Nowadays, the world is awash with ways to boost your CV in various ways, and everybody has their own cheat-sheet for doing so. So, here’s ours:
To kick things off, it’s worth explaining that a ‘Football CV’ can apply to pretty much anybody at whatever stage in their career.
Whether you’re just starting our or are a seasoned vet in the space.
Here are some key ideas that will help you optimise your profile.
Get used to Professionally Bragging about yourself.
One of the biggest issues I’ve seen with a football CV (or indeed in any kind of industry in my own recruitment career) is the hesitance of candidates to brag about what they’ve achieved.
So, instead of using the word ‘bragging’, we shall use the word ‘informing’.
The key here is to not distance yourself from your achievements.
Whether you like it or not, being political and offering up words like ‘helped in’ or ‘assisted with’ will generally play against you when a recruiter reads your points.
If they cared about what your entire team did, they would have asked them.
To mitigate the eye rolls on their end, perhaps give an overview of what your team does and specify as to what your role was within the team.
Using numbers as metrics will always be a plus point, too! Especially on a football CV when they’d want to know about engagement, sales, etc.
Specify the Platforms / Technologies you used.
Strictly speaking, this is also a focus for any kind of CV.
But a Football CV will want to specify which techs you’ve used depending on the industry.
For example, let’s assume that your first break came on the non-league spectrum with your local club. I’ll be writing about that in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!
Just bookmark this page to be honest – it’ll be for your own good.
In this area, being involved in the commercial or marketing side is most common
Assuming the former, you want to wack on your Excel skills, organisational tasks, how you took a process from A to B and the impact it had on this side of the club.
The latter loves a good social media platform and any creative tools.
Honestly, whack in something from the Adobe store (and ideally an indication of how proficient you are in using it and it’ll take your Football CV to the next level).
Oh, and drop a link to a portfolio if you have it.
Failing that, create a Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram or Behance link in there.
All skills are Transferable … if you make it so!
I’m serious by the way, this is down to your creativity.
Sometimes, the limited space on your Football CV might lend to a belief that people don’t want to hear about that random volunteering or internship or part-time job you had.
Well, you’d be absolutely wrong if you think like this.
Personally, I used to work at Vue cinemas before I got my break into a full-time career.
Did I include that on my CV? You darn right, I did!
Why?
Because it’s all transferable.
‘Stocking shelves’? More like: ‘inventory checking and realignment’
‘Cleaning Screen Rooms’? More like: ‘ensuring that our key areas were kept sanitary at all times in line with company procedure and policy’?
‘Watching movies when nobody was looking’? More like: … actually, cut that one!
All in all, a Football CV is meant to be a single-page document or portfolio showcasing what you can bring to a football club. So, keep it concise, informative and show them what they’re missing! And choose the right club for your career stage, that’s also key!
Hope this helps Your Football CV Moving Forward!
All the best, Dev