind of cover letter and stuff. The thing is with ChatGPT or other AI, it's as good as what you give it. So people who say, Oh God, you can tell when a CV or a post or anything has been written by ChatGPT. So it has these telltale signs and blah, blah, blah. There's an element of that that's true because there are certain things it tends to do. It's got little quirks. So what you need to do is make sure you give it a lot of your writing. So then it's doing it in your style, not its own style.'Cause it will just default to its own way of doing things unless you tell it otherwise. You know, if I say, Oh, write a post about CV so I can put it on LinkedIn. I don't use ChatGPT for content, but obviously a lot of people do and that's fine. I enjoy writing, so that's fine. But say you were doing that, it would obviously write that a post and it might sound all right. It could give it an interesting hook, et cetera. But it wouldn't sound like me. And it probably would come across as AI written if I just cut and pasted that straight in. It's the same with a CV. Whereas if I gave it a whole heap of my writing. I've written a book so I could give it the whole PDF of my entire book and say, this is my style of writing. This is my tone of voice. This is the kind of stuff I say about CVs. This is my opinion on the subject. Now write a post, you know about. CVs or whatever. It's gonna come up with a much better answer. It might still not be perfect. I might still edit it and I might be like, oh, is this really true to the tone of voice? And they go, oh no, actually I need to redo that. Don't be scared to make it correct itself.' Cause it doesn't always listen to the instructions you give it. Which is worrying, I think actually, if it's gonna take over at some point. But anyway. And it's the same with the CV if you give it your CV and even potentially other bits of writing you've done maybe. And then say you want to reword a part of it, or you wanna create a cover letter for this specific job role. But you make sure you give it that stuff you've already written. Whereas if you go in from scratch and just gave it your job history and said, write me a CV. It could do that, but it's not going to sound anything like you.'Cause how would it know what you sound like?

Kathryn:

Yeah, it's a really good point. It does come down to the brief with AI, then going back and editing and changing anything and it's like that not only with CVs but across all sorts of marketing content and collateral. You mentioned there about cover letters and I'm interested to know like, do cover letters still matter? Do you need to do cover letter for every role or just the ones that request it? What's your kind of stance on cover letters?

Rebecca:

I would say usually only if they really want one. Obviously if they're asking for one for goodness sake, do one. Like I hear about this all the time, that people will actually not put a cover letter in when there's one that's been requested and that's dumb.'Cause then you're not following the instructions that they've put in there. And that is almost part of the test. Like they're asking you to do specific things. If you can't even do that, then probably not going to think that you are gonna be much good at a job. I know a few people that hire people and it's things like that that are red flags to them. Whereas I don't think the other way around you get penalized if you put one in and they didn't ask for one. The danger of that is they probably won't read it. If they haven't asked for one, they probably can't be bothered with them. Some people love a cover letter, some people don't when it comes to hiring. I think they're particularly important for people that have got a bit more of a story to tell. So say if you're trying to career change or you've had a bit of a mixed background, or you've had a big gap. If you've got something that you need to get across, it's gonna take a bit more than a CV. You've got more space to say it and tell that story a little bit more and give that journey. So that can be really beneficial. I had a client that really wanted to work for Man United Football Club. Which used to be one of the biggest football clubs in this country who, I can't stand by the way, 'cause I'm a Liverpool fan, but many UK listeners will understand the rivalry there. But anyway, I helped him write a cover letter, He just wanted to work for Man United. He didn't even care what the job was. But he was in marketing and we just told his story 'cause he had a very interesting background and story. He'd overcome loads of challenges and like this horrific brain injury and stuff. And he had a very kind of interesting career because of that. He had a big gap and stuff like that. But being able to explain the actual story Made a big difference. And that got him an interview. It got him a foot in the door there 'cause they were like, this guy's got something about him. Like he's overcome so much. So I sometimes think people that have got these stories and have to be quite as dramatic as that. It can be useful to have a cover letter. I think the other side of it is maybe we need to think about cover Emails more than cover letters now. Depending on how you are applying. If you are say sending your CV out to people, you're being more proactive, which is probably something we can talk about, but how proactive you are. But if you are Emailing your CV over to someone. That Email that you're putting with it, is like a mini cover letter really, isn't it? It's what are you putting in that? Is that coming across the right way? Using that, little chance to get a bit of you across and say something else about it? I think we really need to show that we want the role and why we're applying for that position. You want to make that company feel a little bit special. That You've chosen them for a reason and you really want to work there.

Kathryn:

Flattery goes a long way and as somebody who's done a lot of hiring in my career, I can say that, yeah, that's definitely true. I mean, somebody who's more interested in your organization and knows what you do. You know, is gonna stand out more than somebody who sends a cover letter or a CV that has not been updated and incorrectly or accidentally mentions, another company. I've seen that before as well.

Rebecca:

It's a classic.

Kathryn:

When you're writing these things, how do you make sure that your CV doesn't get scanned out by the recruitment? I don't even know that it is AI, But how do you make sure that like you don't get flagged in that?

Rebecca:

Yeah, so the notorious ATS or applicant tracking software as everyone used to be obsessed with talking about. Which is now partly replaced by AI occasionally. It's one of those situations where the software's, as good as whoever set it up. And the parameters they put into it. Mostly, it's not there to get rid of people is often sometimes just to get the information from your CV onto their system. And it might be doing some sifting as well. And it might be doing quite basic stuff of is this person in the right country or whatever, or, have they got a degree because that's something that's like pivotal to that role and it might be looking for some parameters like that. and then it will get through to the next bit. I've known 'em to be set up just to think of if there an Email address or is there like basic information.'Cause it'll get rid of obviously some people that just haven't bothered with the basics that are missing. Obviously some of them are set up in a more complex way. Which are looking for more, in depth like some of the skills or have they done 20 years of whatever that we need. You're at the mercy of how it's been set up to an extent. Which is one of the reasons I always say it's best to have quite a simple layout. Don't have loads of text boxes and like colored backgrounds with texts and things. don't make it too difficult. There's often can be a problem with text box and stuff they might miss out like an entire text box of text. So if all your skills say we're in a text box. I've known this literally happened to someone. It doesn't get put through and you think, how on earth has that person not gone through when they've got literally all the skills that are listed on the job description? And it was because all the skills were in the text box and the ATS didn't pick that up. It's less likely to be a problem these days, but I say let's play it safe and have a simple layout. And honestly, just try and get those keywords in there. So if it's asking for people with good communication skills and 10 years in marketing and whatever. Put those things on there.

Kathryn:

What are some of the biggest mistakes you've seen? I mean, we've mentioned a few already. Not updating the CV and incorrectly mentioning a different company's name, or, having an overly complicated layout, or perhaps too long of a CV. What are some of the biggest mistakes that people often make or they even make and think that it's like a good idea and it's not a good idea?

Rebecca:

So length is definitely one that people sometimes, "Oh yeah, but I've had a really long career and I've done loads of stuff, so I have to include it all." And it's like, well, Hang on, let's keep it relevant and let's keep it recent. Like you know what you did 25 years ago. Whilst it might tell a story, we don't need to see that far back. People going too far back and like literally showing every single job they've ever done. And telling us details about stuff they did or including awards from 25 years ago or something.'Cause "Oh, but I'm so proud of this particular thing." I'm like, yeah, but it's so long ago now we need to let it go a little bit. I think people who don't have much traditional education, panic and put in high school stuff. Generally speaking, unless you're a graduate or whatever, unless that's quite a recent. Thing, or it's like your first job ever you're going for, you don't need to include that. No one cares what you did back that long ago. You certainly don't need to put dates in on education either if you don't want to. It's up to you. Obviously some people put in the year they graduated, but as soon as you do that you're aging yourself. There's no requirement to put in that date. Unless it's like a government role or whatever. Usually they want that for those sort of things. Things like photos, are a bit of a no-no. I know UK companies and US companies will immediately just bin a CV that's got a photo on it. Because they don't wanna be accused of discrimination or what have you. So just don't do that. I think you should definitely have contact details on there, but don't go over the top. You don't need a full address. I If you do things like that people immediately think, "Oh, well this person is quite old fashioned." They're still putting an address on.

Kathryn:

What are some of the things that people should be doing either when they create their CV or as part of their job search that are really gonna help them stand out?

Rebecca:

Everyone gets a bit sick of hearing about it, but personal brand is quite important. I think as a job seeker now you are in that world where even if you don't like it. It's kind of part of what we're all in, if you're online and stuff. Having a really up-to-date LinkedIn profile is really crucial. People are gonna find you on LinkedIn even if you don't put your LinkedIn link on your CV, which you should anyway. By updating it, it's giving you a chance then of being found as well. Like it's not just you reaching out and them looking at it, but you are more likely to be found, if they're looking for someone with your skillset. If you've got an up-to-date LinkedIn profile. You can have up to a hundred skills in your LinkedIn profile now, which is mad. Try and get as many on as you can. Hundred is a big ask. But at least 50, honestly. Which sounds like a lot of work and it is a bit of work. It does take a bit of time. Go through, get those skills on. But also make sure they're up to date and take off some of the old skills from old roles that you did years and years ago you don't really wanna do anymore. If you hate spreadsheets and Excel and stuff, but you've got Excel on there.'Cause maybe you did that in an admin job like 10 years ago. Take it off. You don't wanna be found for stuff that you don't want to do. I always say that on CVs. Whatever you are talking about on there, that's the kind of stuff they're gonna expect you to be doing. Or, they might offer you a job doing those things. So if there's certain stuff that you hate, don't talk about it. You don't wanna end up doing a job doing all the skills you hate.

Kathryn:

How similar should your LinkedIn be to your CV? I think that there's quite a lot of debate around that out there.

Rebecca:

It certainly needs to be pretty similar so that we know it's the same person and the same tone of voice, et cetera. I've seen some great CVs and you go on the LinkedIn, there's virtually nothing on there and it's like a ghost town. Or that someone's CV is really dull and boring, but then they're really out there on LinkedIn and they're quite outgoing and stuff. And you think this doesn't seem like the same person. So whichever way round, you need to be the same you on both versions. But I wouldn't personally cut and paste everything. I think probably for the experience section, for the jobs, you could cut and paste those bits in and that wouldn't be too big a problem. For your about section. I would rewrite like a new piece of writing for that. Base it on your CV, but make it a bit more social media friendly. You want a kind of good hook at the beginning because it's an about section. So you want people to click on the see more bit and read the whole thing if they do get on there. And obviously you want a good headline. There's lots more elements on LinkedIn that you don't have on a CV. you've got that banner space at the top that you can use. Obviously you are gonna have a photo on LinkedIn, so that needs to make sure that you are coming across professional. You've got all those opportunities to help yourself, basically. So that when they click on it, it all matches up. For people that are a bit more into social media, not everyone wants to post and stuff, but if you can and you want to. Create some really great posts that showcase your expertise. Put them in your featured posts. You can have some really cool featured posts. Which, might be an article if you're an expert in a certain area, or might be a post that has your CV on it. It depends how you're doing it. Obviously you don't have to be open to work to everyone. You can just be open to work to recruiters. But the more you can use LinkedIn and update it, then the more LinkedIn will like you and then show your profile to more people. So I say people who aren't comfortable with posting. Make sure you spend some time commenting on kind of industry relevant posts and stuff. Making sure that you're coming across as the expert that you are. With personality and stuff, like be funny, clever, interesting, whatever suits you. And try and do that regularly so that you are regularly active on there.

Kathryn:

What's your view on the green banner? Because some people say that it makes you look desperate. That you shouldn't have it on there, or that you should only have it on there for so long.

Rebecca:

Yeah, it's a tricky one, isn't it? I've got some clients who, uh, do not use the green banner, are quite uncomfortable using it. And then some people who are just like, "Yeah, it's fine. Put it on." I think personally it comes down to what you are most comfortable with. One of my friends who's a CV writer as well, did a post about it the other day. She was like, "Oh, it makes you come across desperate as a job seeker." And she said,"but that's a good thing. You are desperate. You do really want a job." So she had a point. Why are you hiding that You want a job? Obviously if you're already in a role and you can't openly be looking, then that's fine. You wouldn't use it anyway. I don't think there's any problem using it. But it's down to personal preference. If there's a little bit of you that just feels a bit like, this does make me uncomfortable. Then don't use it, it's not a problem. I think you've gotta own what your own decision is. I think if I was looking for work, I personally would use it because I think it's obvious then. It's gonna say open to work. I'm gonna be commenting and posting and stuff. People are gonna read my headline and be like, "Oh, this person's obviously looking for work in X 'cause that's what they've said." Then they're gonna read my profile and go,"Oh yeah, this person sounds like they knows what they're talking about." And then they're more likely to offer you a job or an opportunity, or share it with someone and they know that has an opportunity like that." 'Cause it puts you a bit more out there. But that's not comfortable for everyone. It's gotta be what you are comfortable with yourself, honestly.

Kathryn:

Yeah, that's quite interesting. Rowan, Fisk, who I've had on the show in a couple of previous episodes, who's like a headhunter. Said something similar. That, you know, you don't have to have it on your profile for a headhunter to reach out to you. Their job is to make people who even aren't looking for roles right now, interested in the role that they have to offer. So from a recruiter point of view it also doesn't make much of a difference. Those episodes are really good for anybody who's looking at like how to work with recruiters or if they're thinking about career switches. We touched on that a little bit earlier as well, around like, if your background doesn't exactly match, the role. How do you help your clients position themselves for a new role? Whether it's a career transition or to go into new industry or try something different. How can you achieve that?

Rebecca:

I would say firstly, the job market we've got at the moment isn't an average job market. And I don't want this to make anyone feel bad. But if you are trying to pivot or career change at the moment in this job market, it's a hell of a lot harder than it was a few years ago. So don't feel bad If you're not getting anywhere fast, it's going to be harder. It's not impossible, it's still doable. But I think people need to speak to themselves about it and be like, "Do I definitely want to do this change right now? Or should I just get another job I know I can do? And then work on getting more experience in that particular field. Or maybe a job that does a bit of the thing I wanna do and ask for a bit more responsibility in that area. Or do some volunteering in that area." Back to what you'd actually do. Obviously transferable skills, everyone has them and you have to really sell your skills. This is where your skills section has to absolutely shine on your CV and has to blow them out the water. Because that is what you want them to be looking at. You don't want them to be scanning down and just looking at job titles.'Cause like you said, people can be immediately discounted if they haven't had the right job title. You need to absolutely smash them in the face with the skills so that they're like,"Oh, this person's got the skills we're looking for." Then in your profile, or if you're using a cover letter or a cover Email, but probably mention it in your profile. Say, I'm moving from X to Y and this is why I am doing it, and this is why I know it's gonna work for me. Whatever your reason is for doing it. You kind of need to get that across, and justify why they should take a bit of a chance on you.

Kathryn:

Yeah, I think that's some really like practical and good advice. So obviously, you can go and do your own CV. Everybody's done a CV at least once in their lives. What is the real difference between doing it yourself and working with somebody like you to do your CV?

Rebecca:

Yeah, that's the big question, isn't it? Where I need to sell myself. For some people, they don't need a CV writer, honestly. I'm always honest with people. I have a call with anyone I work with first and occasionally people are like, do you think I need your help? I'm like, no, probably not. You've done a really good job of this few tweaks it'll be perfect. There's no point in pretending. But a lot of people would benefit from the help. Purely because they just haven't got time to spend sitting down and doing it all, 'cause it is a time consuming process. Some people just find so difficult to write about themselves. I think most of us do find that quite difficult to be honest. It's not the kind of thing we're used to. It's really hard to balance that being really confident and coming across really confident in your skills and stuff without bragging and being really arrogant. Also sometimes you can't see the wood through the trees when it's your thing.' Cause you're in it and you've tweaked it so many times. You can't take that kind of step back and look at it objectively. You just find it so hard to cut stuff out,' cause you're emotionally connected to everything you did. Whereas I can come in and be more objective about the whole thing. And be Like, well, We don't need to know about that. It also helps people. The actual process of it will help remind you of what you've done and how good you are.'Cause I think some people have maybe come from a really toxic work background. And then they've lost confidence in themselves actually. So it's impossible to write confidently when you don't feel confident. Whereas when you go through the process of writing the CV, you're forced to tell me what you think your skills are and what you think your best achievements were and stuff. And by chatting through those things, people then get quite animated."Oh yeah, we did this project. Oh, this happened and we got this." And then by the end of it, they're like, "Oh yeah, actually I am quite good! Maybe I do know what I'm doing." So it's quite a good kind of process to go through, even if you just do it by yourself. Look back at what you've actually achieved and where you've come from and what you're doing. we all need that reminder every now and again, I think.

Kathryn:

Yeah, I think especially if you've come out of a bad work environment. Having the confidence that you are good at this. It was maybe just that bad boss or that bad experience. But you know, you do have a whole host of experience that you can draw off of and you should go for that role. Tell me a little bit about your book. What kind of insights can people expect in the book and what is the book about?

Rebecca:

Oh yeah. So the book is called How to Get the Kick Ass Career You Deserve and it's on amazon. It basically walks you through how to write CV. How to present yourself on LinkedIn. How to adjust your mindset so that you can get a job. It covers all three of those. I wrote it obviously. So it's my tone of voice. It's very easy to read. It's not bogged down with loads of detail, it does get to the point. So yeah, obviously I would recommend it'cause it's my book. But I forget to talk about it actually, Kathryn so thanks for asking me. I never remember to promote it in any way.

Kathryn:

Well, uh we'll include the book in the show notes. So for anybody listening who wants to learn more, check that out. But Rebecca, before we wrap up. Do you have any final advice for people who are on the job market or who are getting ready to build their kick ass CV?

Rebecca:

Yeah, just make sure you give yourself a break when you're struggling with it. Try and get some stuff down, but don't expect it to be perfect and just draft something. Getting started is the hardest bit and it's what people get stuck on. So whilst you have a profile at the beginning, I usually tell people to write that at the end. So get started with the basic facts of where did you work and what dates and whatever. Get the factual stuff done first, and then start filling in the other stuff and then you can start editing and tweaking it.' Cause I think the whole thing can become very overwhelming when you sit down to do your CV. And the other thing I'd say to job seekers in general. So I've got my community, join something like that if you can. Mine's only $20 a month and then you've got access to loads of masterclass and expertise and stuff. But you've got other people as well. So however you do that, maybe it's just connecting with friends regularly or other people you know are looking for work. That community feeling in some way and that support is so important. Don't just be out there on your own feeling rubbish about it.'Cause there are other people going through the exact same thing. And I think that's one of the dangers of it. You can start feeling very isolated and like it's only you. Go on LinkedIn find some other people that you can share the experience with. And make sure you just take time out to do stuff you still enjoy.'Cause if you are out of work. One thing you do have is time. Whilst you might not want it particularly 'cause you'd rather have some income. At least use that time for some beneficial stuff as well. Be like, well, I can actually go for a walk every single day now in my favorite place. Or I can build Lego every day or whatever. Make some time for the good stuff as well, because that's something we don't get enough of sometimes is time to do things that we wanna do. I know that's easy to say when you're not in that position. But you know, you've gotta try and make it as positive as you can.

Kathryn:

Yeah, I think that's an important point because when you're on the job hunt. It can become quite demoralizing. It can become quite negative, but you have to remain in a good head space to get that next role. I mean, people are less likely to hire somebody who is down in the dumbs and you know, isn't presenting themselves confidently. Maintaining that good head space, maintaining that good mental health is quite important for this process, I would think.

Rebecca:

It really is. And I think, self-care is the buzzword, whatever, but it's true, it's important. You need to look after yourself. So try and, exercise, eat as well as you can and, for goodness sake get outside and get a break from things. Don't just sit at a computer for 10 hours a day trying to look for work. Because it is, it's easy to get in that negative head space then. And you feel like it's all doom and gloom. So we need to look after ourselves.'Cause we can't look after the other people in our lives otherwise.

Kathryn:

Yeah, or find our next role.

Rebecca:

Precisely!

Kathryn:

Well, Thank you so much for joining me today. I've gotten lots of really great insights and I'm sure our listeners have as well. We will include the link to the book and as well as the community in the show notes. So if anybody's interested, please take a look at that. But thank you so much for joining us today, Rebecca.

Rebecca:

Thanks, Kathryn. It's been a pleasure.

Kathryn:

That's a wrap for this episode of Marketers Unleashed. Thank you for tuning in and diving deep with us into the unleashed world of marketing. We hope you're leaving with fresh insights, new ideas, and maybe even a few aha moments to fuel your next big move. If you've enjoyed today's conversation, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a new episode. And hey, we'd love to hear from you. Drop us a review or connect with us on LinkedIn to share your thoughts and join in the conversation. Until next time, keep thinking bold, challenging the norms, and unleashing your inner marketer. After all, what's the wost that'll happen? I'm your host, Kathryn Strachan, over an out.