Way back as a career minded executive the process of learning how to prepare a powerful Curriculum Vitae was essential as I was ambitious to progress up the corporate ladder.

There is good way to learn most things and that is to simply do it! In the case of your Curriculum Vitae it's not that simple. This is the important document that can alter your life - if it works. If it doesn't work you will stay where you are in the same job, doing the same things, hating the same boss and underachieving.

How do I know? Well in those early days when applying for jobs in some instances the application was never acknowledged, never mind getting called for interview.

Eventually it dawned that the significance and importance of the Curriculum Vitae was very much to get the interview so it had to be good. For one particular application I dedicated myself to preparing a 'top notch' Curriculum Vitae. Much to my wife's dismay this took the whole of one Sunday.

This was all a of 40 plus years ago and I can't remember where I got guidance from. My guess is a good book because over the years books on any topic that I wanted or needed to know more about have served me well.

The application was for job for which I had little direct experience but which seemed a good way of gaining relevant experience for the future.

With that in mind it was necessary to very carefully prepare a Curriculum Vitae that would get me the interview so that I could impress the potential future employer by showing how adaptable and ambitious I was.

Well it worked. There were 370 applicants and after a first interview I got called back as one of only three on the final short list.

The job actually went to someone else but I gained fantastic experience in preparing a top quality Curriculum Vitae and being interviewed for a senior position. As I progressed in my career ultimately to Chairman and CEO positions I was able to draw on and build on this experience.

The Curriculum Vitae develops as your career progresses and the type, nature and seniority of the positions you apply for change because of your progress. Time spent on learning how to prepare an interview winning Curriculum Vitae will be time well spent and will last a life time for an ambitious person who is serious about developing a progressive career.

A simple but immensely powerful technique was learned many years later when I started consulting. I was asked to prepare a 'gut busting CV' of two hundred words. This was to get right into focus what I was offering as a business consultant.

After so many years developing and honing my CV it was very hard to cut it back to 200 words. It was done and it gave fantastic clarity for that particular purpose. Which goes to show how we have to adapt to change and how our Curriculum Vitae or Resume' has to change with us.

Picture in your mind a sense of personal destiny.

Best wishes,

Michael Harrison.

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