From mainFT last week:
Headhunters have been offering up former deputy prime minister Dominic Raab for jobs in the City of London as a number of Tory MPs are looking beyond the horizon of the general election expected next year . ..
Raab — who was forced to quit as deputy prime minister over bullying claims, which he furiously denied — confirmed that he had started what he called “preliminary conversations” about what he might do after stepping down as an MP, but did not elaborate.
His name has been put forward by a recruitment consultancy called Kea, which describes itself a “boutique search firm operating exclusively in the alternative investment space in Europe”.
So, private equity.
Blogging is, ultimately, about giving. So when Alphaville heard this heart-warming tale of a mid-career pivoter hoping to get a job in the City, we had to do our bit.
In the spirit of public service, we got hold of a copy of Dominic’s CV (h/t Robert Smith) to take a look at possible areas for changes and improvement. We hope our feedforward will be useful to the former minister and anyone keen on working in the “alternative investment” space who wants tips on how to prepare for that next step!
You can download a metadata-free version of Raab’s CV as a PDF here, or take a look below:
Alphaville went looking for some CV-writing tips. Although it’s not finance-specific, job.ac.uk’s “10 things NOT to do on your CV” by careers consultant Nadine Lewis caught our eye with its bold use of block capitals, so we decided to use its pointers as a framework.
1. Providing irrelevant personal information
Nadine says:
Think about the position you are applying for and how your interests and achievements relate to it.
Dom’s additional information section includes the following titbits:
— Raised £25,000 for Shooting Star Child Hospices in 2021, skydiving from 15,000 feet
— Black belt 3rd Dan karate, former UK Southern Regions Champion and British squad
We’re sceptical about the benefit of unarmed combat skills in the private equity sector, but we’re certain that charitable values aren’t needed.
Verdict: Fail ❌
2. Burying important information
Nadine says:
Make relevant information stand out on your CV. This could be through some information in bold and persuasive language i.e. action words and achievements.
Dom’s CV opens:
An international lawyer, who trained in the City and practised at the Foreign Office, advising on shipping, investment protection and war crimes. Moved into politics, holding six Cabinet posts including Foreign Secretary, and the first ever Deputy Prime Minister to two Prime Ministers. Deputised for the Prime Minister during COVID.
Given he qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and had moved into politics by 2006, we think Dom’s definitely buried the lede here!
Verdict: Fail ❌
3. Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors
Nadine says:
If you struggle to spot mistakes, ask a careers professional, mentor or friend to look over your CV
Now, it’s possible to be too fussy about this kind of thing. However, according to the CFA Institute:
A CV with two typos will be rejected by 97% of hiring managers
Plus, Raab cares deeply about this kind of thing, according to reporting in The Times about his conduct as a minister (Raab has strenuously denied allegations he bullied staff):
Raab is also very particular about the formatting of submissions he receives from civil servants. At multiple departments he has insisted they be kept to only two sides of A4 paper. He also requires a senior civil servant to sign in the margin that they have checked the document’s spelling and grammar before it has been sent to him. “He was obsessed with the format of letters,” one official said.
Well, get your red pen out: errors abound.
First up, Dom’s almost consistently used hyphens in the date ranges on his CV, except in the his longest-held job — as MP for Esher & Walton — where he’s used a spaced en dash instead:
There’s also some sloppiness in the education section, which is always particularly vulnerable to irony.
Here’s what we found:
Other errors, some more important/subjective than others, include:
— the sentence “Moved into politics, holding six Cabinet posts including Foreign Secretary, and the first ever Deputy Prime Minister to two Prime Ministers” makes no grammatical sense, even in context.
— Prime Ministers Questions needs an apostrophe.
— “Deputised for the PM for 5 weeks, when hospitalised with COVID” (just a bad sentence).
— “UK-India Road Map” should be “Roadmap” based on Government spelling.
— “British National Overseas” should be “(Overseas)”.
— “Minister for Human Rights” either needs a department afterwards or to lose the comma.
— The anti-George-Clinton-sounding “Shooting Star Child Hospices” should be Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, which is hardly better.
— “Dan” should be lowercase.
— “Champion” should be lowercase.
Verdict: Fail ❌
4. Unexplained gaps in employment
Nadine says:
Having unexplained gaps in your employment history raises questions. It makes recruiters nervous.
Raab looks solid on this front, although it might be mildly concerning that he’s written more about his time training to be a solicitor than the 13+ years he has been a local MP.
Verdict: Check ⚠️
5. Lying or misleading information
Nadine says:
Employers are conducting increasingly vigorous background checks on candidates. This can range from conducting a Google search on you to employing a specialist candidate checking service.
We can’t imagine any problems this could cause.
Verdict: Check ⚠️
6. Adding references to your CV
Nadine says:
References are generally requested further along in the recruitment process, so there’s really no benefit to adding them to your CV
No stupid references here. Nice!
Verdict: Pass ✅
7. A long, waffly CV
Nadine says:
Focus on your recent and most relevant experience and achievements… If you studied a subject many eons ago then, unless you have kept your skills up to date, it’s probably no longer relevant.
Verdict: Check ⚠️
8. Badly-formatted CV
Nadine says:
These days your CV will most likely be read on-screen before it’s printed off. If indeed, it is ever printed. Therefore, format your CV so that it is easy to read on a screen.
We consider ourselves connoisseurs of the A4 document form. Type-wise, Dom’s used Cambria, a standard and inoffensive serif released by Microsoft around the same time as Windows Vista, and shunned any nonsense like columns or colour.
Dom’s clearly a fan of BLOCK CAPITALS, although leaving them with standard spacing like this is an error in our books (and our other printed documents). Page formatting is fine, despite some inconsistent date alignment in the EDUCATION section.
Verdict: Pass ✅
9. Meaningless introductions
Nadine says:
[Your] CV has got to get you noticed and invited in for an interview. So an opening paragraph that says everything and nothing at the same time is not going to do it.
Although she also says:
Your CV has got to hit the recruiter smack bang between the eyes! It has got to make them sit up, spurt hot coffee from their mouths as they scramble across their desks for the phone to call you and appoint you on the spot!!
So, uh . ..
Verdict: Specific ⚠️ (for Dom) and generalised ⚠️ (for Nadine)
10. The ‘So What’ CV
Nadine says:
Making sure you do not do the CV ‘no no’s’ [sic] simply gets you to the first base. Whilst this is an achievement in itself if your CV does not convince and persuade then you have again wasted your time.
On this final one, we’ll revert to mainFT’s reporting:
[Harvey] warned that former MPs who lose office just as another party takes power can find it especially hard. “If the Tories get wellied at the next election, what good is an ex-Tory MP as a door-opener? The reality is, they are not,” he said.
Verdict: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Further Reading
— In Dominic Raab’s Rhododendrons (LRB)
Read the full article here