How to make your CV sing! Part II: Mid Level & Management roles

Kate Berry & Sally Blaxall, industry leaders in technical consultancy for retailers and their supply chain offer their expertise for those seeking further steps on the career ladder and management positions.

CVs for Mid level roles:

Start with your Personal Profile: this is where you put yourself forward to the employer as their ideal candidate so write this specifically for the role to show why you are the best person for the job: “Experienced senior garment technologist with over 8 years experience working on Childrenswear for an international retail brand.”

Next, include your Key Skills and areas of expertise – put plenty of focus on quantifiable technical skills e.g. “Gerber trained, QA Systems, and ISO 9001.”

Previous Employment: list your previous roles –keep this brief but always include the products you have worked on, departments or categories covered in each role to show a range of skills. If you have worked on multiple products make this clear.

Show up to date knowledge of legislation, experience of managing REACH and compliance – show that you are able to confidently manage this aspect of the role, as it is increasingly important.

Show experience of factory visits, audit training, and any foreign country experience or language skills you have.

Detail your fabric knowledge and testing skills: show knowledge of prevailing technical issues and developments, and give examples.

Include any team responsibilities or reports and number of assistants if applicable.

The focus at this level should be quantifiable achievements and experience gained not just a list of job responsibilities in each role so give figures and examples wherever possible.

“Responsible for successfully reducing returns rate by 17% in 2015.” And be prepared to discuss how this was achieved at interview stage.

Try to differentiate your previous roles by what has been gained in each.

If any of the jobs are contract or freelance make it clear but you don’ t need to list your reason for moving on.

Include a maximum of three pages.

Senior / Management roles:

At this level your CV should reflect your ability to strategize, lead and showcase your high-level experience. The focus should be on strategic input, leadership and professional achievements to date.

Personal Profile: Create this specifically for the role: show that you are an experienced strategist and are highly motivated to achieve.

“Skilled professional with 15 years experience of the apparel industry spanning manufacturing, sourcing, REACH legislation and strategic planning. Respected team leader with the proven ability to motivate and manage others. Holds effective sourcing relationships with suppliers across Asia, Europe and USA. Technically skilled with in-depth knowledge of legislative compliance in UK, EU and US.”

Key skills: here you should include examples of strategic thinking and high- level liaison.

“Liaising with international brands at director level, working with supplier CEOs, skilled at developing strategic plans and global sourcing policy.”

Include as many quantifiable achievements and deliverables as possible - give examples with figures. Keep the focus on global/national rather than regional.

Cover your strategic management skills and experience plus the number of reports:

“Led a team of eight: goal-setting, evaluation and efficacy.”

Include communications skills:

“Responsible for effective communications across all other teams and outsourcing to remote staff.”

Incorporate your global experience, foreign travel and language skills.

Show knowledge of current global fashion industry issues and trends.

Give your experience of strategizing REACH, plus EU and US emerging

markets and their developing legislative compliance.

Include any experience of sourcing emerging markets.

Include membership of relevant organizations e.g. textile institute.

Previous employment: give short and succinct summaries of earlier roles in your career history. E.g. job title, company, and products worked on.

Include a maximum of three pages.

To search for garment technologist roles with QHQ on Fashion United click here: https://fashionunited.uk/qhq-jobs