We asked Khulisa’s Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) Specialist, Leticia Taimo, to share her top tips for writing an M&E CV. (Read Leticia’s first tip.) Her second tip is: Show me, don’t tell me, on your CV.
Most CVs follow a standard structure, with education, work experience, languages, relevant skills, awards, associations, presentations, etc. “But what people often do, in the section for the work experience, is just put in generic bullet points from job descriptions,” Leticia says. This is telling, not showing, and “as a hiring manager, I’m not interested in that.”
Here’s more from Leticia:
I know that every single CV I get for an M&E role will say, ‘I am familiar with developing theories of change, developing M&E frameworks, indicators…That’s just using M&E jargon. And this doesn’t show me that you actually know how to do the things that you say. It just shows me that you are familiar with the terminology we use in M&E.
Regurgitating M&E jargon doesn’t help you in getting the role because every single CV we receive will look the same. What will make you stand out is telling me what you actually did as part of your previous roles that is relevant to the role you are applying for now. I want to see three bullets under each work experience, and these bullets must be tailored to whatever position you’re applying for. For example, if you’re applying for a role that’s about managing evaluations, think about three examples of things that you did that would demonstrate your ability to manage evaluations. If the role is about being a data analyst in evaluations, think of three examples of things that demonstrate your strength in analyzing data in evaluation projects.
Let’s say I want to demonstrate that I understand how to develop indicators and develop a theory of change. So I could write: ‘Facilitated theory of change development workshops with five partner organizations funded by the LEGO Foundation, which included assisting them with developing key indicators. As a result, developed full M&E plans for each organization, whichhelped them manage their M&E systems better.’
That’s one bullet, and it gives a good idea of who I worked with, demonstrates that I can work with multiple partners and that I‘ve worked with a funder like the LEGO Foundation, and that I facilitated a session. I know how to work on these things, and submitted deliverables that helped the client improve. It’s telling what I did and what happened as a result of what I did.
In the second bullet, let’s say I want to demonstrate my ability to support proposal writing and business development because that’s one of the things on the job description. Then I will say: ‘Helped with recruitment of key personnel on a proposal for USAID in Honduras. As a result, interviewed 10 candidates, was able to shortlist and get a good candidate, who helped us win the proposal.’
For the third bullet, let’s say I want to demonstrate my ability to manage data collection and field work. Then I would say: ‘For an Early Grade Reading project for USAID, in all 9 provinces in South Africa, I developed tools, trained a group of 50 field workers to collect data in 100 schools over two weeks. Managed the data collection process which ultimately led to collecting data from 10,000 learners.’
You don’t need to tell me, as a bullet, ‘experience managing fieldwork’. If you tell me a concrete example of how you’ve managed fieldwork, that will give me an indication that you know how to manage fieldwork, instead of a generic bullet that doesn’t tell me anything. This will make me curious to ask you more questions. During the interview, I’ll say, ‘Oh, this role entails managing a lot of consultants. I see that you’ve managed a number of field workers in South Africa for a USAID project. Please tell me more about that.’ And that‘s how you will actually get the interview because people will become more interested in reading what it is that you did.”
Take the next step to improve your CV by going back to each claim you make about your experience, and rewriting that sentence to rather describe when and how you did the work.
Stay tuned next week for Leticia’s third M&E CV tip. Also, browse Khulisa’s current job opportunities.