PG Essentials:

Beyond the Basics

Presenting yourself

in writing

Elizabeth Wilkinson

Careers Consultant (Postgraduates)

What we’ll cover

• The Basics – Revision: a test!

• Curate your life

• From description to insight

• Make every word count

CV Rules – Revision test

• How long should a CV be?

• Personal profile at the top of your CV –

yes or no?

• Is there such a thing as

a “CV rule”?

www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduates/howtoguides/writecvsandapplicationsasapostgraduate

Curate your life –

Select, Describe, Promote

or

or

Curate your life

• “About me” … what would you include, for

a panel reviewing:

– Applications for a

Presidential Scholarship?

– Applications for a

PG Wellbeing

Officer with the

Students’ Union?

Select

• What is the reader looking for?

• For each part of your life:

– Will it reassure them you’ve got the

experience, knowledge, skills they need?

– Will it give them an idea of who you are and

why you might “fit in”?

If not, then

PromoteUniversity

• 2013-2017 BSc Biology

• 2017-2018 MSc Biotechnology

• A levels

• GCSEs

• Young Enterprise competition

Skills

• SDS-PAGE, western blotting, antibody

staining, RT-PCR …

• Teamwork, communication, sewing

• Projects …

Work experience

• November 2012 Work experience, Greater

Manchester Police

• April 2013 Lab experience, Syngenta

Work experience (continued)

• Summer 2014 Retail assistant, Trinkets

• 2015-2016 Researcher, Astra Zeneca

• Summer 2017 Set up pop-up shop retailing vintage & vintage-inspired clothing

Positions of responsibility

• Chair, Young Enterprise team, High School

• PASS coordinator, Faculty of Life Sciences

Awards

• Winner, Faculty Enterprise competition

Interests

• Travel

• Reading

• Making vintage inspired-clothing

Promote - Research scientistUniversity

2017-2018 MSc Biotechnology

Modules studied include

Projects …

2013-2017 BSc Biology

Modules studied include

Projects …

2007-2013 School

A levels

Technical Skills

• SDS-PAGE, western blotting, antibody

staining, RT-PCR …

Industrial experience

• 2015-2016 Researcher, Astra Zeneca

• April 2013 Lab experience, Syngenta

Other Work experience

Summer 2017 Set up pop-up shop retailing

vintage & vintage-inspired

clothing

Summer 2014 Retail assistant, Trinkets

Positions of responsibility

• PASS coordinator, Faculty of Life

Sciences

Awards

• Winner, Faculty Enterprise competition

Interests

• Travel including …

• Making vintage inspired-clothing

Promote – Business rolePersonal Profile:

Highlight business achievements

University

2017-2018 MSc Biotechnology

Modules studied include

Project: Commercialisation of …

2013-2017 BSc Biology

Modules studied include

Enterprise, IT skills

Enterprise project …

2007-2013 School A levels

Business experience

Summer 2017 Set up pop-up shop retailing

vintage & vintage-inspired

clothing

Awards

• Winner, Faculty Enterprise competition

Other work experience

2015-2016 Researcher, Astra Zeneca

Developed …

Summer 2014 Retail assistant, Trinkets

Positions of responsibility

• PASS coordinator, Faculty of Life

Sciences

• Chair, Young Enterprise team, High

School

Interests

• Making vintage inspired-clothing

• Travel, including …

Promote

• Balance convention with presenting your story effectively – risk management!

• Help the reader navigate using helpful headings and bullets

– In general, summarise/group experiences rather than omit them

• Change the order - get the good stuff on the front page

• Allocate space according to how relevant an activity is to the reader (not how long you did it)

From description to insight …

Evidence Insight

• It’s not just what happened which is important

– Why is it relevant to the reader?

– What does it say about you?

It’s your job to make sense of it for the reader

From description to insight …

“ I am a hardworking, motivated & energetic individual with excellent

communication and team work skills. I have unparalleled numerical skills and a

fierce ambition to succeed.”

• I organised the summer ball for the Postgraduate

Society. I booked a venue, got extra funding,

booked a band, got tickets and posters printed and

sold tickets. On the night, took tickets on the door,

dealt with problems with the venue and sorted out

the disco when the DJ didn’t turn up.

Both examples need improving

From description to insight …

“Economics postgraduate with over 3 years retail experience and commercial skills

gained from a successful internship with PWC. Seeking a graduate project manager

role within your organisation.”

• Led the organisation of the summer ball for 230 people, as social secretary of the Postgraduate Society. Negotiated £400 sponsorship from local businesses and developed a communications campaign which increased attendance by 40%. Dealing with issues on the night taught me that when under pressure, I can keep calm, be resourceful and solve problems effectively.

Top example – now more specific and less “personal opinion without evidence”

Bottom example – quantified achievements, good use of skills verbs, adds insight

Uncovering insights

What you’re looking for, eg:

• Why something worked well

• What you learned from an experience

• Why you enjoyed or hated something,

what that tells you – and the reader -

about your skills, motivation, values …

• Business or organisation insights

Business insights

Uncovering insights

Enlist the help of others

• Explain a situation – get them to ask questions

– Why do you think they …? Why did you react that

way? What made you decide to …?

• Get them to replay what they heard or put their

own interpretation on it

– So, what you were doing was …

– Do you think they might been worried about … ?

• Get them to simplify/sum up

– Cut to the chase: takes out the fluff, great for editing

Disadvantage?

Don’t these examples take up space?

– Yes. Be selective

– Which examples best show the skills needed

by the employer?

– Fewer high quality examples often better than

lots of irrelevant (or “me too”) ones

– Covering letters (or application forms) may be

a better place than CVs for these

– Use to enhance your LinkedIn profile

Make every word count

• Create emphasis

– Use strong verbs – adds emphasis and colour

• “sorted out” – Better: established, persuaded, negotiated

• “made” – caused something to happen - how? Better: doubled, generated, introduced

– Avoid “excellently”, “tremendously”, “extremely”;

could use “very” or “really” – but sparingly

– Avoid “I had to …” – sounds like you were forced

• Chose, opted, elected, determined, decided – all sound more positive

Good writing tips - https://thewritelife.com/edit-your-copy

Lean CVs – cut the padding!

• Focus on the verb

– I made an improvement to … Improved …

• Don’t “start to”, just do

– Started to develop … Developed …

• Don’t do something “in order to”, just do

– “I set up a meeting in order to sort out the disagreements” – alternatives?

– Stronger example? “Convened a meeting to resolve the conflicts”

Good writing tips - https://thewritelife.com/edit-your-copy

Keep it simple - & skimmable

• Almost every recruiter loves bullet points

– Focus the bullet – put the verb at the start

– Start with the verb

• Keep paragraphs short.

– Rule of thumb: 4 lines or more is hard to skim(feedback from non-academic employer reviewing a PG CV;

academics less bothered by length)

• Keep sentences shorter

– Avoid combining sentences just to save words

Good writing tips - https://thewritelife.com/edit-your-copy

Lists …

• Should you use lists of techniques?

– Can be needed for agency applications/CVs

• Allows agency to match you to vacancies by keyword

– Direct applications - can be better to choose the

most important techniques and add context:

• “Used technique X in context Y to achieve outcome Z”

• Shows you understand the value of the technique and

can apply it

Professional - but human

• Use the language of the world you want to enter to show

understanding

– Relevant concepts rather than random technical terms

– Targets, objectives, deliverables

– Collaborations, outreach, peer review

• Top Tip: Listen to podcasts from the world

you want to enter

• Keep some passion and personality

– Interests can work in your favour

– 100 perfect, identikit CVs are boring to read

– Every recruiter wants someone who sounds like they would love

to do the job

Enlist some help• What’s your “tell”?

– Mine? • “We were starting to deliver …”

• Starting with the negatives

• Someone else with normally find mistakes in your final, final version.

• CVs for postgradswww.careers.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduates/howtoguides/writecvsandapplicationsasapostgraduate

• Applications advice

– The Atrium, Monday to Friday, bookable up to 24 hours in advance.

– www.careers.manchester.ac.uk

Oops – will!

Careers support

for Postgraduates• Online

– www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/pg

– http://bit.ly/PGTPlan http://bit.ly/PGRLife

– Social media: www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/services/socialmedia

• In groups - talks/events– www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/events

– www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/postgraduates/events

– CareersLink: for vacancies and events: www.manchester.ac.uk/careerslink

• In person– 15 minute “getting started” & drop-in appointments (30 minutes later in the

semester)

– 15 minute “Application Advice” – feedback on applications

– Email support for queries

– Careers Help Desk: The Atrium, 1st floor Uni Place, 9-5, Mon – Fri

– Details: www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/services

PG Career talks – Semester 1 2019

• Finding a job this academic year1.00-1.50, Tuesday 1st Oct, Uni Place 2.220

• CVs/applications – The Basics1-1.50, Friday 4th OctUni Place 2.220

• CVs/applications –Beyond the Basics1.00-1.50, Monday 7th Oct, Uni Place 1.218

• Interviews/assessment –The Basics1.00-1.50, Monday 14th Oct, Uni Place 1.218

• Interviews/assessment –Beyond The Basics1.00-1.50, Tuesday 22nd Oct, Uni Place 1.218

• Becoming an Academic1.00-1.50, Thursday 24th Oct, Alan Turing G.107

Slides and podcast available after each talk – seewww.careers.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduates/events