Work It Like A Mum
Work It Like A Mum
BONUS EPIOSDE: CVs & Interview Prep- Stand Out and Get Hired
In this bonus episode of Work It Like a Mum podcast, our very own founder, Elizabeth Willits, goes solo to share 18+ years of recruitment know-how. She’ll walk you through how to write a CV that opens doors, master LinkedIn so opportunities come to you, and ace interviews with confidence, keeping your career momentum strong, even in the quieter months.
Summer break is around the corner, and while the pace of life slows down for many, it can be the perfect time to pause and assess your career progress.
This is the first session of our Momentum Masterclass Series, a six-week programme designed to help you maintain momentum in career growth and job search throughout the slower-paced summer months.
📌 What She Covers
- CV essentials: what to include, how to write a standout profile, and turn duties into achievements
- Grouping roles to show progression, plus highlighting education and key wins
- Keyword tactics to beat ATS and avoid common mistakes
- LinkedIn optimisation: profile tweaks, network building, and smart posting
- Researching companies and interviewers
- Interview prep: STAR method, presentation tips, and thank-you follow-ups
💡 Key Takeaways
- Lead with value — show how you’ll make a difference.
- Keep it clear, skimmable, and results-focused.
- Use numbers to prove your impact.
- Build your network before you need it.
- Prep like a pro to boost confidence.
- Follow up to stay top of mind.
Plus:
- Real-world examples from Elizabeth’s clients and candidates
- Advice for handling career changes, employment gaps, maternity leave, and voluntary roles
- How to avoid common pitfalls in cover letters and follow-up messages
💡 “Strive not to be of success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein
Stay motivated. Stay seen. Stay on track.
Show Links:
Connect with our host, Elizabeth Willetts here
Visit the Investing in Women Website here
Boost your career with Investing in Women's Career Coaching! Get expert CV, interview, and LinkedIn guidance tailored for all career stages. Navigate transitions, discover strengths, and reach goals with our personalised approach. Book now for your dream job! Use 'workitlikeamum' for a 10% discount.
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And here's your invite to our supportive and empowering Facebook Group, Work It Like a Mum - a supportive and safe networking community for professional working mothers. Our community is full of like-minded female professionals willing to offer support, advice or a friendly ear. See you there!
Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willits and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids and helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life. I'm a working mum with over 17 years of recruitment experience and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women job board and community. In this show, I'm honoured to be chatting with remarkable women redefining our working world across all areas of business. They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, set boundaries and balance, the challenges they've faced and how they've overcome them to define their own versions of success. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money struggles, growth, loss, boundaries and balance we cover it all. Think of this as coffee with your mates, mixed with an inspiring TED Talk sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school. So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, make sure you're cosy and get ready to get inspired and chase your boldest dreams, or just survive Mondays. This is the Work it Like A Mum podcast. This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women. Investing in Women is a job board and recruitment agency helping you find your dream part-time or flexible job with the UK's most family-friendly and forward-thinking employers. Their site can help you find a professional and rewarding job that works for you. They're proud to partner with the UK's most family-friendly employers across a range of professional industries, ready to find your perfect job. Search their website at investinginwomencouk to find your next part-time or flexible job opportunity. Now back to the show.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to week four of our Momentum series. Today I am joining you. My name is Elizabeth Willits and I am the founder of Investing Women, a recruitment company and job board that helps people find flexible, part-time and home-based jobs, and we are running this series to help you keep momentum in your job search, in your career, during what can be the traditional, quieter summer months. So if you've missed any of the previous episodes, please, please, let me know and we can send you the replays, because we've had some brilliant, brilliant sessions already with some fabulous guest speakers, including how and how to define what you want and make a successful career pivot with the brilliant Kim Holland how to define what you want and make a successful career pivot with the brilliant Kim Holland. We've also had Nicola Semple come on discussing how to build confidence in your career, and last week we had the lovely Leanne Cooper talking all about how to use LinkedIn and offline networking to advance your career.
Speaker 1:But today you've got me and I am going to be talking all about CVs, interviews and also a little bit about LinkedIn as well, because we all know that is the best place to be. If you want to find a new job, please do let me know if you can hear me all. Okay. Any questions you have, please do pop them in the comments and I will do my best to answer at the end. But before we get started, be really good, just to get the conversation going, do let me know where you are dialing in from today, where you're watching from and if you're looking for a job, how long have you been searching for? I've got some slides I'm going to be running through. Like I said, any questions, please do pop them in the comments and I will do my best to answer at the end. So here we go, lovely. So, oh, hi, michelle, who is at home in Manchester today. So today, like I said, we're going to be discussing how to craft a compelling CV, learn how to ace your interview. So you probably want to know a little bit about me.
Speaker 1:So I am Elizabeth Willits. I founded Investing Women, which is a job board and award-winning recruitment company. I founded Investing Women four years ago, but I actually have a lot of recruitment more recruitment experience. So I started my recruitment career back in 2007, working for Hayes, which is one of the world's largest recruitment companies. So I started my recruitment career back in 2007, working for Hayes, which is one of the world's largest recruitment companies, and I was there for quite a number of years before moving in-house to Deloitte where I recruited their consultants. So I've had now nearly 18 years well, over 18 years of recruitment experience. So during my career, I've reviewed thousands and thousands and thousands, if probably not a million, cvs by now. I've interviewed hundreds and hundreds of candidates, so I really do know a good applicant when I see one.
Speaker 1:So in this webinar, it's going to be really actionable. Hopefully you're going to get lots of tips. Hopefully you've got pen paper you can be writing things down. So I'm going to be giving you my top tips on how you can write a CV that opens doors, a LinkedIn profile that recruiters will love, and how to prepare for an interview that will hopefully land you your dream job as well. Zoe said she's struggling with sound. Hopefully everyone else can hear me, okay, we've got Christelle in London and Rachel in Scotland and Helena in London as well.
Speaker 1:So this is a quote that I really love, and I think it just epitomizes how you should view your CV and your interviews and your interview prep and your LinkedIn, and the quote is from Albert Einstein Albert Einstein, sorry and his quote is strive to not to be of success, but rather to be of value, because that is what, ultimately, all businesses are looking for. They're wanting to hire somebody that is going to be valuable to their organization. So how are you communicating that value and the value that you can bring to their business in your CV, in your cover letter, in your interviews and in your LinkedIn? And I think that is the key is communicating how you are going to positively impact their organization. And that doesn't just apply for you know, front office sales roles, which are bringing in revenue, but every single position within an organization has to positively impact a business. And how are you demonstrating that? You have previously done that and, therefore, are going to be a good bet to do it again for that particular business. Therefore, are going to be a good bet to do it again for that particular business. So what you're going to learn today.
Speaker 1:So we're going to talk about why CV structure is more important than you think, why keyword research and tailoring your CV to each job is more important than ever. How to stand out and differentiate yourself from the competition, my secret to keeping your CV detailed enough without going over the magic two pages, the cv mistake that could cost you the interview, the importance of linkedin and tips to create a standout profile and interview preparation tips to help you land your dream job. So it's really important that your CV is easy to follow and easy to read. So, if you think about it, a recruiter on a Monday morning could come in to well over 100 applications for the various roles that they are recruiting for. I heard from somebody that was recruiting a position that got over a thousand applications. So they need to be able to read and skim your cv really quickly and find the information that you are that they're looking for. So they don't want to be having, they don't want to be like two text heavier things like that. It needs to be actually quite a skimmable document that is able to instantly convey the value that you can bring to their business. So they really ideally like things you know, following a similar format, so they know where to find what they're looking for.
Speaker 1:So appearance keep the font really clean. Like I said, I know people that have had over a thousand applications for their roles people that have had over a thousand applications for their roles. They do not want to be trying to look at complicated, funny text or anything like that. Has to just be really simple, clean text and easy to read. So size 11 for the main points, 14 for the headings, just something that is easily digestible.
Speaker 1:Unless you are applying for a graphic design role. Just keep it a simple word. Or you know a PDF document black text on a white background. We don't need a photo that actually can create quite a lot of bias. You know, may or may not fall in your favour, but just keep it really simple. Photo obviously also takes quite a bit of space as well, but, like I said, no fancy distracting graphics. They just want to be able to pull out the information about whether or not they think you're suitable for the role that they're recruiting for quickly. So keep it really simple.
Speaker 1:Just checking Hopefully everyone can hear me, ok, because I know that Zoe said she was struggling. So personal details I have no CV that have. People have forgotten to add personal details and that obviously a it's a problem because people that can't then contact you if they want to invite you for an interview and also it just looks like you've overlooked something really, really simple. So need to be at the top of your CV, include your name, your address you don't need to put your full postal address anymore if you don't want, but definitely put in roughly where you live in the country because you might apply for a role. You might not be 100% right for the role you've applied for, but a good recruiter will keep your details on file and if a brilliant role comes in in the next couple of weeks and they think you're suitable for it, they will want to know that you can get to the position that they are recruiting for. Email address, obviously, so they can contact you if they've got an interview for you or need to chat about your details, your phone number and LinkedIn profile if applicable, and you can hyperlink like your LinkedIn profile, for example, and that just looks a little bit neater.
Speaker 1:And then you want your personal profile and your personal um like it's. Basically, if you think about it, think of it as like a professional, um, like Instagram bio type things. It's a few sentence directly underneath your personal details that tell the hiring manager who you are and your key experience, so some of the really high impact stuff you've done and, um, what you're looking for. So it doesn't need to be like war and peace, probably about three or four lines and it's just really going to be selling you. It's just, it's a few lines that just sell you and your experience.
Speaker 1:I've had people that have used this. I've had people that have used this space, seen the people that have used this space where they've sort of said I was made redundant, I'm, you know, looking for xyz, and it's been a little bit more about them rather than actually this is what I can bring to you and your organization. So try and make sure that you highlight a key achievement, what makes you unique, and then the last line, why you're looking for a new role and maybe what type of role you're looking for and how you can impact positively, positively impact the next organization that you work for. Then we're moving on to your career history. So you, unless you are a very recent graduate, I would start with career history first and put education underneath, unless, you know, unless you are just graduated, in which case I'd probably start with education and then career history. But you want to start with your most recent job first and then add previous jobs in reverse chronological order, and then add previous jobs in reverse chronological order um, obviously, use um dates employed from and to, and then you're just basically going to be listing all your day-to-day responsibilities, using bullet points to make it easy to read, try and avoid generalizations. And my friend Leanne, who was on the um, the podcast, um, the momentum career series last week, um, she is brilliant at um helping people really convey the value that they bring.
Speaker 1:And so every line you are writing on your cv, you need to be thinking so what, so, what so? For example, I did a cv review for a lady last week and on her CV it was just just said account manager didn't really mean anything. And then when I actually teased, pulled it out and teased it out of her, it turned out she can't manage nine clients that were bringing in, you know, two million pounds worth of revenue a year. She'd managed to upsell x, upsell, xyz. So think about the so what? What is the benefit of that particular duty? And make sure you're including that. You know it might not be a revenue based duty. It might be something where you've saved time and you've saved money. Those are also really important and really valued by organisations. But you know, rather than responsible for procurement, responsible for procurement managed to negotiate these favorable terms with this particular supplier and saved x number of pounds per year. That is much more powerful than just responsible for recruitment, which which means very little um.
Speaker 1:So another trick that you could do as well I'm just checking I haven't got it further along in the slides, may have it further on the slice, but as if you have been somewhere a long time to group, try and group those roles together, because that will um, that will show that you are um, an individual, that um has potentially been promoted within your, your previous employers. You've been really valued. You've stayed there a long time um. So a lot of I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but a lot of organizations. They get a bit twitchy about candidates that have had a lot of short stints in um, lots of roles. Sometimes if you're just skimming a cv, if you've really broken down every role you've had a particular organization, it can make you look more jumpy than you are. So I've had candidates where we've tried to group it all together. So there was a lady, for example, that worked at Nationwide. She had been there 20 years but had had multiple roles within that time. So we did a big heading, that sort of said you know 2005, whenever she started at Nationwide to you know present Nation, various roles due to promotion see below. And then we'd broken it down and then it was just so much clearer that she had stayed with that one organisation for a really chunky amount of time and it had been promoted within that business. That's just something to bear in mind.
Speaker 1:If you've been somewhere for um for quite a long stint but had various roles within that, that is quite a selling point on your CV. So make sure you're highlighting it to potential recruiters. Education so you want to be. Then, once you've done all your career history, you want to do your education. Start with your most recent education first and work backwards. Include the dates attended which institution, what you studied, grades if you did well, add all relevant training and professional qualifications to this section. So also for another top tip if you have done a professional qualification like an ACA or a SEMA for accountants, if you got first-time passes, pop that in as well and that's another real selling point on your CV.
Speaker 1:So anything that sells you, make sure you are including in in your CV and keywords. So I hate to break it to you but your CV probably, unless it's a really small organization, will probably not be reviewed by the hiring manager the actual hiring manager at the first instance. The CV will be reviewed either by a computer, so an applicant tracking system, or an outsourced CV screener, or potentially the recruiteriter if you're lucky. So you want to make sure that your A or CV is quite simple and easy to read and jargon free, and that's also why I advise people to quantify achievements where they can, because numbers are universal. So even if somebody doesn't understand your particular specialism, they will understand a 300% uplift in whatever, or a three hour time saving doing X. So numbers are really universal. So that's always a good thing.
Speaker 1:But also you want to be then filling your jobs, your CV, peppering it with the keywords that are used in the job advert, because computers and CV screeners are trained to pick out those keywords and then pass candidates on to second line review that have those keywords in their CV. So make sure that you are peppering your CV with the keywords that are used in the advert, then I know we've touched on this before, but it's really important that you are talking about not just in your cv but in your cover letters as well, and cover letters are so important. I know we're not really talking about cover letters today, but they are hugely important and really do help you stand out in a sea of a thousand applications. Those people that don't include cover letters look far less interested in the role than those have written a thoughtful, non-ai cover letter. Um, but in your cv, you could also be highlighting some of these key achievements.
Speaker 1:So I quite like having a little separate section, which is key achievements under each role, because the hiring managers and the recruiters are, every time they're looking at an applicant, are thinking what positive difference is going to be made to my organization if I hire you? That is what they want to know, so you need to be spelling that out to them. So they are fundamentally every business is fundamentally interested in one of the three things Can you save us time, because then I can make more money? Can you save me money, which then is going to increase my profit, or can you make us time because then I can make more money. Can you save me money, which then is going to increase my profit, or can you make me money which is obviously then going to increase my point, my um, my profit? So it is, everything in business is obviously profit bottom line driven. I know not every role is profit bottom line driven per se, but how is what you're doing in going to impact positively impact their bottom line?
Speaker 1:So think about that and make sure you are including examples of where you have done that in the past because, like I said, they want to be hiring people that you know are potentially a good bet that they're going to do it for them again. You can then think about the star technique when writing some of your examples and also this is a really good thing to think about in interviews as well. So, with the star technique, you need to share some context around the challenge space. So you know sales were dropping, for example. What was your responsibility for overcoming that challenge? Well, you might. You might be a marketer. You might have created, thought about a sales campaign and created lots of media assets and done a social campaign, etc. To drive up sales. So think about what action, what step by step action, did you take, not the team, but but you. What was your role within that team? Um to then achieve a positive result, and then you want to be including that result. So how did what you did, your actions to resolve this problem benefit your employer? Did it save time? Did it save money? Did it make money and you know how how much as well, um. So that is hugely, hugely important.
Speaker 1:Keep it concise. Try not to go over two to three pages. You want to be using narrower margins? You can obviously adjust the margin size, um, rather than small fonts, to avoid going on to the next page and proofread. Make sure you check your cv multiple times. You know, for example, I had a candidate apply for a role. They'd been in dubai. Well, they were still in dubai, they wanted to move back to the uk and they spelt dubai wrong. It's things like that that are going to create a really negative first impression when your first impression is all you have at this point in time. So check your cv multiple times, make sure you check, send it to someone else, run it through a spell checker. But, like I said, really simple spelling mistake can cost you an interview, particularly if it's very high up and prominent on your CV. So I don't know if anyone's got any questions so far on CVs. If you pop them in the comments, I'll try and do my best to answer them at the end.
Speaker 1:But, moving on to LinkedIn, maybe just give me a show of hands who is on LinkedIn at the moment and uses it for their job search? So LinkedIn, let me know if you use it at the moment and if you don't, why you don't. If you use it at the moment and if you don't, why you don't. But LinkedIn, obviously LinkedIn is just the social media platform. If you want a job, it's a social media platform that you need to be on A billion it has a billion users at the moment and counting and it is the social platform that recruiters will spend all day, every day, looking for candidates. They basically use linkedin now, as well as a social media platform, as a job board basically, and it's the biggest job board in the world. So you want to be on there and you want to be using it for networking, job hunting and connecting with industry professionals. You want to be doing it throughout your career. It's not just a time um to be on linkedin. You're looking for roles, the time to be on LinkedIn is all the time making those connections, because that is how you're going to advance your career.
Speaker 1:But a good LinkedIn profile is key, so I'm going to run through some profile optimization tips for you. So first impressions count. So make sure you have a really nice professional photo that is bright, clear, just of you not you with multiple friends having a drink, like you might put on Facebook just you. It doesn't need to be like a professionally taken photo, but a nice, nice photo of you smiling. Make sure you've got it set as well, that photo to public, because as recruiters, we're searching all day for candidates. Not everybody has their photo showing and just like an avatar and it just, you know, as a social platform, people humans want to connect with other humans. So try and have your profile set to public Headlines.
Speaker 1:Use, think about it has to be actually quite simple. If you're looking for a new job, so if. And simple targeting the roles that you are looking for. So if you are wanting marketing manager jobs, for example, use that rather than something very obscure Like I. Build brands and help organizations elevate their you know, public profile, etc. Because recruiters aren't searching on that. Think about what a recruiter is searching for administrator, financial accountant, project manager, just use those really simple, um, simple job titles. You can then use this, like I've done, what they call the lines, but you can use a few vertical lines um to break it up and then you could say, like marketing manager, I build brands that change industries or whatever. Just make it up on the top of my head, but start off with the job title that recruiters are going to be searching on.
Speaker 1:You have quite a lot of space for your headlines, so make sure then you're using it, um, following your headline, you want to then use there's an about section and you want to use that. So in your about section, it can be really friendly, make it quite chatty. I don't like third person try and use, you know I use first person. It's it's much more informal, but you want to be highlighting your key achievements, your values, your goals, um, and just utilizing that space. Again, there's quite a lot of space and obviously, like I said, recruiters are searching. They're searching on keywords. So if you've got more of those keywords in your about section, you're going to be much more likely to be found during those searches and um and therefore approached for their jobs. So under sorry, under the about section, then you can also add your jobs as well and, like I said, it doesn't have to be an exact carbon copy of your CV, but make sure you're including some of those duties, responsibilities, because they are great from this keyword perspective.
Speaker 1:Once you've got your profile up to optimise, you then need to build your connections. You need to build your network and your network. Obviously you want to have connections. You know that are friends, that's fine. Family members, actually your network, your professional network, who is going to help you advance your career. So you need to be thinking from quite strategically, because you get 100 connection requests a week. Who are you going to use those 100 on? And then you want to be don't want to do 100 all in once, you want to do 20 a day and you want to be connecting with people that are potentially going to advance your career. So you want to be connecting with colleagues, mentors, potential hiring managers, recruiters in your industry and making sure that your network is strong, because your network is going to be your insurance policy If you are ever made redundant in the future. If you've got a strong network, you won't be out of work for long. So you want to be connecting with people, personalizing those connection requests, joining relevant linkedin groups, your industry I know we're talking about linkedin, but if you've got offline um networking groups as well, make sure you're joining those, attending those sessions because, like I said, your network is your net worth and I know people say I know it sounds cheesy, but it is true. So you want the stronger your network, the easier you are going to find building a career, job searching, etc.
Speaker 1:Once you've done I mean, obviously you can be doing that whilst creating content. Now not many people create content. So I've told you a billion people are on LinkedIn and I think about one percent of people create content. So if you want to start standing out on LinkedIn, just start posting and even. But just by doing that you will stand out. But post, keep it quite professional. I mean, I know there's all this, oh, it's on Facebook, etc. I think there has to be a point to all your posts and what is the strategy behind that? You know it's all right, maybe the odd post is what I had for tea last week or whatever, but not really. You've got to think about what is actually be quite intentional, about what you're doing on linkedin and how, thinking in the back of your mind, how is this helping me? So you could be.
Speaker 1:If you're not comfortable posting anything too personal, you know, post about industry trends, share some accomplishments, share lessons learned. Remember people skim, so there'll be maybe viewing linkedin a bus stop or whatever. So you you don't want to do any a post that's too text heavy, make sure it's, you know, broken into short paragraphs, emojis, etc. You can also engage with other people's posts via comments. That's a great way to get noticed by people that you want to be noticed by just to regularly comment on their um, their posts. But think about what content is gonna help you, um, and it's gonna. You know you want to be known for something really. So what content is going to be um, help you be known for what you want to be known for, right, um?
Speaker 1:But there is loads of job search features all on linkedin so you can apply to jobs, obviously, directly on the platform. There's the open to work feature as well, the green banner. There is a discrete mode if needed. You know, as a recruiter, we only I said we all only get 100 connection requests a week, so I want to know that my connection request is maybe not going to be wasted on you. So a you want to have a picture because it'll make sure you look like you're more active on the platform. But also, if I can see you're open to work, then you're probably going to reply to my connection request or apply to my email. Again, we only get I only get 50 a month. So, again, you know, things like that are quite scarce for a recruiter, so we need to make sure, you know, we want to make sure that they're going to be replied to. You can also use LinkedIn to research companies and recruiters before interviews as well. So there's lots of different ways you can use LinkedIn and obviously, connecting with people as well Connecting with your interviewers, connecting with potential hiring managers, connecting with the recruiters Things like that will all help you with your job search.
Speaker 1:Moving on to interview prep, I know there's some questions if people pop them in and I'll do my best to answer as many at the end. So the final bit, really before job offer, is your interview and obviously, with your interview, don't try to wing it. So the more you prepare, the more confident you will be. So, for example, when I used to work at Deloitte, we'd always ask candidates why do you want to work for Deloitte and the amount of candidates that would say, oh, I just want to work for one of the big four. Now a lot of people, particularly in that industry, would know that Deloitte was one of the big four without having done any research. So things like that, answers like that, are going to let you down.
Speaker 1:So you want to be preparing for your interview as much as possible. So, like I said, you want to be researching the company. So studying their website, typing them into google news that's something I advise all my candidates to do. Have they been in the news recently? If so, why? You want to understand their missions, values, values, challenges. So then you can, you know, reply back with that as well. And then you want to also research your interviewers LinkedIn profile, and you can also go on their LinkedIn page as well, or any social media platforms they're on, because you'll see what's important to them based on the types of things that they are posting, on the types of things that they are posting.
Speaker 1:So prepare for common questions. You know I can guarantee there are certain questions that you're going to be asked, no matter what role you're interviewing for. So you want to have these answers ready. So tell me about yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why do you want to work here? Maybe, where do you see yourself in five years time? Use that star method that I spoke about earlier when answering these questions. So, thinking about the situation, the task, what you achieved and the result, and using I, not we will make your answer seem so much more stronger and credible.
Speaker 1:Presentation. Obviously you want to be making a great first impression, even if it's a super relaxed place that you are interviewing, for. I always think it's best to dress up rather than down for an interview. Just in case, I have known a candidate that was rejected for an interview because they didn't wear a tie, so I do not want that to be you. So make sure you're dressing fairly smart. You know, even if it's on zoom, you want to be looking nice on the top half. Arrive early, bring copies of your cv, maintain good eye contact and body language. You know a firm handshake um, if you're meeting in person, really does actually create a really good first impression. And then at the end, make sure you're following up, because a thank you actually is really important. Not many people do it. Like I said, not many people write cover letters. Not many people send thank you notes either, so that is another way for you to really help yourself stand out. So you want to send a personalized thank you email within 24 hours mentioning something memorable from the interview and reiterate your enthusiasm and interest in the role. So a thank you really does go a long way.
Speaker 1:I do have a book Flex out at the moment I don't know if people have seen it, I know that some people have bought it which has loads more tips regarding CVs, linkedin interview, but also about getting clear on what you want and how to get it, as well as even chapters um, setting up a business, um, the juggle um counter offers, job offers, um. Also, there's a full chapter on cover letters as well, because I think that there is um. There's real people don't realize, I don't think how important cover letters are. And then, like I said, I do offer a number of career coaching services. All the details on the website, but we have a career crossroads consultation to help you map out your next move and get clear on where you want to go next. There's the CV glow up, where I rewrite your CV line by line to make sure it's selling you and your experience in the best possible way, and there's a LinkedIn level up where I advise on LinkedIn strategy. I rewrite your profile, including your about section, your headline, talk about who you should connect with, um, what type of things you should be posting. Also, interview confidence piece, where we just do a mock interview and I give you real-time feedback on where you potentially could improve. And then, um, the whole shebang, which includes everything as well. Um, so I know there's some questions, so I will go through those now. Um, if you've got any more questions, pop them in.
Speaker 1:So Michelle has asked would you add out of work roles? For example, I'm a governor, two schools and this provides me the different skill sets. Where would this go? I mean, I think if it was highly relevant for the roles that you were applying for, then it could potentially go near at the top. If it's less relevant to the roles you're applying for, I'd probably put it under your career history, maybe just above your education, like all the work experience or other voluntary work. That would be where I would put it. If it was less relevant to the roles you're applying for, so you would include it, but I wouldn't make it front and centre. I can see a lot of you are on LinkedIn, which is good.
Speaker 1:Anastasia, how to write about maternity leave in the CV if I'm still employed, potentially would like to change job if the maternity leave is over, you you're still employed. Even if you're on maternity leave, you're still employed, so you don't need to say you're finished if you haven't yet terminated your contract. So it would still be you know date to present um where you're working, what you're doing, etc. So, um, so do that um, so you don't need to. I don't think you need to overly worry, stress about that.
Speaker 1:Um, cat has asked what you do if you, if your title doesn't match the one you want. That is always a tricky one. I try, if you can. I suppose it depends how much of a pivot it is. So I know I I've used like, if you're a financial accountant, maybe wanting a financial manager role. To be honest, you could probably still put that, because if I was a recruiter, I would probably be looking at the title underneath the one, thinking most people want to step up. So I'd probably, if it's related to the area you want to go in, and probably put your current title, because I would probably be searching for people still like the level below. So unless there was a big pivot and then I would maybe just expand on that in the rest of your headline.
Speaker 1:Zoe's asked is there any stigma with having the open to work banner on LinkedIn all the time? I have mine on discrete setting. Remember that most people when they're so. There were over a billion people on LinkedIn, so I'm doing separate searches every day, so I might just see your open to work banner once. So I don't think there's any stigma with having it on whilst you're looking for work, because I might only see it once and then another recruiter might see it tomorrow. So it's not like we're seeing the same open to work all the time and, being honest, our searches have thousands of candidates in them, so I don't think I would necessarily remember that Zoe's had her open to work banner on for like three months or whatever, because, just because of the volumes that you're seeing, um, would you give us a good example, um, post interview follow up email? Yes, I think I did. Claire did one for us there, so I just moved back on the slide.
Speaker 1:Claire, we hired for our marketing manager role last year and she's a really good example of someone that utilised her cover letter. So in her cover letter she explained why she wanted to work for our business, what appealed to her, a little bit about herself, but then had actually then broken down some of her key experience and quantified it in bullet points in the cover letter. So then, actually, because she'd done that and done such a great job of selling herself, really showcasing her writing skills, which are obviously important for marketing, I only then actually glanced at her cv. So Anna has asked and struggling to build a network on LinkedIn, um, so she's you connecting with recruiters and talent acquisition teams? Beyond adding the request, beyond adding this connection, are you sending them a follow-up message? Because once they've connected with you, you can then revisit people that have connected in the past 24 hours and you don't have to say anything to honour us on them. It could just be like thanks so much for connecting with me. I'm really looking forward to getting to know you better on this platform and following your content, content. It could just be something simple like that, um, and then see what they reply back. You know, maybe a question how's your week going? You could keep it. I'm just please bear me in mind for any roles, um, but also make sure you're connecting not just with the recruiters and the talent acquisition teams but the hiring managers as well, so the people that would be potentially your boss.
Speaker 1:Claire has asked you changed career after doing a master's as a mature student, still early careers in your new sector. So you tailor your CV accordingly to each job. I think in your bio you've asked how to mitigate any concerns that employers may have. So I think that would be you'd be really utilising the bio at the top explaining why you've had a recent career change and that cover letter as well. So that is where the cover letter is going to be really helpful to give some more context around your application, because you don't want people recruiters not necessarily with you, but scratching their head thinking why have they applied their skills are completely irrelevant for the role I'm recruiting for. So those cover letters and that bio will definitely add more um more context. A com I to be honest, sharon, I'm not 100%. You've asked what's the difference between a competency and a strengths-based interview. I'm not 100 sure, but you're honest. But competency based interviews just where they would ask for examples of situations where you've done something in the past related to the role that they are recruiting for. So they'll be testing certain competencies in those questions and we're looking for examples um.
Speaker 1:Anya has mentioned about cover letter. Obviously, if you're using application forms for big employers, there may not be room to add an additional cover letter. Sometimes they do have a box out which you can use to write a cover letter in the box. So if they've got that, use it. If they haven't, obviously cover letter um, your cv is obviously more important. Helena has asked how would you um address any gaps with redundancy months spent looking for I? Probably wouldn't. I probably.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of people get really paranoid about gaps in their cv and the more you mention those gaps, the more I'm going to notice those gaps. Like I said, if I've got a thousand CVs, I'm reviewing, I'm just glancing at them, I'm skimming, I'm seeing what experience you've got, I'm seeing if it's relevant. If you keep saying gap, gap, gap, I'm going to start. I'm going to notice that rather than what you've done and that skills and experience. So I wouldn't mention it. If I can see it, um, I would ask you about it then at interview, but I wouldn't overly highlight it on your CV as well. I think that's it for questions. It doesn't look like anyone's got any questions, but if anyone has any further questions, then you know. Please feel free to drop us an email and we'll do our best to answer them.
Speaker 1:Like I said, we also offer a number of career coaching, um services as well, where I could write your cv for you would also write your linkedin, help you prepare for interviews, etc. So I'll send you all the details about those. We also have a linkedin profile build as well, um, on our website, which includes some brilliant canva banner templates. Actually, we forgot to talk about the banner that sits at the top of your profile as well, to include some brilliant camera banners and just includes all the details, what you need to include, the settings, etc. If anybody um has any feedback on the session, please do send me an email. And, like I said, we also have some brilliant sessions in previous weeks, um, so if you need the replays for any of those, drop me an email. We can get those sent to you.
Speaker 1:Next week we've got the brilliant gifty enright, who is just fabulous. She's definitely one to follow on linkedin and she's going to be talking all about imposter syndrome, so let me check when she's doing that, because that is next week on tuesday at 12 t the 1st of July at 12. And then we're going to conclude this Momentum Career Series on Wednesday, the 9th of July. That's the last one for people start breaking up for the summer, and that is again with the fabulous Beth Hockey, and we're going to be talking all about salary, job offers and promotion and negotiation. So that's one not to be missed.
Speaker 1:Thanks, zoe Bestv. Advice so far. Um, thank you so much for everyone joining me. Um, I hope you have a brilliant day, hope the sun's shining where you are and I will see you all soon. Thank you for listening to another episode of the work. It like a mom podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe, and don't forget to share the link with a friend. If you're on linkedin, please send me a connection request at elizabeth willett and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode. You can also follow my recruitment site investing in women on linkedin, facebook and instagram. Until next time, keep on chasing your biggest dream episode. You can also follow my recruitment site Investing in Women on LinkedIn, facebook and Instagram. Until next time, keep on chasing your biggest dreams.