Dear Applicants and Clients
Welcome to 2017!
The Directors, Management and Staff of The Valcol Group wish you a most prosperous and successful job hunting year ahead. We look forward to assisting you attain your goals in a competitive and exciting job market. We strive to be your active partner and hope to bring good cheer as the job market opens throughout 2017. Please remember to update your CV for 2017.
As we are currently recruiting for Non-Executive Directors under Director Positions - applicants should consider the format of letter and CV to be submitted – below are some important and salient points;
Tips for aspirant non-executive directors How to promote yourself for board positions
- Have clear motivations: Knowing why you want to be a director, the type of board role you are seeking and having the time to commit to the role is critical.
- Define your value proposition as a director: Prepare a clearly articulated statement about how you can add value to a board.
- Undertake professional development in governance and/or directorship: Professional organisations such as Institute of Company Directors offer director specific training and professional development, and provide opportunities to network with directors. Joining and being actively involved in professional associations is important from a professional development as well as networking perspective.
- Prepare a directors’ CV. A directors’ CV history is different to an executive CV in that it focuses on skills relevant to a board’s role. Even if you don’t have board experience, translate your skills and experience to what the role of a board entails - you might include directly reporting to a board, being involved in a board committee or being on the board of a subsidiary entity within your corporate group.
- Network and make contacts at board level: Tell relevant people about your desire to sit on a board. If there are particular boards you aspire to join, get to know those companies and their people.
- Seek board level experience: Many directors start their board careers by sitting on a not for profit board where skilled directors are often sought. Here you can gain board experience while contributing to the work of a worthwhile cause.
- Find mentors and sponsors: Informal and formal mentoring by experienced directors can provide an invaluable source of introductions as well as trusted advice e.g. as a sounding board for a directors’ CV, providing background on a board and its directors, and helping you run through a board level interview.
- If you are applying for a specific role: · read the selection criteria thoroughly and be sure that you meet the requirements for skills and experience – applying for roles indiscriminately doesn’t reflect that you have good judgment or that you have a real interest in the particular role · check there are no impediments to taking on the position such as conflicts of interest, and executive contract restrictions · research the role and tailor your resume to the skills sought and the company whose board you are seeking to join · be clear about the time commitment and other expectations of the role and ensure that you are able to meet them.
- Actively listen to what the board is seeking: ‘Selling yourself’ doesn’t equate to talking about yourself, what you’ve done and how you would change the board and company. It involves listening to what the company is looking for and being clear about where you can contribute at board level.
- Undertake a good due diligence process before you take on a board role. As a director you have legal duties and take on certain liabilities. As far as possible, you need to make sure that you are comfortable with the company and board.
Becoming board-ready:
Preparing your director’s CV (when applying for a specific board role) - a directors’ CV is essential and is NOT the same as an executive employment CV. A director’s CV should be two pages and focus on skills and expertise relevant to a board. Even if you don’t have board experience, you should relate your skills and experience to the functions of a board or refer to your ‘board-related experience’ which might include directly reporting to a board, being involved in a board sub-committee or being on the board of a subsidiary entity within your corporate group. You should tailor your director’s CV for each role to the skills sought and the target company. The purpose of a directors’ CV is to get you on the ‘long list’ for a role. If you are successful in doing this, then a recruiter or the company will come back and seek more detail from you. In this context a director’s CV should include:
- A clearly articulated statement about the type of role you are seeking, the industries and company types you are interested in and how you can add value to a board
- A succinct summary of your education, qualifications, skills and experience relevant to a board’s functions
- Board roles (or board-related experience) in reverse chronological order including dates and key company data (e.g. industry, asset base, and turnover, number of employees), key board positions held and other contributions
- Career history in reverse chronological order for the last 10 - 15 years. Include for each role relevant dates, title and description of position, company name and key company data, key duties and key achievements (career experience more than 15 years ago should just be summarised)
- Education and qualifications
- Professional memberships relevant to the role of a director
- Significant awards, publications and presentations – summarised if the list is extensive
Some other considerations include: using an appropriate corporate picture if you are including a picture; using a professional personal email address; and ensuring your CV is well formatted, and proofed so that it includes no grammatical or typographical errors. Your CV should be accompanied by a cover letter. Your cover letter should be short and punchy (definitely no more than a page) highlighting your value proposition for the role, the reasons for your interest, and summarising your relevant skills and experience. Bullet points rather than lengthy prose in small font to ensure the letter fits on one page are a lot easier to read. Before writing the cover letter you should read the selection criteria thoroughly, and research the company (If known) if you are not familiar with it
Traditionally, Zim directors have been recruited through word of mouth and networks. This is changing and increasingly, boards are using more open and objective processes to draw in a wide pool of suitably skilled candidates. The recruitment process is also likely to be informed by the board carefully assessing not only the ‘skills gap’ it is seeking to fill but also the personal attributes or ‘fit’ of a director. Some directors start their board careers by sitting on a not for profit board where skilled directors are often sought after. This enables a new director to gain board experience as well as contribute to the work of the organisation. However, others transition directly into a commercial board role utilising their strong professional or industry skills.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t succeed at first – it may take many applications before you are successful. This isn’t because you aren’t a strong candidate or aren’t ‘good enough’. Boards are often looking for a very specific set of skills and experiences to compliment already placed Non-Executives.
Don’t waste your time if you are not prepared to place great effort and time into the preparation of the above.
We look forward to engaging you further as the year progresses. May sure your CV is polished and brought up to date when applying for any role.
Yours truly,
Colin Roberts
