The process to land your next SAP role, either independently or through specialist recruitment agency will almost always start with your CV. To get a job, you need an interview, but to get an interview you need an impressive CV. Therefore, it is crucial that your SAP CV is presented in a professional, clear and concise way that highlights all of your strengths and qualities that will suffice the job requirement.
At Whitehall Resources, we see a high volume of SAP CV’s every day. As a result, we have a very solid grasp of what a good SAP CV looks like. So to help you line up a number of interviews, here are our 5 top tips for the perfect SAP CV.
1) Include all Your Basic Details
Include all of your basic details – Name, Address, Nationality, Country of Residence, contact number, email address, Languages Spoken (and proficiency.)
2) Write In Detail
First and foremost, hiring managers are looking for a broad knowledge and awareness of the market. They want candidates that are professional, committed and have good attention to detail. As we have seen more and more recently, experience is crucial.
An SAP CV is not like a conventional CV where you should not exceed 2 sides of A4. Doing so could actually cut your chances of getting the interview as important details may be unwisely missed out. However, this doesn’t mean to say your SAP CV should be 10+ pages long – it should only be as long as it takes to clearly explain what you have done that is completely relevant for the role you are applying for.
Tip: Generally speaking, as your SAP experience ages, so does its importance. The further back the project is, the less detail you should include as clients and hiring managers are most interested in what you have been doing over the past 12 (or even 6) months.
3) Make Your SAP CV Stand Out – Utilise the 1st Page!
More and more SAP consultants are applying to each and every role. Therefore, it is critical that your CV clearly emphasises exactly what your areas of expertise are, along with any supporting information relevant for the specific role you are applying for – get as much of this on the first page as possible to maximise your chances of standing out.
4) Tailor Your CV
Your SAP CV should be specifically written for the particular role you are applying for. Make sure you explain how your skills, qualifications and experience exactly match what the employer is looking for. A specialist recruitment agency, such as Whitehall Resources, will have a very clear understanding of the client’s requirements and can give you sound advice on which of your skills to emphasise to better stand out. We can also give you a solid insight into the culture and values of the organisation for you to bear in mind when tailoring your CV.
Tip: Have a few SAP CV’s that emphasise your different areas of expertise. For example, a SAP Project Manager (PM) will have a CV template focused on their previous PM experience/skills and will also have templates that are specifically tailored around their areas of specialism, i.e FICO or SD.
5) Use Key Words
Recruitment agencies and hiring managers are increasingly searching for candidates online so you need to make sure your online profiles are easily findable. Identify what key words you want to be identified with and make sure that your SAP CV and online social profiles reflect this. When a recruitment consultant is looking for suitable candidates for their roles, they will search for core competencies that have previously been highlighted from your CV. I.e. if you have a good amount of SAP Success Factors experience; make sure SAP SF is well represented in your CV so that it will be highlighted as a core skill of yours.
Tip: Have a look at a number of job descriptions of roles that you would like and include the keywords from them in your CV – so long as the information is truthful. This will include your profile in search results for them.
6) Do Not Exaggerate
A really short but very important point – Do not exaggerate your skills and experience. You will get caught out at interview stage.
What have you found to work well on your CV? Do you have any advice to add? Let us know your thoughts and experience using the comment box below.
To discuss your specific SAP job requirements, give us a call on +44 (0) 1206 212101, or see our current roles.