Top CV tips: PR'ing yourself.

It's interesting how many people in PR don't do an amazing job of PR'ing themselves when it comes to their CV.

Most of the CV's I receive at the mid level in PR (the most saturated/bread and butter level that we recruit for) read broadly like this:

- Often no clients listed

- Generic list of responsibilities, e.g:

- Media and influencer relations, securing coverage in key media and influencer channels

- Managing 2 juniors

- Drafting press releases/proposals

- Attending new business pitches

Whilst there's nothing inherently wrong with this, it's all a bit samey and doesn't make you stand out.

And it does beg the question, how much effort are you putting into PR'ing your most important asset...yourself!

I will preface this by saying that in PR agency, often it's the agency you work for that clinches the deal (amongst other things), so it's not that a CV like this won't get you interviews....but investing a little more time and consideration will help you stand out more.

Here's some better ways of re-framing:

- Clients up front and centre. Much like you wouldn't hire an interior designer let's say, without seeing a portfolio, agencies want to see which clients you've been working with/advised

- Worked on/formulated the x campaign strategy for x client, nominated for Best ESG campaign at the PR Moment Awards 2022

- Building and maintaining relationships with top tier media & influencers e.g. Daily Telegraph, The Times, Vogue, (list of whatever top influencers are in your network). Increased coverage in top tier media & influencer channels by 80% per year

- Secured x client's first feature in The Times/similar high profile media title [if it's a particularly amazing piece, then screenshot and attach]

- Managing 2 juniors. Under my guidance and coaching, 1 has been promoted. Participate in and contribute to their annual review process

- Contribute to and attend 10 new business pitches per year. Conversion rate of 70%/7 winning pitches attended

- Organic growth: successfully sold an influencer project to an existing client, gaining £10,000 worth of additional fees

The key differentiator is pulling out harder facts & stats, as opposed to just a run down of your general responsibilities. This will of course differ by level and the more senior you get, the more commercial you'll want to be with new business and revenue information.

Tip: I'd recommend having a note-pad and writing things like this down, client testimonials, feedback, key wins etc so you can go back to them, otherwise it's easy to forget!

This can also help if you're negotiating a promotion.

End of: no-one's going to sell you like you!

Anything to add?

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