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Are you no longer sufficiently satisfied with your current CIO position and would like to move on to new horizons? As an IT manager or CIO manager, you’ve gained experience and would now like to take on a CIO position with a new scope? The CV remains an essential part of the job search, whether you’re being proactive or being headhunted by an agency. Here’s our advice on how to create an effective CV.
Do or redo? Don’t hesitate to challenge your copy rather than opt for a simple update.
Unless you’ve recently changed jobs, it’s worth revisiting your CV from top to bottom. In just a few years, the expectations of the CIO job have changed, and the old structure of your CV won’t necessarily be conducive to highlighting its key elements. Similarly, a few more years of experience may be enough to give your career path a different hue and give your profile a new reading.
In terms of form, recruiters have also become accustomed to more visually accomplished CVs than was previously possible with a simple “summary” Word document.
If the attractiveness of your CV is not primarily measured by its aesthetics – a fortiori for a strategic position like yours – attention to layout can nevertheless help you stand out and, above all, highlight the key points of your application.
A well-crafted, well-structured and well-organized CV will have even more impact, and will be tangible proof that you are attentive to communication – which is increasingly part of the expectations of the CIO job. Choose legible typography, use bullets and lists to facilitate synthetic reading, clearly mark your different sections, dare to use color and pictograms.
Stay true to your style, but don’t make form a non-issue. You can find plenty of up-to-date templates online, so you don’t have to start from scratch.
What should your CIO CV contain? Or how to make sure you don’t forget any ingredients for this comprehensive and strategic profession.
The “French” recruitment culture is generally fairly conformist. We tend to favor candidates with past experience very similar to the position we’re looking to fill, rather than focusing on potential and atypical profiles. You have to accept this rule of thumb. This means that your CV must enable the recruiter to quickly validate the relevance of your application, by “ticking boxes”.
This is all the more true given that the CIO function has evolved considerably in recent years, and has gained in importance – helped by the Digital transformation and accelerated digitization of all business sectors: a broader scope of intervention, and higher strategic positioning. 20 years ago, you were an IT Director; today, you’re an Information Systems Director, or even more. The CIO is a key man or woman in the organization. His or her CV must reflect the pillars expected of this strategic position.
To make your CIO CV stand out, you need to show that you are :
- “Visionary”: Demonstrate your ability to support the strategic orientations of the organization you are likely to join: transformation plan, merger, external growth, internationalization, etc. Be clear and ambitious about the role you intend to play in this. Be clear and ambitious about the role you intend to play in this, and how you see the CIO positioning itself (as a creator of value, accelerator of transformation, driver of innovation, etc.).
- “Transformer”: make the most of your experience in steering and implementing transformation: preparing master plans, restructuring information systems, managing change. If you arrive in such an exposed position, it’s unlikely that you’ll be expected to blend in with your predecessor’s brands. So you’ll need to reassure them of your ability to embrace new challenges, master a new context and initiate the necessary transformations.
- As a “manager”, you need to know how to position yourself within the organization chart: as a member of the management board or executive committee, as a business partner with other departments, or as the manager of direct or cross-functional teams. This will enhance your leadership and interpersonal skills.
- « pilote » : montrez vos compétences de gestionnaire et que vous êtes en parfaite maitrise de toutes les dimensions du management de votre activité :
- Budgets: your contacts will be sensitive to your grasp of the subject, both in terms of the size of the Budgets for which you are responsible and your ability to contain them, or at any rate to be a reliable and relevant ally for the CFO (mastery of capital expenditure strategies, etc.);
- Tracking a portfolio of Projects and activities; you can give a few illustrations or highlights;
- Teams management: talk about the number of internal and external collaborators under your responsibility, and why not the growth of your team since you started steer it;
- Suppliers: it is always interesting to give an overview of what you have addressed internally or outsourced, as CIOs are more or less integrated depending on the organization.
- “expert”: of course, your technical skills have their place on a CIO CV, but in such a strategic position, you’ll be expected to have a head for heights and the ability to make rapid decisions, arbitrate, etc. This is the pitfall to avoid if you’re aiming for your first CIO position. In fact, if you’re aspiring to your first CIO position, this is the pitfall to avoid: you’ll have to convince them that you’re cut out for the job. Try to emphasize your mastery of the company’s strategic issues, your “360°” knowledge of the function’s scope, and your participation in key Projects, rather than your perfect technical mastery of a particular field.
10 key recommendations for a CV that stands out from the crowd
1| Make your CV tell a story
This recommendation applies to all sectors of activity, and it’s a good idea to help the recruiter understand your profile with a catchphrase that sums up your project in a few words. How do you want to position yourself? What is the dominant feature of your career path, in terms of business sector, achievements, and your belief in the role of the CIO within the company? This introductory statement, with its emphasis on specific points, can sometimes save you a formal cover letter.
Another good practice if you’ve just finished a long career (>7 years): don’t hesitate to break it down into several phases to show how your career has progressed, how far you’ve come and what key projects you’ve tackled. This will show that your longevity is a sign of loyalty and satisfaction to your employer, and not a sign of immobility, on the contrary.
2| Forget exhaustive
You don’t become a CIO at the age of 25, so it’s highly likely that your professional career will be long and rich in experience. Even if the selection process can be frustrating, make sure you only include the most significant and, above all, the most recent (10 years maximum) to illustrate your achievements and successes.
Similarly, if you’re 40, 50 or over, your value lies in your experience, not in your studies, however brilliant they may be. You can mention your most recent diploma, but you can definitely leave out your baccalaureate, even if you passed with flying colors!
A good indicator to help you sort out? Aim to present your CV on a single page.
3| Be accessible and factual
No “wind”! Put yourself in the shoes of the people you’re dealing with in the recruitment process: whether it’s a headhunter, a HR manager or the CEO, they’re not experts in your field. To stand out from the crowd, you need to establish a clear and trusting dialogue. This will be all the more achievable if you can illustrate your experience with measurable results, and if you are able to make the issues you have addressed in the course of your experience accessible . Forget the jargon, and don’t hide behind technicalities.
4| Think buzz word
In recruitment, as in everything else, there are trends; certain subjects have the wind in their sails, and the display of certain keywords (provided, of course, they are based on an operational reality) can be the trigger for an interview. For CIOs and CIOs, the list is vast, reflecting the scope of the job: clouds, finops, cyber-protection and information systems security, data management, green IT, transformation, master plan… At your level, we’ll be looking for your ability to address these issues, rather than your perfect technical mastery.
5| Show how up-to-date your Skills are
As a CIO, you need to be up to date at all times, if not ahead of the game. If your initial training is starting to look dated, demonstrate your ability to maintain your skills base, your mastery of emerging technologies, and your commitment to professional development: recent certifications obtained, ongoing training, language upgrades, etc.; this will reinforce your credibility as a candidate. Conversely, ignore obsolete technologies, even if you know them inside out.
6| Position yourself as a leader of men (and women)!
The human factor is key in all Teams, but in CIOs, the talent shortage accentuates the challenge of retaining employees and attracting new recruits. If you’re applying for a vacant CIO position, it’s as much a risk as an opportunity for the department concerned, and for the stability of its Teams, since a change of manager is an identified factor in motivation or, on the contrary, disengagement.
In your CV, make sure you emphasize your ability to manage employees, your leadership skills, your ability to collaborate, to delegate, to identify and develop skills, and so on. As well as your business orientation and your ability to act as a business partner. All the ” soft skills ” you can put forward will reinforce the relevance of your CV and reassure the recruiter.
7| Cultivate the mystery
Your CV is a partial vision of yourself. And above all, a vision of what you can bring to the company. A lot of information that used to be systematically included in CVs is now optional, or even prohibitive, to avoid discrimination. This applies to your photo (let the unconscious do its work!), your family situation, and even your age (which you can erase by omitting the years in which you obtained your diplomas). You’re only as good as your years (one way or the other!), and your CV can help demonstrate this.
If the recruiter is “hooked” by this mystery, encourage him or her to look further, for example by referring to your LinkedIn profile, which will provide additional information.
8| Take care of your personal branding
The CV remains an almost systematic recruitment document for this type of position, but you shouldn’t neglect the visibility of your profile and career path online. This will have an impact not only on recruiters, but also on your network, as a confirmation of a hunch or as a means of detection/sourcing. Since employment is a market, you need to work on your own marketing! Make sure you :
- carefully update your LinkedIn profile (in perfect harmony with your CV, of course; the alignment must be perfect to leave no doubt as to the veracity of your CV). And for good measure, you can be more complete about your experience and qualifications;
- update it regularly and share news and current events (related to your activity, your sector, your company, business trends, etc.) as soon as possible;
- if you’re actively looking for someone, consider tracking who is viewing your profile; this could give you a clue as to the interest in your application, and facilitate contact with the recruiter;
- more broadly, take part in events dedicated to CIOs, join networks, contribute to articles or press interviews, respond positively to your partners’ proposals for “feedback” testimonials.
All these actions will leave positive traces of your openness, influence and influence in the ecosystem, and will contribute to giving visibility and credibility to your candidacy.
9| Prepare for the next step: the interview!
Whether it’s a first qualifying telephone interview or a real in-depth exchange, your CV will serve as the basis for a future discussion – or at least we hope it will. When writing it, keep the following step in mind: select one project rather than another, because you’ll then be able to more easily explain the challenges you’ve faced, the solutions you’ve implemented and the results you’ve achieved. Sharpen your arguments, keep figures and anecdotes in mind… In short, don’t leave any grey areas that could be detrimental to your application.
10| Write as many CVs as you apply for CIO positions!
Your CV is the medium between you and your target job. To give your profile the best possible chance, adapt your CV to each application. At the margins, of course, the skeleton should remain the same. But you can reinforce the match between your career path and the project you’re interested in by highlighting one project rather than another, updating a job title (are we talking CIO or CIO?), or highlighting a particular technical skill. Are you applying for a job in an industrial sector? Your ability to address supply chain IT issues will be appreciated. Are you interested in the financial sector? Your mastery of data and regulatory processes will be relevant to highlight, etc.
Keep in mind that your CV should not only help us understand who you are, but also suggest how well you match the expectations of the position to be filled. Think of your career path as a mirror image of the organization: what are the stakes involved in recruiting an external CIO?
Now you’re ready to create your CV. One last piece of advice: don’t hesitate to have one or two trusted third parties read over your CV and ask them how they perceive it, if everything is clear, or even test it with a recruitment agency whose sharp eye is always relevant and a source of good advice. Your presentation will be all the more effective for it. Happy job hunting!