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CV Template Advice

Article posted:
12. 09. 23

  • Principle format? – Written CV, portfolio, video, niche software etc - know your audience
  • Increasingly with the development of the digital market, and certainly within creative industries, there is a movement away from conventional Consider who you are presenting to and what are their expectations. Create something bespoke if this highlights your skills in a stronger way. In the future, Corporate functions will move further away from the traditional CV but it’s still the preferred format, and established process for now.
  • 3 pages is now accepted as the norm; more than this and you may be including detail from an early career that detracts from your current experiences.
  • Do consider that if you don’t grab attention on page 1 you may not have the opportunity for them to find the key aspects on pages 2 or 3.
  • Do consider LinkedIN as an extension of your If you introduce yourself via LinkedIN for a role, the reviewer will probably look at your LinkedIN profile for further background.

Impact

Personal details – name, email, contact number Personal profile – Show the passion you have for your profession, your areas of focus and interest. This is the readers first introduction to you; make it sound individual… four lines that summarise you professionally. Ask colleagues and network connections for phrases that summarise you.

Key Achievements 

  • These are not Key Skills but should incorporate the same Key skills are often presented just as words. These are largely meaningless unless they relate to specific technology, systems, or key words potentially essential in a specific role, beyond those that can naturally be assumed you will possess.
  • Key achievements should always be tailored for a specific role, and are key skills demonstrated through outcomes. They may be different for certain Consider your 6 most impactful achievements.
  • Key achievements will be drawn from beyond your current role and will allow you to highlight aspects from a previous role on the first page.
  • All must be measurable, detailed, but Numbers to highlight improvements, development, success etc should be included.
  • To help identify key achievements, consider what are those examples you would most often use during an interview, what qualities do they demonstrate.
Current role (final 1/3rd of page 1) – Company name, dates, role title
  • Brief description of role, reporting line, reports, budgetary responsibility etc; scale and context are relevant here (or that which is factually relevant to you and the role you are going for)
  • Build all responsibilities into achievements beyond this with a measurable outcome wherever possible; this role is likely to be the most relevant to the role you’re applying for, so go into detail.
  • Consider the range of competencies your achievements cover. Do these reflect your full range of competencies, are there other achievements that whilst not as significant do demonstrate the breadth of you and the role you undertook?

Detail 

  • Previous roles in chronological order, and detail, as per the current Do remember to move significant achievements into your key achievements on page 1
  • Gaps in dates? – include these; detail in one line what the period Some processes require full detail like this, and unexplained gaps could be interpreted as something being masked. Lots of great achievements can be drawn from during these periods, even if not from employment.
  • Consider the amount of detail to include, reducing from one role to the Early career summaries can be sufficient to support the early 20-25% of your career; note company, role, dates.

Validation

  • Potentially Early Career summary, if not on page 2
  • Education and professional qualifications – Make the judgement on which are most relevant to your role currently or your range of skills; some early qualifications are not necessary to include, or only briefly.
  • This will be more relevant and important for roles and careers that involve specific technology, systems or
Interests – A highlight for myself, but something that some consider draws people only to those similar to themselves.
  • A further opportunity to promote your informal side, a critical aspect in any recruitment Interests can and should be as far ranging as you feel relevant to yourself.
  • A favourite of mine - “I love great food, travel and all forms of sport, but with a young family this involves local take outs as I never go out, watching Michael Palin re runs and Ski Sunday as we get ready for bath time”
  • NB: Spending time with your family is a duty, not a hobby!!!

Other considerations & tips

  • Cover Letter for applications? – An introduction is important, and it is an opportunity to begin to focus your experience on the role, however it is more advisable to tailor the CV to a role than to send a generic CV with a personalised cover note as the 2 documents may not be presented together.
  • ‘Blank piece of paper’ – what am I good at, what competencies does this show, when did I achieve them?
  • What words have people used to describe me, or shared in feedback – why?
  • Tailor and evolve your CV continuously, yes, but feel comfortable reducing detail as you gain more experience. I often speak about my life in Canada, but the work I did there is no longer relevant!!!
  • Seek feedback from trusted colleagues and friends that know you
  • I haven’t referenced whether to include a photo or not, this is not for me to say and is probably more contentious than any other cv feedback I have gauged in 22 There is no right or wrong, some people want to include this, other don’t – you decide.
  • Recognise these are only one set of ideas and options, Google will suggest many more, none are wrong, just remember: know your audience!!
 

Written by:

Paul Bryan

Artis Procurement, Purchasing and Supply Chain & Artis Customer Contact are the established experts in resourcing for mid-senior level Procurement and Customer Contact leadership roles.

TEL: 07792072090
EMAIL: Paul.bryan@artisrecruitment.co.uk

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Career Advice

Article posted:
20th December 2022

As recruitment experts we’re here to help both candidate and client. Sometimes that help can just be a bit of advice, guidance or insight into the market. At other times you might want something a little more thorough or bespoke. We’ve noted some areas of career advice here, but feel free to get in touch for a confidential chat about your specific circumstances; we’d be happy to help.

1 - Do your research

Looking for a new role can be a full time job in itself. Part of this is because you really do need to do your groundwork on each organisation that you apply to. Think about what sort of business issues they will be going through, what sort of plans and goals they have and what kinds of risks they will be facing. Read widely and consider what is happening in the sector, or what their competitors may be up to. Try to understand how the organisation works, what it’s culture and ethos is – an inside track can be very useful! If what you learn makes you feel it’s exactly the sort of place you really want to be, take time to ensure you bring out your most relevant achievements and most appropriate skills on your CV / application and throughout the recruitment process. Make it clear how what you’ve done and who you are as a person make you just right for them and their needs. Good research and a little reflection will help make sure you present yourself in the most attractive light.

2 - Highlight your achievements, not your responsibilities

Taking that next step on the career ladder requires you to sell yourself a little. Whilst it’s ever so easy to prepare a CV based around what you do on a daily basis, most employers are more interested in what you’ve achieved in your role. For example, if you work in Content Marketing, you might want to highlight the impact & coverage your work produced. If you run a Marketing team, you might want to stress the impact of the way you’ve managed your team on the commercial returns. If you're responsible for creative campaigns, focus on the deliverables and the commercial / reputational benefit they have brought. Concentrating on your achievements like this will help differentiate your CV, showcase your relevant successes… and help ensure you get to interview.

3 - First impressions

Your CV is a means to an end; it’s at interview where you’re most able to differentiate yourself. Having done your research on the business and the people, take time to build rapport with your interviewer. Hopefully they’ll be taking time to build rapport with you, too! Like any new relationship, the one with your potential boss is built on first impressions. Whilst you may be confident about your abilities, keen to put across why you’re a great hire, or eager to jump in with some probing questions of your own, don’t forget to put in the groundwork with your interviewer to try to understand them as a person first. Demonstrate too that you have done your research on the business – beyond a scan of their website’s homepage! – and you’ll be off to a good start.

4 - Be on top of your game... Always.

Doing your research, crafting a CV that highlights your most relevant experience and achievements, and building rapport with your interviewer are all key foundations. Get this wrong and you’re fighting against the tide. Get it right and it’s the base from which you can deliver a great performance at interview. Your interview performance is key, so ensure you’re helping yourself by taking some steps to prepare. Make sure you’re ready with strong answers to the sort of questions you’d expect. If part of the role is managing people, have a few good examples to evidence how well you can manage and what that good management means in terms of outcomes; it’s not sufficient to say, ‘yes, I’ve managed before’… your interviewer will want to know how effectively. Make sure you’re also prepared to answers those questions you might not expect – so having some great stock examples / anecdotes to hand that you can draw out to support a range of core competencies, or to back up some of the points you’re wanting to make. Think about those examples that highlight how you work, what you did and what’s different about you… don’t just focus on how things turned out. Always answer clearly, concisely and with impact. How you say what you say is important. Haven’t interviewed for some time? There’s nothing wrong with practising – better to take some time to do this beforehand than try to wing it! Finally, to help make sure you’re on top of your game you’ll want to be confident. It may sound obvious but make sure you are well rested, allow plenty of time for your journey, arrive well presented and with a clear head. With today’s busy lives it’s easy to overload yourself and end up feeling things are rushed or unfocussed – whilst you might get by and do OK anyway, the ‘you on a good day’ has a much better chance!

Written by:

Huw Jenkins

Huw has over 20 years experience recruiting within the HR and Communications industry, bringing a wealth of experience and an impressive permanent and interim network across the UK and Northern Europe.

TEL: 01174563370
EMAIL: huw.jenkins@artishr.co.uk

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Success! Volume Recruitment - Customer Contact

Article posted:

Artis Customer Contact Case Studies

 Customer Service Advisors, £18k, Utility

The problem

 We work with many large corporate clients who have ongoing recruitment requirements, with growth and attrition the inevitable drivers behind the need for a continuous stream of suitably experienced contact centre staff. In most locations this need poses employers a problem as other similar organisations locally will also be looking for a similar stream of similar candidates. In the battle to reach the best talent ahead of the competition employers rightly look to both their in-house teams and agency partners to keep the quality and numbers high. We have a great solution…

What we did

 We’d worked with this particular client on the odd occasion previously when their incumbent suppliers had failed to deliver and we’d got to know the business well. It struck us that, with a constant need and a slightly different employee value proposition, our client could benefit from working with us on a managed service basis. This arrangement means a commitment both sides - regular business for us, continued prioritised support for our client. Importantly, it also allows us to reduce our rates by more than half yet still deliver a quality service. We now run an ongoing bespoke attraction / registration campaign for this client, offering a partnership service in a market usually seen as commoditised and impersonal. Activity includes earmarking from all ad response, targeted mailings, branded messaging, bespoke referral schemes and regular market and ‘candidate perception’ insights reports.

Success!

 We’ve hired a number of people over the past year for this great client, all of whom have stayed and seem happy. As a model, we see it could benefit any client with ongoing needs.
OUR CLIENT SAID: “We have an ongoing requirement for Contact Centre Advisors and were happy to work with Artis in a slightly different way. Commercially this has proven a great relationship as we have reduced cost per hire and reduced attrition.” Resourcing Manager, Utility THE CANDIDATE SAID: “Unlike many agencies it is clear that Paul and his team at Artis know a lot about their client and they’re able to really make the role and the business come alive to candidates like me. Paul helped me prepare for interview too as he knew the client’s process well.”  Customer Service Advisor, Utility

Written by:

Paul Bryan

Artis Procurement, Purchasing and Supply Chain & Artis Customer Contact are the established experts in resourcing for mid-senior level Procurement and Customer Contact leadership roles.

TEL: 07792072090
EMAIL: Paul.bryan@artisrecruitment.co.uk

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Success! Urgent Requirement - Customer Contact

Article posted:

Artis Customer Contact Case Studies

 Sales Performance Manager, £60k, FTSE plc

The problem

A major client of ours was looking to realise greater value from their outsourced contact centre partnerships; specifically they wanted to improve sales outcomes through greater engagement, better conversion and higher value customer relationships. For this newly created role the client was keen to find someone with both sector and outsourcer experience and who offered a close cultural match. An added challenge was that the client needed someone on board quickly as a previous offer had been declined. As an established supplier, we were thrown the challenge of finding someone in double quick time!

What we did

The difficulty of finding good people well-suited to an organisation is compounded when the role needs filling within a very tight timescale; inevitably, if your window of search is tiny the pressure is on to conduct all the right activity quickly. Given our client’s timescales we knew we needed to act quickly and reach out to a lot of people; so, we arranged for targeted mailings, advertising and a network referral request to go out that day. Hitting lots of people within 24 hours we generated plenty of interest; the task of identifying the highest calibre candidates within that long list of response then needed our speedy focus and attention... time for heads down…

Success!

Our swift action and our market reach meant we managed to identify two excellent candidates fresh onto the market who were a great match for the business. The client interviewed both candidates that week and made an offer. A tricky assignment but we got there… another happy client!
OUR CLIENT SAID: “As a fast-paced business with a demanding culture we required a driven individual to manage our customer facing business partners. Having had an offer declined the business need was pressing. We were pleased with the approach Artis took.” Resourcing Manager, FTSE plc THE CANDIDATE SAID: “I’d worked in both outsource and client-side environments and knew this role would be a great challenge as soon as Paul contacted me about it. I was surprised that things moved so quickly, but that’s no bad thing.” Sales Performance Manager, FTSE plc

Written by:

Paul Bryan

Artis Procurement, Purchasing and Supply Chain & Artis Customer Contact are the established experts in resourcing for mid-senior level Procurement and Customer Contact leadership roles.

TEL: 07792072090
EMAIL: Paul.bryan@artisrecruitment.co.uk

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Success! Senior Recruitment - Customer Contact

Article posted:

Artis Customer Contact Case Studies

 Head of Contact Centre, £85k, FTSE / Outsource partnership

The problem

The past few years have seen our client grow their market share and introduce innovative new products into the UK market. Growth often underpins recruitment need, and this role came to market as the result of major business transformation driven by clear and ambitious future growth plans. Having identified the need for this new leadership role our client wanted to secure someone with deep operational expertise, clear gravitas and a breadth of experience from a variety of sectors and cultures. No tall order, but we rose to the challenge…

What we did

This assignment was managed on a retained basis, ensuring we could clear the decks and focus on what was a critical hire for our client. Whilst our own network is very strong at this level we wanted to make sure we’d scoured the whole market for any and every possible candidate. A formal search was conducted by our own in-house team of researchers (using a wide range of media and bespoke search tools), to identify not just those senior people in similar roles but, specifically, those people who’d had direct, recent, relevant experience within similar contexts. This detailed search meant we’d identify people with all the right attributes to land quickly and effectively in the new role.

Success! 

At the end of a lengthy search and numerous face to face meetings up and down the country, we delivered a comprehensive market report, shortlist and clear set of recommendations to the client. Their own recruitment process was also very thorough, and an offer was finally made to a truly outstanding candidate. A great assignment with a business to watch for the future…
OUR CLIENT SAID: “We had worked with Artis before but this was a more senior role. We were impressed with the approach they took and were pleased with the calibre of the shortlist and the market insight.” Head of Resourcing, FTSE/Outsource partnership THE CANDIDATE SAID: “I was approached by Paul in a professional way with what seemed an interesting role. I wasn’t actively looking, but this piece caught my attention as senior roles within this industry and reasonably close to home are rare.” Contact Centre Head, FTSE/Outsource partnership

Written by:

Paul Bryan

Artis Procurement, Purchasing and Supply Chain & Artis Customer Contact are the established experts in resourcing for mid-senior level Procurement and Customer Contact leadership roles.

TEL: 07792072090
EMAIL: Paul.bryan@artisrecruitment.co.uk

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Success! Senior Interim Post

Article posted:

Artis Customer Contact Case Studies

Head of Service Delivery, £450/day, Outsource Consultancy

The problem

Our client on this assignment was a strategic consultancy engaged with a FTSE financial services brand to overhaul much of their people and process systems within their contact centre estate; a significant piece of work requiring a highly experienced senior team of interims based across a number of sites. As part of this piece we were asked to find a key programme lead, a senior player with deep operational expertise and the client-facing skills to credibly lead the project delivery

What we did

Having built our reputation in the contact centre market over the last 10 years we have an extensive network of senior contacts from which to draw. Many contacts have been both candidate and client over that time, and we knew that we’d be able to secure a fantastic candidate from within this network. We also took time to run a formal search for seasoned interims outside this network as we wanted to cover all bases. Because of the scope of the role we made sure we had a detailed brief, understood this brief and were able to translate it accurately to candidates. Getting this right meant that anyone making it to the shortlist was fully aware of the expected deliverables on this important contract.

Success!

Our client had high expectations of a senior hire at this level and wanted us to have met with all candidates as well as to obtain written answers to a couple of key questions / scenarios. We understood what was at stake for our client and made sure we were thorough. Three interviews were arranged, resulting in an offer and a happy client.
OUR CLIENT SAID: “This role was a critical member of the team I was putting together for a major project with a key client. Paul demonstrated he understood the sort of person I needed… and how to find them. A good piece of recruitment, thanks Paul.” MD, Outsource Consultancy THE CANDIDATE SAID: “I was aware of Mark and Paul at Artis through a mutual contact. This opportunity stood out as an interesting role vs a couple of other things I was in process for and I was pleased when I was offered. It’s a tough gig but I’m enjoying it!.” Interim Head of Service Delivery

Written by:

Mark Lightburn

Artis HR is a specialist full-service HR, People Change and Communications recruitment consultancy. We operate exclusively at the Senior & Executive Appointments level across interim and permanent vacancies.

TEL: 07875700958
EMAIL: Mark.lightburn@artishr.co.uk

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Success! Recruiting for a little known brand in Customer Contact

Article posted:

Success! - Little-Known Brand (CC)

Artis Customer Contact Case Studies

 Contact Centre Manager, £35k, Start-up Energy Provider

The problem

Many of our clients are household names or big brands. Whilst this isn’t enough on its own (sadly!) to solve every recruitment challenge they face, a well-known name and familiar EVP message certainly helps. On this occasion our client was an innovative start-up business – headed by some industry heavyweights – but in today’s competitive recruitment market the fact that they had no established business or brand saw them losing out in terms of candidate attraction to better known names. An interesting role to take to market, but a challenge given this context.

What we did

With this assignment, we knew we’d need to focus primarily on the role and the entrepreneurial vision to attract, rather than falling back on brand recognition… but that’s fine, because it was a great role working with some great people and offering a chance for the right candidate to help shape the customer proposition. Given our network and reach we knew we could access a strong candidate pool, and we spent time creating a ‘candidate pack’ to present the vision, business strategy and working conditions clearly. Good conversations ensued, and the brand awareness issue was reduced to just one of the many factors influencing candidate interest levels, not a key limiter.

Success!

A great example of how recruitment isn’t about brand-lead advertising and automated sifting; rather, good recruitment is really about knowing how to attract and engage candidates in a given opportunity. Most of us work for businesses that aren’t household names, but that shouldn’t stop a good recruiter rolling up their sleeves. Our client now has a new senior team member… and a new brand advocate.
OUR CLIENT SAID: “We’d worked with Paul previously and knew his professional and persistent style was just what we needed to help us uncover the right people.” MD, Start-up Energy Provider THE CANDIDATE SAID: “My background was mostly in large companies, where I’d gained some great experience. I was looking for an opportunity to develop in my career, somewhere I’d be trusted to build a great team and customer-centric processes. I didn’t know the company, but I liked what they were about and the role sounded perfect.” Contact Centre Manager, Start-up Energy Provider

Written by:

Paul Bryan

Artis Procurement, Purchasing and Supply Chain & Artis Customer Contact are the established experts in resourcing for mid-senior level Procurement and Customer Contact leadership roles.

TEL: 07792072090
EMAIL: Paul.bryan@artisrecruitment.co.uk

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Success! Recruiting for a difficult location (Customer Contact)

Article posted:

Artis Customer Contact Case Studies

MI Consultant, £240/day, Financial Services (Scotland, with UK travel)

The problem

Large organisations often have a diverse geographical footprint, a result either of historical acquisition or simply operational necessity. Our client – a high street name – has call centres located throughout the UK, and this role came about due to a project run out of Scotland. The requirement was for an interim MI Consultant to analyse current activity and present recommendations for improvements This assignment highlighted the fact that even when attracting more general skills locally is not difficult, the candidate market for senior staff or niche skills can prove a major headache for many employers.

What we did

Given our extensive database, access to all the right niche job boards / CV databases, comprehensive reach via social media and our well-known recruitment brand in this space we were confident we could reach the right people… but we also knew we’d need to sell this opportunity as it would likely involve a temporary relocation and significant travel for most candidates. Sometimes the key is to really understand what makes the opportunity attractive and to focus on presenting this right from the outset; in this way we attracted people who were keen on the role and not put off by the travel.

Success!

Whilst this assignment did at times feel like looking for a needle in a haystack, the hours put in resulted in us uncovering some excellent candidates. In the end, the client was able to hire someone with the perfect background who had worked on similar programmes; the successful candidate was based in the Midlands but was quite prepared to stay away during the working week.
OUR CLIENT SAID: “This particular project was being run from one of our Scottish sites, so we needed someone on site there. With the additional travel we knew it would preclude some candidates, but that was the requirement of the project.” Programme Resource Lead, Financial Services THE CANDIDATE SAID: “In previous roles I’ve had to travel, even overseas, so this aspect of the role didn’t put me off. I was interested in the scope of the role and enjoy the analytical side so I was thankful to Paul for the approach.” MI Analyst / Consultant, Financial Services

Written by:

Paul Bryan

Artis Procurement, Purchasing and Supply Chain & Artis Customer Contact are the established experts in resourcing for mid-senior level Procurement and Customer Contact leadership roles.

TEL: 07792072090
EMAIL: Paul.bryan@artisrecruitment.co.uk

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Success! Recruiting for a challenging salary

Article posted:

Artis Customer Contact Case Studies

Contact Centre Team Leader, £20k, Niche outsourcer (M4 corridor)

The problem

As an established niche business with a stable team our client generally promoted from within at this level and rarely came out to market. On this occasion though there was a need for fresh blood, but the low-margin nature of their business model meant that budgets were tight and salaries had to be limited within established brackets. Our client’s direct activity had failed to reach candidates of the right calibre, and we knew we’d need to roll our sleeves up to find great people within their budget.

What we did

Over the last 10 years we’ve built a strong reputation for placing into roles of this type, and our network at this level and in this location is exceptionally strong; we felt confident we could reach enough people who would see this role as a positive challenge and not see the package as a barrier. We took time to understand the business behind this opportunity and to shape a proposition which would attract the right sort of person. Not all job seeking is driven by money, and we wanted to reach those with all the right attributes locally who were ready for the next step in their careers; a great role and an easy commute often counts as much as a few extra £s in basic salary. Having identified the people we sold the business and the opportunity, openly and honestly, and drafted a strong shortlist.

Success!

We’re often asked by candidates to ‘keep an eye out’ for specific opportunities in certain locations, and this assignment was a great example of how a well-connected proactive recruiter can quickly come up with just the right person. Two interviews resulted in one offer… the client now has a highly motivated new Team Leader; the candidate has a shorter commute and an hour of their day back!
OUR CLIENT SAID: “Whilst we try to promote internally it’s not always possible. We are aware that other, larger employers offer a higher salary so we asked Paul to find us a capable Team Leader from within his network. Yet again Paul managed to find us someone.” Commercial Director, Outsourcer THE CANDIDATE SAID: “Paul was really helpful throughout the process, and he talked me through what the company do and what other people he’d placed there had said about them. The location was perfect for me and from what Paul said the role sounded great.” Team Leader, Outsourcer

Written by:

Charlotte Woods

A globally experienced recruiter, with 10+ years of knowledge and expertise across attraction, engagement, and business partnering. Working across the Permanent, Interim & Contract market, with a particular focus on Bristol and the South West, we support organisations from early start-up stage to large stock-listed clients. As a HR Recruitment specialist, I look after roles across: Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, Reward and Benefits, and generalist HR positions.

TEL: 01174563370
EMAIL: charlotte.woods@artishr.co.uk

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