How to write a resignation letter

Very few people stay in one job for life. This means at some point during your career, you’ll probably need to write a letter of resignation.

There could be several reasons you wish to leave your current role.

You might be unhappy in your position, found a better paying job, be launching your own business or you could just be ready for a fresh challenge with a different company.

The current cost of living crisis means more and more people are now looking to boost their income or increase their salary.

While resigning might sound as simple as letting your manager know and working your notice period, writing a professional resignation letter is incredibly important.

Not only does it show respect for your employer, but it also means you’re more likely to leave with a good reputation, which can be invaluable further down the line when you might need a reference or recommendation.

Here are my top tips for writing one:

How to start a resignation letter

When you’re telling your boss why you want to leave the company, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

The last thing you want to do is upset them, or for your words to be taken the wrong way.

The best way to start is by addressing them by their name and clearly outline your intention to leave the company, explain why and give your proposed leaving date.

What to write in a resignation letter

When it comes to writing a resignation letter, you should remember to keep it friendly and professional.

You may have had aspects of your job you hated or frustrated the hell out of you. They might even be the reason you’re leaving.

But your resignation letter isn’t the place to air these grievances or moan about all the things you didn’t like about the role.

It will make you look unprofessional, a bit petty and probably won’t do much to maintain a positive relationship, which in turn is unlikely to do you any favours in the long run.

Instead, focus on the good things. Thank them for the help they have given you, the support they’ve shown you and the skills they’ve taught you.

Tell them how they have helped you develop as a person, both professionally and personally.

Resignation letter template

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of resignation letter templates online that give a rough outline of what you might want to say.

Most of them are even free to download, but obviously don’t just print it off and hand it in!

You’ll still need to adapt it, change the wording and tailor it to your position and your time with the company.

However, a template can be a good starting point if your mind goes blank and you need some inspiration.

Here’s a simple one for you to use and make your own, including reference to your notice period and final working day:

Dear ,

Please accept this letter as formal resignation from the position of with . In accordance with my notice period, my final day will be .

I would like to take this chance to thank you for the opportunity to have worked in the position for the past . I have learned a great deal during my time here and have enjoyed collaborating with my colleagues. I will take a lot of what I have learned with me in my career and will look back at my time here as a valuable period of my professional life.

During the next I will do what I can to make the transition as smooth as possible and will support in whatever way I can to hand over my duties to colleagues or to my replacement. Please let me know if there is anything additional I can do to assist in this process.

Sincerely,

How do I hand in my notice?

In my opinion, it’s always more personal and polite to inform your employer of your intention to resign and give face-to-face notice first, then follow that up with a notice letter.

Whatever you do, don’t quit over email. It’s impersonal and will probably come off as being disrespectful. It’s a bit like dumping a long-term partner over text.

How to deal with a counteroffer when resigning

If you’ve been with the company a long time and they value you, they may offer you more money or a promotion to try and tempt you to stay when you hand in your letter of notice.

It can be a difficult situation to be in, particularly if you weren’t expecting it. It can also be flattering when your employer is pulling out the stops to keep you.

However, it’s important to remain calm, keep a clear head and not give in.

Unless your decision to resign was solely around money, the original reason for you handing your notice in will probably still be there.

In fact, research from Hire (Formally RecruiterBox) show that 80 to 90 per cent of people who accept a counteroffer end up leaving within six months due to the same issues arising.

So, to conclude, remember your reasons for wanting to leave, stick to your decision and politely decline the offer.

If you’re leaving for a new challenge at a different company, you could say something like ‘thank you, I’m flattered, but I feel this is an opportunity I can’t turn down’.

That way you are still showing gratitude but also sticking to your guns.

So, there you have it. My top tips for how to write a professional treasury resignation letter that you will be proud of, and that your employer will respect.

Thanks again for reading and I’d be delighted to hear your thoughts. Until next time!

Is remote working in Treasury management here to stay

Rewind two- and a-bit years to March 2020 and the pandemic forced everyone in Treasury and finance to pick up their belongings, vacate the office and start working remotely from home.

There has been a steady return to the office since restrictions have lifted, with many treasury departments adopting a hybrid policy that allows staff more flexibility

However, for some the shift to remote working will be a permanent change.

When treasury technology vendor FIS conducted a survey of corporate treasury department responses to Covid-19, nearly two-thirds of those questioned believed that the majority of treasury’s responsibilities can be performed remotely.

The number of those claiming in the FIS study that they could perform almost all their duties at home surprised a lot of people, but it shouldn’t have come as a complete shock.

Ten years ago, no treasury department would have been able to work remotely with the technology in treasury available back then.

However, the pandemic happened at a time when the shift to digital was already taking place and the adoption of cloud-based technology means it is now possible to work from home effectively.

While I can understand there are some benefits to remote working, there are plenty of challenges and downsides too.

Working from home affects different people in different ways.

For example, extroverts will probably miss the social interaction that only face-to-face contact in an office environment can provide.

Some people are more productive away from the hustle and bustle of the office, while some thrive on the atmosphere and noise.

For others, particularly those with young children, trying to work from home during school holidays and half term break is stressful and demanding.

For some, that commute into the office is what gives them that time to unwind.

Whether it’s having a coffee, listening to music, reading a book, or watching something on the iPad, for a lot of people it allows them to decompress and get their headspace where it needs to be.

That’s the trouble with remote working – there isn’t that separation. Everything is merged.

I remember those first few months during lockdown it was a case of getting out of bed, having a shower, opening the laptop, doing a few hours work, making some lunch in the kitchen, back to the home office to work, go for a walk, back to work then dinner then bed. Everything became blurred.

There’s one Treasurer I know, who is a great guy, that said to me during Covid: “Our team’s done well, they’ve got through a pandemic, we’ve done this, we’ve also reimplemented the new Treasury system, we’ve done all this, we’re amazing. We’ve even gotten a couple of awards for it, it’s brilliant.”

He said: “The team has pulled together and done it.”

The problem is, he was walking around with his head in the sand.

Two of his team were registered with us because they were so stressed out during the pandemic

The two team members both had kids and were trying to juggle homeschooling along with the pressure of everything else. They were just broken and exhausted. And he hadn’t noticed.

And that leads me on to the next challenge – managing a team remotely. As that previous example shows, it isn’t easy.

It’s not always easy to pick up on how people are feeling behind a screen. People don’t always speak up and show their emotions in the same way that they perhaps might face to face.

Yes, technology means we CAN work remotely. But that doesn’t mean we should HAVE TO.

Remote working might be being hailed by some as the future of Treasury, but in my view I think it’s important to have the option to come into the office at least some of the time.

As ever, thanks for reading and I’d love to hear your views on how you prefer to work! In the office, remote or hybrid?

How to create a great resume / CV

This article is all about how to write a good Resume or CV – some of the tips and tricks, some of the do’s and don’ts and some of my pet hates.

If you just want to get to our CV Templates ASAP then no problem here they are;

We also find have useful CV templates in our Treasury Library and further CV advice here.

We hope by implementing some of these guidelines into your own CVs it will give you the best chance of success when you are looking for your next role and you want to earn your interview. Because that’s exactly what it is……

A well-written CV or Resume is the key to making a good first impression and earning that interview

It’s about grabbing the hiring managers attention from what is generally a one, two, maybe three-page document.

Remember each time you send out your CV you should be tailoring it to your audience. Think about what that person is looking for and what their pain points might be.

It’s about “Reaching Through the Glass”

You want to reach through the glass and grab their attention and get them saying “oh I want to read this, or this person is someone we should be talking to”.

Top tips for creating a great CV/Resume:

1. Avoid having ‘Resume’ or ‘Curriculum Vitae’ as the title of your document

This is outdated and unnecessary and simply a waste of valuable space! . Most CVs are sent digitally, so the file name of the document should be enough to signal to the recruiter what it is.

Plus, if you have formatted your CV correctly, a prospective employer will know that it is a CV with one glance, so you don’t need to have it as the title.

Treat your name as the title of the document. After all, your CV is all about you!

Underneath your name provide all your contact information that a prospective employer or recruiter will need to get in contact with you. Include a mailing address or at the very least your current city and country of residence, an email address and either a home or mobile number or both.

If you like, you can include a link to your LinkedIn profile too – but make sure it’s up to date first!

2. Use a professional email address

That’s an easy one. Don’t have Ilike15beers@hotmail.com!

Make sure it’s nice, plain and professional and not one that is associated with your current employer. Ideally, it should contain your first and last name if possible.

3. There is no need to include your photo, date of birth or marital status

Your age, looks or marital status all have no effect on your ability to do the job you are applying for, so it has NO place on your CV.

Employers should measure your ability on years of experience, not what you look like or how old you are. Instead use that space for details that they ARE looking for.

People can generally work out your age anyway from when you went to school or university.

We often ask candidates to take off their date of birth and personal contact information anyway for GDPR purposes.

4. Have a professional summary paragraph NOT a personal statement

My pet hate – Personal Statements!

I’ve had this discussion so many times and in my experience of over 20 plus years of treasury recruitment, 50% of people at least HATE personal statements. 50% don’t mind them/put up with them or even skip past them most of the time.

Instead of having a personal statement try to use the space at the top of your CV to act as your “hook” to draw the attention of the hiring manager and highlight your most important achievements, key skills and desirable personality traits.

This should be a short, three sentence elevator pitch to entice the recipient to keep reading.

Cherry-pick the information that is directly relevant to the role you are applying for and try to look at it from the hiring managers perspective; what are the major areas in this role and in this business where you can deliver improvement? What are their pain points and how can you be their painkiller?

For instance, if they have a particular current problem with cash management or they are about to enter into new markets, then instead of having a personal statement about how you are a flexible and motivated individual etc – why don’t you focus on how you have successfully handled these situations in the past?

Get rid of the personal statement and the generalized words that are in there. Instead, focus on their pain points and how you can BE THEIR PARACETAMOL!

5. List your key skills

It is always beneficial to list your key skills on your CV to give an employer an overview of the scope of your abilities.

These can be included in your professional summary and ideally these should be tailored to the role you are applying for, i.e TMS implementation experience, management experience, understanding of risk management processes and risk assessments.

Aim to keep this to the range of between 5 – 10 max and use bullet points so that it’s easy for the recruiter to scan over when matching skills to the job description. The skills should be a good mix of both hard and soft skills ideally.

6. List your employment history in reverse chronological order

Aim to list your information in reverse chronological order by placing your most recent roles and qualifications at the beginning of the respective sections.

A chronological resume is the most used out there, it’s the employer’s favourite as it’s easy to read and it’s hard to hide anything in it.

Within this section you should always include for each role the job title, the dates of employment, name of the company you worked for and perhaps a line that summarises the role.

Then you can use bullet points to list your key responsibilities, skills and achievements.

7. Avoid any employment history gaps on your CV

CV gaps are understandable, but they can be a red flag to potential employers. So if there is a gap explain the reason for it, i.e to go travelling, sabbatical, maternity leave, to complete a course etc

Also think about the amount of information you include for each role. For instance, why have more information about a role you did 15 years ago, then one you have had most recently?

8. List 3 to 4 achievements under each role.

Try to list 3 to 4 achievements under each role. You don’t need any more than that!

Explain what you did and how you did it.

  • Where did you add impact or value?
  • How much money did you save the company in which you worked for?
  • What difference did you make to the company?

Remember that achievements are things you did that added value, made a tangible or noticeable difference and contributed to the business of the organisation.

Use numbers to underline your effectiveness. For example, mentioning your successes in increasing your company’s profitability by 30% will show a prospective employer what a great candidate you would make and how much of a positive impact you can make.

9. Try to only list the last 10-15 years’ experience

A CV should go back no more than between 10-15 years or your last 5-6 employment positions in reverse chronological order if within this time.

Make it concise and relevant. As you move further down chronologically, reduce the information.

10. The use of bullet points

If you’re going to do bullet points, don’t make them paragraphs. Likewise, if you are going to do paragraphs, don’t make them bullet points.

Think of an old Wild West six bullet points MAXIMUM!

I tend to think that anything more than four or five bullet points is probably all you want.

Generally, employers prefer a CV that isn’t wall to wall text. Use bullet points and short phrases to describe your skills and work history. Remember a recruiter will often only take a few seconds to process a CV, so the longer a document, the more chance there is of important information getting skimmed over.

11. Avoid generic phrases

Avoid using generic phrases such as “responsible for” or “ensured that” and instead aim to begin each bullet point with a strong action word or verb such as engaged, directed, spearheaded, championed and led.

Try to back up your points with figures to support each claim and showcase your expertise.

12. Include education and qualifications

List any relevant qualifications in reverse chronological order (most recent first) to enable the employer to see what you have been up to recently.

Keep them short and sweet. If you are a Senior Treasury professional, then we don’t need to know your qualifications from high school or secondary school.

If you have an accountancy qualification or a professional treasury qualifications such as a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) then this is the place to feature them.

Include the name of the educational institution (University, College etc), the dates you were there and the qualifications and grades you were awarded.

13. Include software/systems knowledge

If the role you are applying for calls for specific software or TMS knowledge, then make sure this is included on your CV. Demonstrate your level of proficiency with these in either your professional summary or in a ‘Software Skills’ section at the end of your CV depending on the importance of these skills for the role in which you are applying for.

14. Remove references

How useful is the line ‘References available upon request’ at the end of your CV? Not very!

You will be asked for it if you’re offered a job anyway.

Don’t just fill up the page with information that isn’t actually going to help you get the role, use that space for more important points to show hiring managers and recruiters what a great candidate you are!

15. A shorter resume is preferred, but don’t cram it in

Although a shorter resume tends to be preferred, don’t cram it in just to fit onto 1 or 2 pages.

You want to make sure that it still makes sense to the reader and is as easy as possible for them to skim through. Focus on the skills and accomplishments that speak directly to the role you are applying for and limit your work history to the last 10-15 years.

16. Always proofread your CV and don’t make mistakes

It’s important to proofread your CV several times. Try reading it out load or ask someone else to check it too for any spelling mistakes or grammar issues.

If you haven’t taken the time to check your CV thoroughly then why should a prospective employer take the time to interview you?!

An unprofessional CV, regardless of how experienced or qualified the individual is will not make a good first impression.

Use F7 in Word if you want to check any spelling mistakes.

There are a number of times when I’ve seen people put that they are very good Mangers. That’s right, MANGER is a word, MANAGER is a different word!

If you have a CV/Resume in PDF always convert it back to Word to do a thorough spell-check before converting it back into PDF again.

As a Treasury professional, accuracy needs to be 100%. Imagine if you pressed the wrong button that consequently made a massive material difference to your balance sheet.

A good first impression is KEY!

17. Presentation

A good resume is about presentation. It’s about the person looking at it and them knowing how you’re going to present yourself and how you’re going to work with them.

If the presentation is good then that’s the first “Oh actually that person will be good when they do this, when they’re writing reports, when they’re presenting to our investors etc”.

A well-structured and laid out CV will give a prospective employer confidence in you and it’s the successful first start to earn you that right to be interviewed.

Key areas to consider:

Font size and style:

  • Think about the font size and style that you use. How legible is it and is the font consistent throughout?

Some good fonts to use include; Arial, Calibri or Gill Sans MT. The body of your CV should be between 10 and 12pt in size and then your headings can be slightly larger around 14pt.

Alignment:

  • Aligning your CV centrally or to the right is often difficult for the human eye to read quickly as we naturally scan text from left to right. So align your CV to the left.

White space and margins:

  • The correct use of margins and white space will help the reader to find the most important sections of your CV quickly. Keep your margins to around 2.5cm as if you reduce them too much your CV might appear crowded and hard to read.

Don’t just cram as much as you can into one or two pages. Make sure you leave enough space (at least one line-height) between sections. After all, the more white space used, the easier it generally is to skim the CV.

Using bold text, italics and underlining:

  • Try to make this consistent throughout your CV. The best CVs are the ones that have clearly titled sections. For example, the ‘Education’ or ‘Experience’ section is bold and in a larger font than the body of the CV.

18. Languages

Do you speak another language? Great add it onto your CV, especially if language skills are relevant to the job you are hoping to undertake

19. Tell the truth!

It’s all too easy to exaggerate on your CV but DON’T!

As a Treasury professional you will be expected to be accurate and truthful, so make sure your CV is too.

Be honest and straightforward about your abilities and qualifications. If you fall short on some of the requirements of the role you are applying for then emphasize the skills and personality traits that show you are ready and willing to learn new skills and contribute in other ways.

For further advice, feel free to check out some of our other articles on our website or for some helpful videos visit: www.TreasuryTV.com

We also find have useful CV templates in our Treasury Library and further CV advice here.

How Do You Perceive the Role of Women in Treasury?

The topic of gender in the workplace has dominated the headlines over the last couple of years, including #MeToo and the row over equal pay at the BBC. This has made many businesses and organisations take a long hard look at themselves and how they perform in respect to gender equality.

At times like this employers often think about gender and how it relates to discrimination within the workplace. I’ve have had HR directors say to me, “Mike, it would be nice if there are a few more female candidates” on the shortlist for this treasury position.

In the past I have tried to avoid commenting on the subject of recruiting women within the treasury profession.

Why? Because to me my job is to put the best candidate in front of my client. Male, female, caucasian, black, partially sighted, physically disabled, whatever and whoever they are, if they are a great treasury person then I will represent them. I believe I shouldn’t positively or negatively discriminate

My job is to find the best treasury talent available within the market at a given moment.

On a personal level, I am a very proud father of two daughters and two sons, I want my children to be measured upon their individual merits as uniquely talented individuals not their gender. However, I am a realist and I know that the treasury profession can prove a challenging environment for women. There are still some dinosaurs out there who when they interview a female candidate they question whether they might leave to have children in a few years’ time and will they have to find someone to cover their maternity leave? Or will they need to replace them?

On a personal level, I believe employers need to consider that women returning to work after having a child need to be supported.

I know of men in treasury jobs who have had much more sympathetic treatment and dispensation when returning from illness or injury than many women going back after maternity leave.

 

“Flexible Working Made My Treasury Career”

Thankfully there are progressive employers out there who do value women in the workforce – whether full time, part time, working flexibility or gradually returning to work.

I had a chat with a Treasurer from a FTSE100 company who took time out of her day to talk to me about flexible working and the positive culture that made her company attractive to women in senior roles.

“The success of my career has been achievable because I’ve been able to work flexibly. If I hadn’t I wouldn’t be here now, because I wouldn’t have been able to make it work.”

When considering the Treasurer role, her first concern was the location of head office. Nearly 100 miles from where she lives, this was a potential deal-breaker.

“Originally, I wasn’t going to go for the interview because of the location of head office, and I wasn’t prepared to do a daily commute. I only agreed to go to the interview if they could accommodate a flexible approach.”

Fortunately, her employer and the senior leadership team do not have a culture of presenteeism. In fact, they are hugely supportive of part time and flexible working for everyone, for all circumstances.

Perhaps in part because of the demographics of their staff across the whole of the group.

“In my first interview we talked about flexible working and their approach to it, and how we could structure the role to allow me to work from home and from their London office as well as the head office. I wanted to establish that the employer truly embraced flexible working, that they were not just paying lip service to it, and the good news was they really are. My working week typically involves two or three days at HQ where I stay over to avoid the commute, a day or two in the London office and one day working from home.”

“I’ve certainly had some lucky breaks along the way, bosses who really understood the value of enabling people to work part time or remotely. That this allowed them to tap in to a workforce that is productive, professional and committed to an employer that is willing to consider and support their work-life balance.”

“However, whilst you could say I was ‘lucky’, surely now, with the connectivity we all have, this should be the norm. There are highly talented people who do fantastic work, of all genders, who need flexibility if they are to manage their family commitments alongside a full-on role. It’s certainly a guiding principle for me with my team.”

It’s not just women who want flexibility but men too. However, generally it is women returning to work after maternity leave or women who need to care for ageing relatives that get the short straw.

Being flexible and acknowledging that if I want to keep talented staff, we need to be open to flexible working arrangements.

My advice for companies seeking to recruit the top treasury talent in today’s market is that you need to be more agile in your attitudes to work. Companies who embrace the idea of more flexible working and support those who need a more constructive work-life balance, gain happier treasury teams. In turn, this will provide a return on investment through increased levels of loyalty and overall productivity.

Which of my Treasurers wouldn’t want a happy treasury team to work with every day?

 

Will Treasury Teams “Work-From-Home” Forever More?

In a nearly “post-lockdown” world I am constantly being told that WFH / remote working means there is no reason why Corporate Treasury departments need to recruit an individual who is geographically close to the office / headquarters.

So, is this really the case? Well, it is a bit…

I have seen this happening in a limited way for some interim roles i.e., where there has either been sickness, so an immediate need or cover required whilst permanent staff have been working their notice periods.

I have also seen this with some specific projects i.e., TMS implementations / upgrades but do I believe this is a 100% move to a new home based / virtual way of working for Treasury teams?

No, I do not.

Let me cite a real example, I have recently recruited a Group Treasurer position for one of our clients where they as a client have considered candidates from a wider geography than they might usually i.e., over 100 miles from London.

However, the agreement is that the Treasurer will spend 40-60% of the week in London – one to two nights per week in temporary accommodation as they will need to provide physical coaching to what is an evolved treasury team, but they range in experience from Treasury Intern up to Head of Treasury Operations.

All of whom have a range of coaching and personal development needs that the Treasurer will take an active role in coaching them and helping them develop and there’s only so much that can be done virtually.

As a finance discipline Treasury is by its very nature, collaborative.

Treasury teams thrive through physical meetings. Getting together is critical.

Meetings of treasury teams often lead to ideas generated through the communication of a range of differing views and the exchange of opinions.

As described the newly recruited Treasurer has already voiced what he sees as the need to train junior members of the team and how he needs to mentor on a more individual basis the more senior team members.

He needs to provide them with his support, he needs to be their shoulder to lean on when they need it whether they verbalize the need or not.

This new Treasury environment is a blend.

The pandemic has taught us that a daily commute is often a waste of a quarter of our working weeks simply by physically having to travel from home to office and back again.

But it has also allowed many to discover that aside from the negative aspects of a commute, we love working with other people and the social aspects that our work provides.

Working within Treasury teams should not be underestimated or forgotten before it is simply swept aside without consideration of the positive elements that working within a communal setting also provides for us as humans.

Will Resigning Now Help You Secure A New Role Sooner?

One of our candidates is keen to make a move so she asked us if she should resign and then she would not have to serve a 3-month notice period.

She wanted to know “would this make her more marketable to a new employer?”

No I don’t believe so.

Firstly it is likely that the person she will be taking over from will be at a similar level so they too would be on three months’ notice and they will be made to work it as well!

She thought that by shortening her availability perhaps it would make her the first choice for an employer this isn’t something I have seen.

It is true that I have heard of one or two companies who have said that one rather than three months’ notice did influence their decision to hire but this made me think that they just wanted to fill a job not recruit a career enhancing role for a candidate.

If they are a company of any kind of quality they will wait.

If their pivot / decision point is based solely upon the fact that they will have to wait for another few weeks then they are probably not the right group for you!

 

I can’t stand it anymore I’m out of here!

OK she said what if:

  • My role is diminishing and I can’t stand it here any longer!
  • My boss is a challenging son-of-a-gun
  • I want to follow the interim route because I have heard that the money is better and no responsibilities it sounds ideal!!!

 

We asked her “so you guys have employed interim treasury professionals in the past, what jobs did you give them?”

You bring in an interim person – you don’t give them the sexy work!

You give that to your permanent guys as a reward for the great work they have been doing.

You give an interim all the treasury work you don’t want to do but that still needs doing.

You give them the policy writing, systems work and other duties that aren’t career enhancing.

Or on a project basis they come in deliver and go away.

OK sometimes there can be some really good interim roles maternity covers or sickness covers but there is no certainty to the flow of work and you are in competition from professional treasury interims too!

The worst case scenario is that guys decide to try the interim route at a relatively early stage of their careers.

It can start to look as if they are job hopping when it is exactly the opposite!

They want to improve / enhance their treasury careers and end up doing the reverse.

You don’t want to bounce between treasury roles, if you are in a situation where it really has come to the end of the road then yes maybe you do need to exit but do it from a position of strength.

Surely by allowing yourself to be forced out of a role you are letting them win? You are giving in!

Stick it out – when the right role comes along you will know!

Trust us – we will help you find it!

How to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile

You have a LinkedIn profile: Now what?

You created a profile on LinkedIn, so you probably think your skills and experience speak for themselves.

Here’s the thing – they don’t!

I was very pleased to be asked to speak at the Eurofinance International Treasury & Cash Management Conference about Social Media and in particular about how to improve your LinkedIn profile.

I really enjoyed speaking despite being placed at the end of the second day of the Conference when everyone had a beer in their hand except me hence the very speedy delivery of the speech – sit back and enjoy!

Don’t worry I kept it to 12 minutes!

You have a LinkedIn profile: Now what?

You created a profile on LinkedIn, so you probably think your skills and experience speak for themselves. Here’s the thing – they don’t.

No matter how detailed your profile and no matter how deep your work experience, it is down to you to be the chief promoter of your career. Now is the time for unashamed self-promotion.

My session covered how to take your profile to the next level and provided key tips and takeaways on how to stay ahead in the battle of the ‘personal brands’.

Download the Presentation & Notes That Accompany the Speech

Download now

A biography of the speaker Mike Richards, Managing Director, MR Recruitment – Global Treasury Recruitment Specialists, UK & US.

Mike Richards founded The Treasury Recruitment Company www.TreasuryRecruitment.com – the Global Treasury Recruitment consultancy in 2002 and he has worked as a specialist Treasury Recruiter for over 23 years.

Headquartered in the UK, the company recruits treasury professionals across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as Asia Pacific. He is a regular speaker at conferences such as Eurofinance, the Windy City Summit – Chicago, the US AFP and Regional European Treasury Conferences.

CV / Resume – Do’s and Don’ts

In this article we talk about some of the best and the worst resumes and how your resume is simply a passport to getting an interview.

The first tool in your recruitment toolbox is your resume.

There is so much written about them, I’m not going to say I’m the only expert on resumes.

However, what I would say is that, with 20 years’ experience of reading some of the best and the worst examples, I hope I can share some tips and give you some useful Do’s and Don’ts.

I’ve seen some brilliantly concise interesting outlines of a person on a single page; I’ve seen single page resumes and thought ‘Why bother!’

I have seen what may be a world record; a 17-page resume from a candidate. It was amazing to find out that he came 5th in his High School sprint race, out of 16, that was a big achievement for him, and obviously something he was proud of.

So how long should a resume be?

It shouldn’t be ‘War and Peace’ – that’s already been written once, and we don’t need a sequel.

At the same time it shouldn’t be a classified advert that says “yes, pick me, pick me, I am the perfect solution to your problem!’ with no background information about you.

It should be as long as it takes to tell your story without boring someone.

Put yourself in the reader’s position and ask;

If this landed on my desk, would I read it? Would I find it interesting?

It should tell your story in a logical fashion.

What I mean by that is:

  • A strong opening – tell the reader who you are and why its worth someone reading this resume
  • An interesting plot – middle, with pointers, perhaps, towards
  • Where you’re going next – where you’re going to develop, an indication of the direction where your career is headed in the next 5 to 10 years

I was recently asked “Should it always be chronological?” In my opinion YES.

Not just because of convention but also because our work lives are in themselves time bound, it’s the convention and it gives it a logical structure. As a recruiter what I want to see and what clients want to see is;

  • Were you in a position long enough to learn from it and gain what you needed to bring it into your new position?
  • Did you achieve your goals in your last position?

A lot of people think “I need to be in this role for 3 years, or 5 years, or 7 years”

That doesn’t matter.

What matters is what you’ve achieved in that role.

I’ve met with candidates that have been in the job for 12 months, but they’ve actually done the job, and there’s nothing left for them to achieve, it’s time to move on. That’s unusual but not unheard of.

Once you have read the article you will probably need to create your CV. Well here are again with some helpful CV templates feel free to use as you see fit!

Download the templates

I hope you enjoy them!

 

I hate personal statements

I have an aversion to the Personal Statement that so many people love at the beginning of their CV’s / resumes!

Allow me to explain why! I often read phrases like ‘I am an enthusiastic, keen, motivated employee and every finance strategy I touch turns to gold’.

Well, I am sorry but that is just fluff and wasted words and you are not King Midas!

You would not write on your resume; ‘I am an inflexible stick-in-the-mud who doesn’t like change. I am only working in this role but that’s until a better job comes along.’

No-one would write that, but, in some ways, this is what I feel often comes across in a ‘Personal Statement’.

Some people may like them but my personal viewpoint is that they are wasted words that won’t get read and can often alienate a reader not something you want to do when you are keen to make a good first impression.

I actually debated this point at length with a candidate who had previously been an actual client of mine and he said

“Mike I actually like them so why are you so against them?”

As I explained, I have found that in about 50% of cases clients like them but the other half dislike them and as I then said

“WHY TAKE A CHANCE?”

You want to make a strong first impression – why flip a coin before someone has even met you and give them a chance to dislike what you have written?

YOU WANT A POTENTIAL EMPLOYER TO LIKE YOU SO GIVE THEM A CHANCE!!

OK so what do I recommend that may differ from the Personal Statement?

What about a RESUME or CV SUMMARY PARAGRAPH?

This would be and can be far more effective!

In this you include information that is directly relevant to the role you are specifically applying for. What I would be looking for is a summary of the parts of your resume that relate to the position you are applying for.

For example, it might say: ‘In my past two or three positions, I have elicited this change, I have achieved this much and this is where I want to develop. It explains why you are a match for this position.’

Look at it from the client’s perspective; what are the major areas, in this role and in this business, where you can deliver improvement?

What are the clients’ major pain points?

What do I mean by that?

Perhaps their finance management systems are out of date or inefficient, and this is an area in which you can deliver the improvements the client needs.

If you do your research around the client and their business, in collaboration with your recruiter, you can put yourself in a unique position to know where you fit in as a valuable asset.

I would suggest that in your summary section you highlight what you have achieved that addresses their ‘pain points’.

Draw attention, to the fact that, for example, in your last two positions you

  • managed three members of staff
  • reduced the reporting cycle from 120 days down to 60 days
  • implemented straight through finance processing for the group

You don’t need to go into massive amounts of detail. If you do it right, the summary section says:

This is why I am the solution to your problem

‘Why am I the best person for this job? Because I can save you cash – this is how I did it in another role the detail is given in your resume.’

‘If you have a morale problem, this is how I motivated my team in the past. This is what why management style is like.’

It is a practical, summarized answer to their headache that works.

If you need more advice about how you can be the cure for a clients headache then just call or drop me a line!

Investing in Your Treasury Career

So there you are, sitting in your 6 month performance review and your manager asks you “what are your career objectives for the next 12 months?”

Oh!? – you think. Well, I wasn’t really planning that far ahead.

Even if you are a little more prepared than that – can you honestly say you have a clear plan set out for the next 2, 5 or even 10 years time? If you do have a plan, is that your plan or the plan set out for you by your company? And if you know where you want to be, do you actually know how you are going to get there?

This is the position many professionals find themselves in and it is very dangerous territory.

To not have a clearly thought out career investment strategy means you are essentially passengers on your own ‘career train’, hurtling down a long-deserted track with no clue where you’re headed and no way of stopping. You’ve either got to get off that train or get up-front and become the driver.

But let’s forget the analogy for a second and consider this in practical terms. Investing in a realistic and robust career plan can offer a multitude of benefits; increased job satisfaction, new career opportunities, enhanced self-development, a greater sense of fulfilment, and not to mention, inevitable higher earning potential.

“Great!”, I hear you say, “sign me up!”

Well, you can sign yourself up, and here’s how.

Step 1: Define your Goals

Like with most plans, you need to start with the end in mind. Think about where you ultimately want to be. What is your goal?

This does not need to be where you see yourself at the end of your career before a happy retirement. You should consider this in manageable, bite-sized chunks, so 3 to 5, or even 8 years from now. However long you decide is right for you, you need to be specific. So what job title do you want? What do you want your key responsibilities to be? What size and type of company do you want to be working for?

Now you know where you want to be, next you need to understand how you are going to get there. What positions or ‘stepping stone roles’ will enable you to achieve your goal? To help you gain clarity with this, it is important to do your research. LinkedIn can be a fantastic tool here to provide you with insight into the backgrounds of people in similar, aspirational roles. What career choices did they make? How long did they remain in each role before they moved on?

The final piece of the puzzle is then to assess your current role and where you are today. Understanding your strengths and achievements is important, but perhaps even more key is to identify your weaknesses. What is holding you back from achieving your goal? Do you need to expand your experience further in a specific area? Do you need additional training?

Once your plan is in place, do not stop there. Make sure you regularly review your progress. You may need to modify your plan, add new stages in or change the timeframes.

Step 2: Develop your Skills

As Treasurers, when you think about skills development, the first thing that probably springs to mind is qualifications. And so they should. The importance of qualifications within the Treasury industry specifically, cannot be underestimated. The pace of change is so rapid and the market so competitive that without certain notches on your belt, you may very well get left behind.

But beyond this, and to truly remain relevant in the industry, you need to be focused on the idea of continuous learning. The level of information that is accessible these days, means the pace of learning is faster than ever. In fact, IBM predicts that within the coming years, knowledge will likely be doubling every 11 to 12 hours.

Training courses focused on specific skills are a great way to do this, but perhaps even more valuable is the concept of ‘renewable learning’ – so ongoing or in the moment learning offering immediate knowledge to assist with a given task or problem. The added advantage with this is that you can avoid the hefty price tags and investment in your time, often associated with organised training courses.

Use the tools that are available to you including peer-based knowledge, relevant articles or blogs, podcasts or even YouTube. All these are at your fingertips, so take full advantage.

Step 3: Build and Protect your Personal Brand

Your Personal Brand is essential to career success. In a time before social media, this would be called your reputation. It took years of dedication and hard work to build. Today, it is a different story. You can create a brand in minutes and destroy it in seconds. From an online perspective if you have a LinkedIn Profile, a Facebook or Twitter account, if you have ever added a photo to Instagram, or posted an article – you reveal aspects of your personality which define who you are and which form the building blocks of your brand.

Your offline brand is just as revealing – that is you in your everyday environment, in your workplace, at networking events, during speaking engagements, how you interact with your colleagues, your peers, your bosses. It is how you present yourself to those around you. How you’re perceived by your audience, whoever they may be. So, whether it is your on or offline brand, you all have one whether consciously built or not and to neglect it, could spell career suicide.

Your personal brand needs to be authentic and portray the ‘real’ you. You need to identify what sets you apart from the competition and promote it. What is your ‘unique value proposition’ (UVP)? And you need to be consistent. Consistency in everything you do from your behaviours to your values, your language and your identity. This will allow people to get to know and have confidence in you. Without it, your audience will be confused by your message and possibly lose trust in you.

Step 4: Invest in a Mentor or Coach

Coaching and mentoring can be one of the most beneficial investments in your personal and professional growth. In fact, a recent study of Fortune 500 CEOs showed that 75% listed mentoring or coaching as one of the top three critical factors for their career success, whilst 80% of FTSE100 CEOs claimed to have benefitted from investing in a mentor or coach throughout their careers. So the evidence is there, but what are they and what do they do?

These two roles often get grouped together when in fact they are very different. Before starting out on the hunt for a mentor or a coach, it is important to understand the differences between the two to determine which will work best for you.

Coaching is task-oriented, so focuses on specific areas of development, for example improving negotiation skills, thinking more strategically, managing more effectively. Mentoring is relationship oriented, so a safe-haven to share a range of issues that may be impacting you on a professional or personal level. For example, how to achieve better work/life balance, build your self-confidence or improve your self-perception. Generally coaching is short-term versus the mentor/mentee relationship which may span decades.

It is also a great misconception that mentors or coaches are in greatest demand at the beginning of one’s career. This can be true in many circumstances as they are perfect to guide you in the right direction and provide advice and support. But they are just as important at the middle phase when you need to refine your skills, expand your networks and stay on track with your career plan. Equally at the latter stages to provide you with fresh perspectives and when you need someone to challenge your past way of thinking.

So whichever you decide is right for you, start now and make that investment.

Step 5: Master your Elevator Pitch

The term ‘Networking’ can send many of us running for the hills while others, can’t grab their box of business cards fast enough. Whichever camp you fall into, networking and growing your connections is an inevitable by-product of your day job. Those that do it the best however, are often the most successful. OK a big statement to make, but when you invest in your relationships, both professional and personal, then it pays you back throughout the course of your career.

A key way to develop your networking skills is by mastering your ‘Elevator Pitch’ – this is the way in which you introduce yourself and what value you offer through doing the job you do, in the time it takes to go down an elevator. So anywhere between 10 and 60 seconds depending on how big the building is.

It sounds straightforward and something on the face of it that is easy to do. Well, I’m sure that at some stage you have all been there when you’re asked that simple question “What do you do?” – The mind goes a bit blurred, you start talking, the talking turns into a babble, the babble into a waffle and the person who asked you the question starts to look around to see if they have a way to escape! OK, so that’s the extreme. But if you don’t master your pitch, you will “lose them at hello..” and the impact of that on your personal brand and reputation, could be hugely detrimental.

The focus needs to be on explaining clearly what you do now and how you can add value to the person you are talking to. Why should they want you as part of their professional network? What is your differentiator? What makes you stand out? You also need to find a healthy balance here between not underselling yourself and not overselling. It will take time to perfect but do invest this time and test it out. And finally, always remember to listen and reciprocate by asking that age-old question back “…So enough about me…what do you do?..”

So there you have it – 5 top tips on how to invest in your treasury career. Hopefully now if your manager asks about your career objectives, things will be a lot clearer.