Product Description

Every day thousands of hopefuls send off their badly composed CVs, that don’t communicate the right message, in pursuit of jobs they simply don’t understand. Why You? draws on John Lee’s 20+ years experience of training recruiters to offer his insider secrets on what really gets a CV noticed and read. If you want your CV to get you short listed it is not just what it looks like but what it says and how it communicates most succinctly what you have to offer. At the heart of this book is the need to choose and build on the right format to match your needs and aspirations and how to tailor it to ensure an employer can spot that your skills and competencies match their needs. The book is founded on extensive research amongst employers which offers fresh insights into the way employers read CVs, the things they love and hate to see and their opinions on how to write an effective CV.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8665 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-01
• Released on: 2007-09-15
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Readers Digest, February 2008
For insight into the mind of the prospective employer, check out Why You

From the Back Cover
Praise for John Lees ‘John Lees talks a great deal of sense, particularly for anyone looking for a new career path’ ROSEMARY CONLEY CBE ‘Always practical, but never patronizing’ THE GUARDIAN ‘John Lees teaches you how to develop your own self awareness and how to use that awareness effectively to achieve career success’ THE TIMES ‘John Lees inspires people to rethink the way they work’ DAILY EXPRESS When it comes to CVs, most decision-makers evaluate your potential in seconds. Among the many candidates for the best jobs why you? Your CV makes a critical first impression in the competition for a job you’ll love. It’s not just about what your CV looks like, but what it says and how it communicates a focused message about what you have to offer employers. Based on extensive research that offers fresh insights into the way employers read CVs, Why You? is a step-by-step guide that helps you: • Choose and develop the right CV format to match your needs and aspirations • Design and write a compelling first page • Construct and tailor a targeted CV to match employers’ requirements • Use your CV as part of a multi-strategy job search • Open doors to interviews with the best employers. John Lees is one of the UK’s best known career coaches. Previously Chief Executive of the Institute of Employment Consultants, he has trained recruitment specialists for over 20 years. He now specializes in helping people make difficult career decisions. John is the author of the best-selling How to Get a Job You’ll Love and Take Control of Your Career. He is a regular contributor for The Times, The Guardian and Personnel Today.

About the Author
John Lees is one of the UK’s most prominent career transition coaches with 20 years experience of training recruiters. He specialises in helping career changers gain the confidence and skills to find a job they will love and overcome barriers in the way of success. John is a regular contributor to The Times, The Guardian, Personnel Today and People Management. He is the author of the following bestselling titles: How To Get A Job You’ll Love which focuses on helping the reader identify the kind of career they really want by discovering what really interests them, what their hidden skills are and how to tap into these talents. Job Interviews: Top Answers to Tough Questions which is a comprehensive toolkit for dealing with awkward, probing, personality and competency based interview questions. Take Control of Your Career a practical guide to developing the best career strategy whether the reader wants to take the next step up the career ladder or move to a more interesting job. Why You? CV Messages To Win Jobs which draws on extensive research into the way employers read CVs and how to develop the right format to match the readers needs and aspirations to get onto that all important shortlist.

Customer Reviews

Does what it says on the tin
This engaging book is presented in three accessible sections: "Understanding CVs and their impact"; "Composing your CV"; and "Making your CV work for you". Its pages contain a wealth of hard-hitting, entertainingly presented advice illustrated by short, punchy examples and at-a-glance checklists. Following this clear format, you'll quickly craft a CV all but guaranteed to stand you tall in your crowd and achieve, as John says, the sole purpose "to get you into a room with someone who can influence your future".

As a Senior Outplacement Consultant with DBM in London, I think that "Why you? CV messages to win jobs" is up there with John's established classic "How to get a job you'll love". Once more he delivers what he says on the cover, and I regularly recommend both titles to my clients.

Excellent, practical advice from an expert in the field
Up-to-the-minute, heaps of practical information on how to put a winning CV together.
As a recruitment consultant, I welcome John Lees book. He takes the reader through preparing a CV, reminding them that its purpose is to get a meeting or interview. Then he explains how to tailor the CV for different types of job situations, especially relevant when you are trying to move into a new sector where you may not have the 'obvious' skillset. Next he explores how to proactively use your CV, in approaching agencies/headhunters and speculatively, to target organisations. This book should leave the reader feeling confident that they can produce a right-for-purpose CV and motivated to do so.
If every candidate were to read John's book before sending their CV in, it would make our sifting process much more difficult!

This book can help you
I think this book is great.

When I starting reading this book I doubted that it would have a great deal to say to me because I've read a number of similar books previously. I was surprised that the book made me think harder than I had expected about CVs and the context in which they are going to be read. I like the book's straightforward style of writing and I found its tone to be encouraging throughout. The use of checklists of things to do and not to do makes it very easy to see the key points.

Having a powerful CV is a key step in the job search journey and this book can help you on your way.