5 Tips to Get Your SAP CV Ready to Ship!

Posted on February 2018 By Speller International
5 Tips to Get Your SAP CV Ready to Ship!

We’ve all been there. It may have been a month ago, or five years ago, but at some point we’ve all had to sit down and construct – or refresh – the old CV.

Despite the increasing focus on LinkedIn profiles as some sort of digital CV, recruitment agencies and many companies will still demand a good old-fashioned Word doc (even over a PDF).

By all means, ensure your LinkedIn account is kept constantly refreshed, but when it comes down to it you’re going to want to make sure your core CV is optimised for performance.

With that in mind, let’s check in with five quick tips you can action right now to make your SAP CV sing!

1. The Edited Book of Me

Firstly, don’t feel bound by the ‘2 page only’ rule you may have heard. It’s an observation that gets kicked around a lot in blogs and magazines, and as a means of getting a) you to be to-the-point and b) hopefully hold the attention of your would-be employer, it’s useful advice – for most industries. But SAP is not like most industries.

You might have any number of different specialities, any or all of which may make the difference for you getting the role. You want to put in whatever is relevant, so don’t restrict yourself to some arbitrary number of pages. Just make sure your presentation is more bare metal than bloat-ware and you’ll be fine.

2. How long is a piece of experience?

Let’s be clear. Some experience has a definite shelf life. Often, it doesn’t pay to dwell too much on the past in a forward-facing industry. Focus on your most recent decade’s accomplishments. Anything over that ten-year marker, you’re best to just briefly summarise the most relevant experience.

List out your projects in date chronological order, starting with the most recent at the top. And don’t forget – make sure all your project dates are correct.

3. It’s in the details

The more detail you can supply on a project, the better – but remember to keep it as lean and descriptive as you can. Include responsibilities and achievements, and make sure you use relevant SAP keywords (i.e. FICO instead of Finance) to optimise your CV’s searchability.

If you’ve worked with or are working with a consulting house, include the name of the client, as well as the details for the project scope. This ensures the person reading has a better understanding of the role you filled and the responsibilities you were charged with.

4. Don’t be a ghost in the machine

Your SAP CV is to a large degree always going to be a document of your experience and familiarity with technology, so definitely highlight any exposure you may have had with newer technologies. Doing so shows not just proficiency, but curiosity also, which is a highly valued quality.

However, your CV cannot simply be about your technical capabilities. Ensure you include your business skills. At the very least you want to outline your ability to interface with people, your talents for business engagement, and any skills in stakeholder management you may have. People still come first.

5. Formatting

This may sound silly, but seriously… spell-check. We cannot stress this enough. Spell check! And make sure to keep your formatting consistent across font, use of bullet points, headings and sub-headings and so on.

Equally important, keep your formatting simple! Don’t crowd the page with logos, tables, graphs or photos. It will just detract from the most valuable information you’ve supplied on the page. Remember, it’s about what you can bring to the role, not how prettily you can dress something up.

Closing Thoughts

In addition to the above, there are some simple ways to approach the layout of your CV. Try the following structure to get yourself started:

  • Short summary (name, details, personal vision)

  • Brief overview of your qualities including main technical skills. This, and the above, should not take anymore than 1-2 pages.

  • Follow these with a section detailing your Project experience, keeping it as simple and direct as you are able.

  • Finish up with a brief overview of your Education history, including any certification courses you have done or higher learning you’ve completed

There you have it. Five ways you can sharpen your SAP CV right now. By far the best thing you can do however is not put it off any longer than you have to. Keeping up to date means just making small adjustments and additions once you have the essentials in place.

The longer you’ve left it, the longer it’s likely to take you, so don’t put it off! Word CVs and hard copies of documents are still often engines of recruitment. So make sure it’s ready to roll, for when you’re actively wanting to take things to the next level.

If you’d like some help updating or crafting your SAP CV or Resume, drop us a line. The staff at Speller are happy to help you identify the best ways you can take the next-step in SAP, to build a next-level career. See the opportunities available to you here and best wishes to you on your SAP journey!