Resume for Management or Consultancy Jobs: Since managers make important decisions for a company and usually get a high salary for them, HR managers from the management area look particularly carefully during the application process. Anyone applying for a position in management should therefore pay attention to a few special features. You can find tips for applying in management, from cover letters to job interviews, here!
Application templates.
HR professionals in the field of management & consulting usually prefer the classic application. Must read “How to make good resume?”
Management or consultancy find jobs.
If a high managerial position is available, the candidate is usually approached by the company. Often, top management positions are also given internally to employees who have proven their skills in the company for a long time. However, other management positions and junior manager positions are advertised.
Curriculum vitae.
The requirements for management positions are complex – candidates should therefore not only convince professionally but also personally. The skill profile that is expected of a manager is broad and the competition is great, especially at lower or middle management levels.
You should pay attention to these points in order to convince with your application:
Concise cover letter.
A manager’s cover letter should be precise and straight to the point. You should explain why you see yourself as a suitable candidate and why the position in this particular company appeals to you. The cover letter should give the HR manager a clear profile of your personality and skills and make your motivation clear. A good, active introduction to the cover letter is, for example, a description of your current area of responsibility or the goals you want to achieve for the company.
Particularly significant characteristics that are in demand for the position should be identified and documented in your application letter.
Prove soft skills and professional experience.
At best, you shouldn’t break your résumé into chronological career stations, but sort it into suitable areas of activity and responsibility. In addition, you should make it clear through which activities you have acquired your specialist knowledge and soft skills. Important here: Name specific tasks and projects with which you can prove the abilities mentioned.
Show individuality.
When applying to management, you should of course observe common application standards. For such a demanding position, however, the application sample or templates using the copy & paste mode are an absolute no-go. You will be more successful if you adapt the patterns individually to the company.
High level of application documents.
Managers are expected to submit a highly professional application that meets the high demands of their job. HR professionals require clearly structured application documents that focus on the essential qualifications. Only the cover letter in this professional field can be longer than a DIN A4 page, provided you limit yourself to the information that is essential for the position. The same applies to the online application. Cover letter and resume should be free of errors. Also avoid careless mistakes! Professional editing by a career advisor may even be recommended.
tip
If the applicant wants a salary expectation in the job advertisement, you should make a clear statement in your application with some room for negotiation.
The competence profile.
When applying for a management position, it is important to create an individual competence profile. This supplements your resume and gives an ideal and condensed overview of your key qualifications. A competence profile is a comprehensive presentation of all job-relevant competencies and soft skills and their respective characteristics in the applicant.
The specified properties are compared with the requirement profile of the job advertisement and compared with the tasks of the position. If necessary, applicants are also compared with one another with the help of the competence profile. It is important that your competence profile always matches the experiences described in your resume in order to be credible. Your competence is the product of your experience and success.
The order of the named competencies is determined by the importance for the professional field or by the structure of the job offer. Your profile as a manager should include the following:
- Leadership skills: leadership experience, practice, assertiveness, decision-making skills, project management skills
- Expertise: Representation of the expertise in your successes
- Methodological skills: organization, time management, conceptual skills, presentation skills
- Social skills: ability to work in a team, empathy, communication skills, conflict resolution skills, responsibility, goal orientation
- Self-competence: Resilience, performance, self-management, foreign languages, critical ability, reliability
The interview.
Your manager interview will mainly focus on your experience and skills in management, consulting and leadership . In addition, the HR manager will ask you about your previous training and your professional positions. A big topic will also be how you have fulfilled your leadership role so far, which goals and successes you were able to achieve and which ideas you would like to bring to your future position.
In addition, you should deal with the company’s philosophy and its goals in detail before applying as a manager and having a personal interview. It may be that the HR manager asks you, similar to a case study from the consulting area, about the current situation of a company and asks you for initial strategies for solving problems or realizing the company’s goals.
Questions that you may come across in the interview.
- How have you demonstrated leadership qualities in your previous professional positions?
- How would you proceed to achieve our corporate goals?
- What are your salary expectations?
- How would you describe your leadership style?
- What has been your biggest challenge so far and how did you overcome it?
- What was your biggest mistake and how did you learn from it?
- Where do you classify your personal strengths and weaknesses?
- How do you deal with criticism?
- Do you think you have what it takes to be a manager?
- What quality would you like to change in yourself?
- What did you do in your last job to develop yourself personally?
- How do you gain respect as a manager?
- What makes you different from other applicants?
- Why did you choose our company?
The question of strengths and weaknesses is a particular challenge for many applicants. It is important to remain honest and authentic. No HR manager will buy things like “impatience” or “perfectionism” as weaknesses. Better: deal with your own weaknesses and strengths and show that you are capable of self-reflection. One answer to the question about your weaknesses could be: “I sometimes react a little too quickly irritably when a problem or error with employees keeps coming up. In the meantime I have learned to formulate my criticism more carefully and to find solutions in a joint discussion with my colleagues. “
The dress code.
How strictly the dress code as a manager has to be adhered to naturally depends on the industry and company. As a manager, however, you usually always wear a business look. You also adapt your outfit for the interview to the respective industry. The outfit of a manager depends on the representative function he fulfills. In most managerial positions, you will be expected in a suit or costume. A formal business outfit is an absolute must for your job interview.
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