How to tailor your CV for a PR manager role

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Laura Sullivan at TopCV shares her advice on how to ensure your PR management CV captures the attention of your dream employer.

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As a senior PR professional, you are the guru of creating and maintaining corporate image and branding. 

Therefore, the pressure is on when it comes to your CV, as prospective employers expect this professional acumen to filter into your own branding and presentation.

While you’re a master of comms and no longer an entry-level candidate, here are some top tips on tailoring your CV for a PR management position to help your expertise shine.

Align your skills with the job requirements

The first step in tailoring your CV to a PR manager role is identifying why you’re suitable for the position. 

Read the job description, identify the requirements you fulfil, and ensure they are referenced in your CV.

Common skills, knowledge, and experience required for PR manager positions include a broad knowledge of the media landscape, excellent writing ability, relationship management, campaign management, content management, brand management, communications strategy, teamwork, leadership, and organisation.

Highlight your core PR competencies

As you can see, many of the core PR skills required for a management role in the industry involves a great deal of management, planning, and control.

To make it clear from the start that you’re a great match for the vacancy, include a ‘key skills’ or ‘core competencies’ section just underneath your personal profile that lists your top skills relevant to the jobs to which you’re applying.

This prioritises your most relevant skills and makes the recruiter’s job of identifying your suitability for the role a great deal easier.  

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Zoom in on your management skills

It’s great to bullet point your PR and management skills at the top of your CV to provide a snapshot of your competencies. However, when expanding on roles in your employment history, you must delve into the detail of these abilities to prove your value.

Recruiters love to see measurable success, so support your points with facts, figures, and statistics wherever possible. You might like to detail the number of people or clients you have managed, a percentage of accounts increase, number of clippings obtained each month, or the names of top publications where media placements have been secured, for example. 

By including specific details, you show the value you can bring to the role and the impact you will make, placing you ahead of the competition.

Cut down on the irrelevant

When crafting a management-level CV, it can be tricky to fit everything on two pages. Ideally, your CV shouldn’t be longer than two pages, but if you have over 10 years’ of relevant experience, you can stretch it to three.

That said, how do you make it all fit?

The key is to skim down unrelated roles and remove irrelevant details that don’t support your current job goals.

Not only does this help your CV maintain a reasonable length, but it will also remove the fluff clouding your impressive abilities. 

For positions of employment that are unrelated to your current career path, reduce them to the job title, company, employment dates and a brief line or two detailing the role. 

Also, turn to the job description and see whether your CV mentions anything unimportant to the role. You can afford to shave down these details to make room for the skills the recruiter is looking for, making you look like a great match.

TopCV offers a range of CV-writing services including expertly-written and keyword-optimised CVs, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles. It is currently offering a free CV review to help you land your perfect PR job.

 

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