Security Oracle News Archive

Getting Your Security CV Right

Mon, October 23, 2006

Source: Hanover Search & Selection

Although there are more and more people joining the security industry at a junior level and working their way up the ladder, it's fair to say...

Although there are more and more people joining the security industry at a junior level and working their way up the ladder, it's fair to say that the majority of management roles are still held by people in their second career, having previously left the police, military or security services.

The biggest challenge for these people is getting their CV right so that they can get in front of prospective employers and take the first step on that ladder.  It's important to remember that your CV is the only marketing tool that you have initially and it's important to make full use of it to get you in for an interview, so here’s a couple of tips for the security professional…..

It’s important that CVs aren’t full of jargon – most people reading them will be relative lay-men, so they’re not going to understand things such as “responsible for SSE aspects of the Air System integration into CVF/ACA”.  Even people from one area of the security industry may struggle with another’s jargon!

Also, although training courses that you have undertaken in a previous post may have been useful at the time they may not be directly relevant for the position you are applying for, so they may not be worth putting on a CV orientated towards the commercial sector.

The other area where people don’t use their CV fully is when they are emphasizing the skills they have rather than what they’ve actually accomplished in their career.  It’s worth considering that many of your colleagues from the area you are leaving will have had the same training and the developed the same skills, but one career is probably very different from another.  Be sure to talk about your specific responsibilities and your achievements, that is what will sell you.  Also think about where you’re sending the CV, it may be worth tailoring it for each job you apply for so you can talk about where your skills are relevant to the prospective employers requirements.

Hanover Search & Selection