CV Advice From The Experts

Collectively, the SYR team has more than 20 years of maritime industry recruitment experience allowing us to provide you with an unrivalled knowledge of the global superyacht market. So, if you are coming ashore, looking for your next progression or even for a complete change of career we can help.

Are you new to the superyacht industry? No problem! Our vision has always been to shake up the superyacht recruitment world and we are working hard to introduce talent from industries such as automotive, aerospace and other exciting sectors, a move that is helping to push innovation in shoreside yachting through projects such as electric craft, foils and new materials usage.

In fact, in just over two years we’ve made over 100 placements, 22 of them have come from outside of the marine industry. Of those 22, most have never even stepped foot on a boat, yet they’ve brought huge levels of knowledge and understanding to the design, engineering and build of craft in our sector. Our mission is to increase this percentage to be closer to 50% therefore introducing new exciting talent and ideas to a very traditional industry.

Our friendly team are here to support you through your shoreside superyacht career pathway with not only the most up-to-date job opportunities, but with practical advice that will enable you to have the best possible progression.

In this article you will find practical tips and tricks to ensure that your CV makes you stand out from the crowd.

We asked our recruitment team for their CV advice, here’s what they said.

Start Strong:

Ed, the SYR CEO, recommends that you use the first part of your CV to give the employer a reason to read on. “If you can hook them within the first few lines you’ve already stepped ahead of the next CV in the pile. Write a short and succinct opening statement with a summary of your skills and key accomplishments.” Ed adds, “Always include success stories and key achievements as this will show the reader that you are ambitious and like to exceed the goals you are set.”

Attention To Detail:

Simon, our Senior Recruitment Consultant for Brokerage, Management & New Build, hates to state the obvious but says “It still astounds me the number of CVs I see with spelling mistakes and bad grammar. A lack of attention to detail could really derail your otherwise perfect CV and make it stand out for all the wrong reasons.”

Dave, our Operations Manager, agrees, “Spend a few extra minutes reading through your CV backwards. It’s an old trick I learnt from my publishing days. Proof readers do it so that it’s easier to spot errors as your brain has to read every word rather than skipping along the sentence.”

Formatting Matters:

When it comes to your CV, the reader should be able to easily identify your skills. This can be achieved through a short company introduction with each position listed and bullet points of key achievements or responsibilities.

Curtis, Senior Recruiter for Skilled Trades, says “Something I cannot stress enough is that ‘you eat with your eyes’ and the same can be said for CVs. This relates to the entire document, the length, chosen font and font size. Avoid using colourful underlining or highlighting and try and keep it clean and easy to read.”

After your opening statement, your professional experience should always be chronological starting with the most recent and then working backwards.

Always include any relevant qualifications, additional training or voluntary work you have undertaken.

Customising Your CV:

We have collectively reviewed thousands of CVs and understand exactly what our clients are looking for.

Ed advises, “Tailor your CV to the job you are applying for to maximise your chance of success. Read through the job description and pick out the key words or phrases that they have used to describe the person they are looking for or the skills they require. Look at ways to incorporate them into your CV so that it’s obvious you are the person they need!”

Whilst we don’t advise you to literally copy and paste elements of the job description directly into your CV, it often helps if you adapt your tone of voice or the way you describe certain skills or achievements to match the way the employer has written them, almost like mirroring a person’s body language during an interview to make them feel like you have a connection.

How Much Is Too Much?

This was a point that split the team who, eventually, agreed they would aim to offer advice on each personal case.

Curtis said, “In my opinion, the CV should contain your entire employment history. If someone has retrained mid-career and now specialises in a new area, the previous positions could be just summarised. It’s always best to shorten rather than exclude information.”

Despite agreeing that nothing should be left off, Curtis concluded that “The important and, moreover, relevant jobs, experiences and skills should be the focus of the CV.”

Consistency Is Key:

Ed adds, “Little things like making sure your employment and educational dates marry up and any career gaps are explained, a one liner is usually fine. However, the most important thing is that you show consistency between your CV and your online profile.”

Employers will usually search for candidates on LinkedIn and will check to see if the online profile matches the CV on their desk so make sure they tell the same story!

LinkedIn is the number one online networking platform, so use it to your advantage. Not only does your profile need to be kept up-to-date but ensure that you are making the most out of your connections, following companies that you are interested in and ensuring you get recommendations from past colleagues.

LinkedIn allows you to show your personality in ways a CV doesn’t always permit. By creating your own posts or by commenting on industry relevant content, you are able to prove that you are knowledgeable and engaged and can showcase your soft skills.

We offer guidance on raising your online profile and can advise which companies and industry experts to connect with so that you start getting noticed.

The SYR team really are here to help so even if we’re not currently advertising a role that interests you, get in touch and we can discuss companies you’d like us to approach on your behalf.

We look forward to speaking to you soon!