Have you ever walked into a retail store with the intention of ‘just browsing’? Really, you do not need anything; you are just window shopping, passing the time. Suddenly, a salesperson approaches; she engages you in polite conversation. Before you know it, you have an entire fitting room filled with things. You are trying the articles on feverishly searching for the ‘perfect outfit’. Your salesperson is providing her input (of course) and coaching you regarding proper fit and color. I am sure you are chuckling at this. How many times has this happened to you? I, for one, can claim this situation too numerous times to count.
Why do you not treat your job search the same way? So, I segue into how your résumé is your marketing and sales tool. Your résumé is the salesperson. It serves as the beautiful dress, perfect tie, the exceptionally well-tailored suit. This is your PITCH; the very thing you are going to use to whet your reader’s appetite.
If you had to attach a dollar figure to your résumé, would you want people to find you in the 99¢ store? I am going to make an educated guess here and say “NO WAY!” You want people to find you in the high-end boutique, Barneys, Bergdorf’s – places for discerning shoppers; people who recognize that you get what you pay for.
So, what are to elements to a strong marketing and sales document? This is the document that positions you as a luxury good:
Hit ‘em with a headline: This will tell the reader what you want. It sets an immediate tone for the positions you are seeking.
Develop your spin strategy: Write a short paragraph with compelling information about your background. Avoid clichés and long-winded drivel. Get to the point. This is not a mini tome.
Create your core competencies: The reader will be drawn to this section: it’s a quick key word search area with your key skills.
Position it with professional experience: You don’t need to deliver everything, including the kitchen sink. ‘Show a little shoulder’. Your résumé is the appetizer. You don’t need to give the reader a full plate of food. Entice, entice, entice.
Rich with results: It’s the examples and corresponding results that will make you shine. Give the examples in a clear and cogent manner; be prepared to discuss and back it up.
Pretty as a picture: Make sure that the font, presentation, and set-up of the résumé is consistent and aesthetically pleasing. You could be the best candidate globally; if your résumé is sloppy, so are you.
Make your sales and marketing pitch work for you. You have ownership of the résumé. This is the one thing that you completely dominate during the search. Don’t let your search dominate you.
Comments and feedback are requested and desired; and you are welcome and encouraged to submit questions to thecareerdoctor.
Debra Wheatman, CPRW, CPCC is the founder and Chief Career Strategist of CareersDoneWrite, a premier career services provider focused on developing highly personalized career roadmaps for senior leaders and executives across all verticals and industries.
Debra can be reached at -
DWheatman@ResumesDoneWrite.com
ResumesDoneWrite.Blogspot.com
WWW.CareersDoneWrite.com
Connect to me on LinkedIn
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When preparing my clients for interviews, I often get to see the job description relevant to the interview. Usually, I caution my clients to take that job description with a grain of salt. I’ve learned through the years by working for major companies that the bigger the company, the bigger the mess. Of course I say that with sarcasm, but there’s a lot of truth in it.
Typically, job descriptions are documents that a human resources department requires on file for reference purposes. They have no practical use except during the hiring process or at the time of yearly employee evaluations should there be disputes. Once a position opens, the job description becomes the focal point for recruiting. However, sometimes the description on file has not been updated and made pertinent to the current position.
At times job descriptions are outright misleading! Evidence of this occurred when I interviewed with Honeywell. Truthfully, I was reluctant to apply for the position as advertised in the New York Times. It was two titles below my level but a 15-minute drive from my house. Since I was unhappy with my employer at the time, I was motivated to make a change. Evidently, my resume was so impressive that I was selected for an interview. However, during that interview, I learned they were looking for someone with my background and accomplishments and not what they advertised in the ad I answered. Turned out that I spent the best 15 years of my career with Honeywell.
So, what’s a candidate to do to be best prepared for an interview? The answer to the question is, learn the skills of (1) sleuthing by researching the company through networking contacts and (2) asking the interviewer questions whose answers reveal the key issues on the interviewer’s mind. The job description may disclose some of those issues, but many more of them may be buried among the details. The reason is easy to understand: Job descriptions are usually written by people in human resources, so how much can those workers understand the core needs of the position? Human resources most often uses standard-language descriptions that are overly generalized, such as, “Looking for a highly motivated self-starter with strong organizational and leadership skills. Must be an excellent communicator, with . . . ” The same goes for recruiters–unless they have a long-standing relationship with the company.
The conclusion is that the candidate should attempt to surface the true needs of the hiring manager as soon as possible at the start of the interview. One way of doing so is by asking the interviewer a question such as, “I understand what you’re saying, but I wonder whether you could tell me what the hired candidate would be doing during, say, the first six weeks on the job?” Any pertinent paraphrase of that question will get a reply that tells you what is important to the interviewer. After all, during the initial period on the job, a newly hired person would focus on what the boss needs done. Right?
Alex Freund is the founder of Landing Expert–Career Coaching. His Web site includes a current–and comprehensive–list of job search networking groups in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the city of New York, and the site is visited by thousands of people every month. Landing Expert is a premier career-coaching service with the objective of preparing job seekers for interviews. Alex’s clients are gaining knowledge, receiving marketing material, and acquiring the know-how to beat the competition.
Alex can be reached at:
609-333-8866
Drafting an effective résumé is key to contributing to a successful job search. Oftentimes your résumé is the first thing a hiring manager reviews to determine your suitability for a potential opening. This first (and lasting) impression is critical; putting your best foot forward in creating a highly accomplishment-driven document will go a long way in ensuring that you are contacted. There are a number of things that should be considered to ensure your résumé works to your advantage:
Results – Everyone has responsibilities as part of their job. That does not engage or capture the reader though. It’s fairly boring to read ‘Responsible for…’ and whatever it is that you do on a daily basis. The key component is to provide the reader with an example of something you did that generated RESULTS for your employer. Consider the following acronym: SAR. This stands for Situation, Action, Result, and can help you define on paper what the situation was, the action you took, and the result that will demonstrate your ability to deliver. If you do this throughout your résumé, you will set a positive and proactive tone that you are a committed and productive individual who is able to serve as a change agent for a company.
It’s all in the Words – Using compelling verbs will serve to engage your reader. Try to come up with different verbs to lead the bullets or sections of your document. Avoid using the same words over and over again. The résumé is a marketing document. You need to take a step back and think “What would I think of this if I saw it for the first time?” Try to get inside the mind of the hiring manager. You want to impress and engage someone. Actionable word choices will help you do this. Some good résumé verbs: Spearheaded; championed; aligned; delivered; implemented. You get the idea – these words present a call to action.
Presentation -While ‘content is king,’ presentation plays a part in the recipe. People like to look at things that look nice – résumés are no exception to this rule. Your résumé should be presented in a consistent manner on the page. Ensure that the margins are aligned properly. Choose an appealing font like Book Antiqua in 10 pts. or something a bit stronger like Tahoma in 9.5 points. There are many fonts out there that hold more appeal than the totally boring Times New Roman. Once your résumé is complete, print it. Don’t just look at it on the screen. Printing it will give you a better sense of how you are presented overall.
Rules about Grammar and Spelling – If there are two things that will send your résumé straight to the circular file it is grammar and spelling mistakes. I recognize that we are not perfect – but, and there is always a but, your résumé must be perfect. If you know that this area is not your strong suit have someone else review it. It is also a good idea to have someone else look at it because the more you study it the less likely you are to catch small things that a fresh pair of eyes will capture. The Little Blue Book is a great resource to help with myriad grammar issues. Not sure how to spell something? Dictionary.com is there to help. Need another word for managed? No problem – check out Thesauras.com for synonyms. There are countless resources right at your fingertips. Gone are the days of heavy books; the online world allows access to the most inconceivable information, which you should use to your advantage.
The Downlow on Hobbies – Leave hobbies off the résumé unless a hobby for you is completing an Ironman Triathlon or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Simply stating that reading or running is a hobby is not very compelling. The hiring manager will learn about you in time. However, the aforementioned triathlon and climb is certainly of greater interest than reading books. In addition to being an icebreaker, which can set a personal tone to the meeting, those things also demonstrate a unique spirit and other traits that set you apart from your peers. The perseverance, commitment, and dedication needed for those things warrants referencing on the résumé. If not something really unique, leave it off.
Comments and feedback are requested and desired; and you are welcome and encouraged to submit questions to thecareerdoctor.
Comments and feedback are requested and desired; and you are welcome and encouraged to submit questions to thecareerdoctor.
Debra Wheatman, CPRW, CPCC is the founder and Chief Career Strategist of ResumesDoneWrite, a premier career services provider focused on developing highly personalized career roadmaps for senior leaders and executives across all verticals and industries.
Debra can be reached at -
DWheatman@ResumesDoneWrite.com
ResumesDoneWrite.Blogspot.com
WWW.ResumesDoneWrite.com
Connect to me on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter
What are some of the things you are doing to stand out from the crowd? We all know that as technology continues to evolve and there are more and improved ways to communicate, getting your résumé noticed by hiring managers, recruiters and members of the HR community can be difficult. There are systems like Taleo and anonymous postings; and it can be next to impossible to get the name of someone. I say next to because nothing is impossible! It just depends on how much time and effort you want to expend. Regardless, in the world of career search, you want to stick out like a sore thumb – but only in the most professional and positive way, of course. This brings me to my point (finally). What are some things you can do to make sure you grab the reader’s attention aside from the obvious results dominated statements.
Consider the following:
Your résumé through rose colored glasses: Depending on the industry you are working in and the position you hold, adding some color in a tasteful way can make your résumé shine. If you work in marketing, PR, or another related or similar field, adding this dash of flair can illustrate a bit of creativity on your part and will allow you to stand out from the other candidates in the pile. You might consider changing the color of the major headings to a deep maroon or something dark grey. Don’t go too crazy; you simply want to spice up the résumé a bit while keeping a professional and tactful appeal. Here’s a little sample to show you what I mean:
Picture This: Have you considered adding a picture to your résumé? I am not talking about a picture of you. I am talking about a stock photo of some sort. A nice visual can set a very appealing tone for the résumé and make you stand out from the crowd. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words – especially where your résumé is concerned, a well placed image can be priceless. See this sample here:
Certainly, discretion is the better part of the job search – before you take any of these onto the playing field you need to make sure you -
- Consider the industry and the job – a big ole picture won’t fly if you are applying to be a bond trader on Wall Street.
- Don’t go overboard – seven colors and 14 pieces of clip art is probably too much even if you are looking for a job in media.
- Have some independent eyes take a look – in fact I would be willing to take a quick look for you, loyal readers – send it our way and we will happy to let you know what we at ResumesDoneWrite think.
Comments and feedback are requested and desired; and you are welcome and encouraged to submit questions to thecareerdoctor.
Debra Wheatman, CPRW, CPCC is the founder and Chief Career Strategist of ResumesDoneWrite, a premier career services provider focused on developing highly personalized career roadmaps for senior leaders and executives across all verticals and industries.
Debra can be reached at -
DWheatman@ResumesDoneWrite.com
ResumesDoneWrite.Blogspot.com
WWW.ResumesDoneWrite.com
Connect to me on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter
