Get Hired Faster: 10 Killer CV Tips for Events Jobs
Over my time in the events industry, I think I have hired well over 2,500 people. This is a mix of casual event staff, full time employees and contract positions. Over the 30 years I have been doing it not much has changed in relation to how important a CV and cover letter are for people getting a foot in the door. Even if I have worked with someone or they have been recommended I will still ask them for a CV in the very least.
CV writing and/or updating can be a tedious and scary job when starting your search for a new gig, especially if it’s your first time or if it has been a long time since you have actively looked for a job. Unfortunately, it is one of those jobs you just must do to give yourself a chance at landing that next gig.
Your CV and cover letter if that has been requested is where the employer makes their first impressions of you and whether you are right for the role or their organisation.
Knowing how to write a CV and how to highlight the skills and experience needed for the role will help you stand out from the other applicants and get on the shortlist for an interview.
What most people do is write a CV and only update it when they are looking for a new job, and because we use this CV for all our job applications, we don’t vary it, just attach it with the cover letter and hope for the best. If you are doing this then you are missing a perfect opportunity to demonstrate to the employer how your experience and skills fit perfectly to the job they are recruiting.
Employers don’t need to know everything you’ve done in your career just the things that are relevant to that role. If you are just starting out and haven’t got much experience to write about then put everything in, this will indicate to a potential employer that you are at least trying to get some experience.
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The Importance of a Good CV
In the events industry you are probably being hired by the person you will work with, and they are most likely in the middle of planning an event when they need to bring more people on board. They don’t have time to read through irrelevant information in your CV so keep it brief and to the point.
But remember this is your chance to let a potential employer get to know you and it's as important for an employer to suit you as it is for you to suit them so don’t “guild the lily” as the saying goes, be honest about your skills and experience.
Let them know what value you will bring to the event or organisation and whether you have what is required to be successful in the role. Make sure your CV is clear about how you can do this and leave the hiring manager in no doubt that you are worth an interview.
Here are our tips for how to get started. If you don’t know where to start with your CV there are thousands of free samples available online.
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10 CV Essentials
- Contact details - Your name, phone number, email address (make sure it’s a professional sounding one) and LinkedIn profile link. Make sure your contact details are easy to find on your CV.
- Professional summary - In a couple of paragraphs describe your experience. Summarise your values, your achievements and what value you can bring to the role. If you are replying to a mass job advert then here is a good place to use keywords from the job advert to help get you through the automated selection algorithms.
- Skills summary – List the skills, competencies and systems that are most relevant to the job. Use those keywords here as well.
- Achievements - List your key career achievements, not what you were responsible for – what you actually achieved. It is great here if you can back this up with facts or numbers.
- Work experience -
- The most detailed section of your CV, with positions listed from the most recent. Include employer names, positions and primary responsibilities.
- Because we work in a gig economy if you have done the same role for a number of organisations you could list them all in one section. For example, if you have had experience as a stage manager you could list all the shows here and your experience as an event manager could be in another section.
- Wherever possible and relevant demonstrate your achievements with facts and figures. Once again not what you were responsible for, what you achieved. For example “delivered a three day festival on budget with 95% satisfaction rating from event attendees.
- Education, certifications & qualifications – list the qualification, year of completion, the institution’s name and relevant subjects studied.
- References – always note referees on request. This way they will need to tell you they will be contacting your referees, this will give you a chance to pick the right person to talk about your suitability for the role and also call them and explain the job and ideally what you would like the referee to highlight.
- Format – make sure it is in a well-recognised format such as Word or pdf. Make sure if you export to pdf that you check the formatting prior to sending as sometimes it is not exactly the same as the original version.
- Final check - Don't forget to spell check your CV, in the event industry we need people with exceptional attention to detail, if you aren’t checking your CV for errors I can only assume your work will be as sloppy.
- Get it out there - Finally, attach or submit your CV and cover letter if needed. At this stage you would not need to provide certificates or qualifications until you get an interview or the job.
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