Though hedgehogs are one of my favourite animals, instead it is about the hedgehog-like characteristics that we all have and that are unhelpful for us.  When hedgehogs feel threatened they roll themselves up into a ball and all you see is a bunch of spikes. The soft (and vulnerable) inside is nowhere to be seen.  Sometimes a nose pokes out but even that is not very often.

One of the things I do is help people who are looking at the next step in their career and as part of the process need to craft a CV.  They all produce great documents, they list their jobs, their education, a line or two sometimes about their sports and hobbies.  If they are smart, they will put in their achievements, where they succeeded, how they grew revenue, or managed high performing teams, were strong on diversity and and all of the other things that are expected from leaders these days.

These land in my in-box and I read them carefully.  There is a name at the top of the CV, I know who it has come from, I recognise the companies, I recognise the jobs, what I don’t recognise are the talented human beings who have written this piece of hedgehog prose. I find myself thinking “Where is the talented/interesting/great leader/funny/sympathetic/curious (delete as applicable) person that I know?  Like hedgehogs, CVs hide all the important bits.  I think we do this for two reasons, firstly we are trained to hide our real selves and secondly because we feel that exposing the real person is likely to reduce our chances of getting a job.  In reality the opposite is true, what will make you stand out from the other lists of jobs are those very qualities that you have so carefully hidden.

My advice is always to throw the CV out of the window and to start by writing a biography. What made you what you are today?  What are the experiences that formed you? Where did you really struggle?  Where did you unexpectedly succeed?  What was the most difficult thing you ever had to do?  Write your life as a progression – the jobs and the learning will be in there, but so will the person. 

When you have done that give it to people who really know you and ask them what they think. Oddly enough the responses are often “I didn’t realise you had done all that” or “I feel really proud of you”.  When you think you have the real person then you are ready to write that description of your life that we call a CV.  And if you want to send it to me I’d be delighted to comment!