the resume bible

~ careerroundtableorg

It seems that there are some significant shifts going on in our current economy, with Web 2.0 and corporate responsibility and downgrading. I have heard a half-dozen friends communicate some “job insecurities” lately.

Given this, I have a bit of knowledge to imbue from my experience in the staffing industry (years ago), reviewing dozens of resumes a day.

First, there is no such thing as the resume bible. Go with the gut. Take anything I or others say with a gain of salt.

Next, note that the true goal of a resume is not to get the job (that’s the end goal). The true goal is to get a meeting. So really, then, your resume should be a tease. Tease the reader with interesting things that will make them want to meet you. Get creative. NEVER go more than one page. They almost never read more than 12 seconds worth.

Put some recognizable names and quantifiable numbers in there. What brand names or celebrities have you supported? How much have you impacted sales, grown business or saved money?

Get rid of your home address. Do you really think anyone is going to write you a letter, saying “you’re hired?” Show them you have a modern resume with just your cell and an email.

Add some success stories in there. Create bullets of one sentence each, using what my friend Peter calls a “CAR”: Challenge, Action step, Result. Explain the challenge, describe the benefit of you being there and the action you took – and then show the bonafide $ or % that was the result of that action. Readers will then put on the hat of your success and see if that would solve their current challenge.
With that, you should not add bullet points under a position that include anything obvious about the job. Don’t state the obvious. If I see one more resume where a waiter/waitress tries to embellish on their fine serving skills…

Finally, customize your resume to every job posting to which you apply. Show them how perfect your experience applies. Nobody wants to “read into” what you really meant – and try to fit your square peg into their triangular hole.

how to land your dream job

~ careerroundtableorg

Here’s a step-like program, very much based on the practice found in “What Color Is Your Parachute?”:

– research everything you can about the firm
– find connections, any connections, to people working there (e.g. same home town, same college, friends-of-friends, etc.)
– found out where they get lunch, go there and hang out, watch and learn
– flirt with the switchboard operator and with the executive assistants in the departments in which you’re interested, listen to everyone
– take people out to lunch, invest in them and listen to everything they have to say about their experience there
– ask for “informational interviews” with those people for whom you’d like to work
– ask those hiring managers intelligent questions, listen, demonstrate your knowledge of the firm
– at the end of the interview, ask them if you can work for them for free… for 2 weeks or a month… or at least ask how you can “earn the opportunity” to work with them
– be consistent, committed and tenacious
– put yourself in positions where you’re always “in the right place” so that you have a better chance of hitting “the right time”

I know two people who landed their dream jobs this way. Mind you, they also had 1-2 friends advocating for them all the way.

how valuable is your time

~ careerroundtableorg

I assign value to time by understanding the OPPORTUNITY COST: what is the benefit of performing Y versus the cost of not performing X? This works well as it still takes into account all of one’s experience, skill sets, etc., but also accounts for personal preferences.

So as much as you may have many college degrees, many years of unique and specialized experience that is perfectly tailored to a need of a potential client, you still cannot be engaged to do the job unless they pay you $_____, which takes into account all of the above, plus the fact that you must spend hours in a stark office environment, half way around the world in a non-friendly location, all the time being away from your children.

manage your reputation on the web

~ careerroundtableorg

Here are some great tips on how to manage your “reputation” online:
Posted on 11/7/07 by Rob Garner
17 Search Engine Reputation Management Optimization Tips

As it is becoming more commonly accepted that Google, Yahoo and MSN are reputation management engines just as much as they are search engines, more folks are seeking information on how to increase positive visibility for a personal or corporate name. Here is a quick list of 17 different ways to optimize for positive visibility for your personal or brand name:

1) Add your profile to LinkedIn, and build a real page with real connections.
2) Create a site with your exact keyword or name domain, and add useful and unique content.
3) Use paid search to enhance your site visibility. The engines give you two basic opportunities for placement — paid and natural. Consider using them both if it will help achieve your end goals. This does not mean that a defensive stance is required in the copy, but it can help increase visibility, if needed.
4) Take inventory of all of your existing sites. Determine if they are properly optimized for your target brand or name keyword set. If not, start filling in the gaps with optimized pages, and optimized
title and meta elements.
5) Use various optimized digital assets — particularly video. Video and image results can attract eyeballs away from everything else on the page. Make it useful, funny, or otherwise unique and entertaining.
6) Write useful content and establish yourself or your company as an expert, either for your own site, or for other blogs. Good content naturally finds itself at the top of the search results, and its
creators are often rewarded with link citations, writer profile pages and high rankings as a result.
7) Link strategically. I don’t want to sell this one short, as it is one of the most important elements, but leverage your on-theme sites and link to other relevant sites to help push them up higher in the
results.
8) Leverage your good domain for search benefits by creating a subdomain for your target term. Add valuable and useful content. Corporate sites should seriously consider architecting around subdomains, as they are treated as separate domains by the engines.
9) Create a profile on various social media sites like MySpace and Flickr. Also note that content entered into Flickr is entered into a Creative Commons license.
10) Start a blog on WordPress. Plan on investing time and making it a real blog.
11) Start a WordPress blog on your own domain.
12) Avoid putting out any material that you wouldn’t want in your primary namespace. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
13) Create a Naymz profile.
14) Send out a press release, or two. Or twenty (over time, of course).
15) Have someone interview you about your passion. Publish the interview on your site.
16) Create a search roll at Rollyo of search engines and topics you really like.
17) Be very, very patient.

mo mo money

~ careerroundtableorg

[This is an answer to a question I answered over a year ago on The Job Lounge(via the lovely and talented Susan Ireland). As I was asked the question by a friend yesterday, I thought I’d post the info here for quick-reference.]

By my experience, a job maintains more value to an individual than just a salary. So when applying for a job that asks for salary requirements, you should be careful to consider all of things you might value in a job. And you should quote a figure that would still make the job worthwhile even if the job lacked some of those things you value.

If your ideal job was to work with talented people with whom you enjoyed, in a lovely atmosphere, that was only a short commute from home, had opportunities for growth, provided good benefits and had a good learning environment, you might take a lower salary than if some or all of those assets were missing.

Some career experts suggest quoting a salary range. This sets expectations that your salary is negotiable, pending the benefits (and perhaps pending a match to those other job aspects that are valuable to you).

The challenge that comes in quoting any compensation is that most potential employers will assume they can hire you for the lowest figure quoted. But quoting a figure too high may disqualify you due to the employer not being able to afford such a salary.

My advice on this? Take that risk. You need to get paid what you believe you are worth. If not, you will not enjoy working at that job and therefore the long term potential of your employment at risk, from both the viewpoint of yourself and your employer. Some would say that quoting one figure too high is also a risk, because, if you’re hired, the employer will expect too much from you. To me, this is how people advance in their work – by taking risks and challenging or stretching themselves to meet or exceed expectations. And if quoting such a high figure knock you out of the consideration for that position? So what? There are likely plenty of other jobs out there that are a better fit for you

So when quoting a figure, you might consider several tactics:

– quote one figure that you are sure covers the potential of a job not maintaining some or all of those other values in the job
– quote a range, and qualify it by noting, “I seek a salary of $A to $B, with commensurate benefits, pending a more detailed understanding of the position.”
– if you already understand the job well and are asked your salary requirements, I have heard of people quoting two figures; saying, “I would take the job for $A, but I would be excited and enthusiastic to take the job for (higher figure) [grin]

In the end – go with your intuition. Quote a salary requirement that feels right for you, and not just what you think what is right for the employer. Good luck!

points of familiarity

~ careerroundtableorg

Whether you’re selling yourself (resume-building, job hunting, dating) or selling ice to Eskimos – one rule of thumb is to know that the buyer is not buying a product or a service. They’re buying you. And in order to buy you they have to like you.

So a good rule is to recognize and use something I call POFs, Points of Familiarity, to qualify and differentiate yourself.

Think about it – within moments of meeting anyone for the first time – you seek out any synergies with which you can “identify” with the other person:

“I love chocolate, too!”
“I must have vacationed right next door!”
“Yes, isn’t Paul such a nice guy?”
“I agree, the Red Sox rock.”

This creates the first sense of the things you each have in common and is the first step in building trust. Keeping this is mind, think about what might be your most “matchable” POFs. Perhaps your POFs are your home town, home state, restaurants, music, sports teams, or some cool brands.

This is also the case in business.

How might this apply to a resume? Well, what is a resume? A resume is a tool to get a job but ultimately the goal of a resume is just to get you an interview. A resume, therefore, should just be a “tease” as opposed to a full Curriculum Vitae (CV). You want to entice the reader just enough that they want to meet you. Therefore, keep it to one page and highlight the POFs (and anything particularly impressive): brands you’ve worked on, $ you’ve managed or raised, % of business you’ve grown, places you’ve traveled, celebrities you’ve kissed. In the 30, 20 or 15seconds that your resume will be reviewed, what are the top-5 things that will make you stand out?

How might this apply to job hunting? Well, the best way to find your dream job is to use your social string of POFs: it’s all about who you know. Ask your friends whom they know in the industry or at the company for whom you want to work. If your resume is sent to someone through any POF channel, it automatically makes it to the top of the consideration pile.

Same goes for the interview. Research the person, or ask more personal questions at the beginning of your time with them.

“How long have you worked here?”
“Tell me about your commute.”
“How do you find work-life balance?”

Dig down and try to find some synergies and break your gatekeeper or interviewer out of the “it all business” mode. Because they have to like you to hire you.

And of course, the same goes for selling a product, service or company. The one who they like the most wins. So for that, you’d better make yourself very interesting, or else find a lot of things in common.

your elevator speech

~ careerroundtableorg

Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of working with an expert in Elevator Speeches, who like me specializes in media and presentation training – specifically in “helping clients craft pithy 30-second descriptions of their companies.” Our work is part-consultancy, part mirror, in that we capture clients using video and show them the impressions they give their audience. We coach executives from dry speeches to crafted confidence in only a few days.

We’ve bonded over the fact that we’ve each many stories about many well-known or high-powered executives who could not deliver their elevator speech, much less cater it for every different listener. It is remarkable to learn of the opportunities people missed by not knowing what my Aunt describes as their “main thing.” Imagine how much of an impression is delivered in this short, compelling sentence.

Furthermore – think of the value in learning others’ value statements: Imagine not just being able to deliver your own elevator speech, but in introducing people to one another essentially using their elevator speech.

So, what to you do?

“I wish I had an answer to that, because I’m getting tired of answering that question.” ~ Yogi Berra

selling yourself: tell a story

~ careerroundtableorg

Another concept in selling yourself: CARs.

When communicating about yourself or your company, structure your storytelling and case studies (and perhaps the bullets of your resume) in a short-form format. Something my friend Peter and I call a “CAR.” All it takes is three sentences, each of which is an answer to one of the following questions: What was the challenge? What action steps did you take? And what were the quantifiable results that came from it?

Use this 3-sentence format on your website (as short-form readable snippets), on your PDF case studies/one sheets (again, read-worthy and compelling) and one your resume (per bullet).

Here’s a company example:
“American Express was challenged to drive more cardmember engagement online through their retailers. We created an offer-based, flexible platform that quickly demonstrated the value of travel deals in a user-friendly way that could be re-purposed for future campaigns. The first campaign alone drove a 300% transaction increase and a 20:1 ROI.”

And here’s some resume examples:
” – fired low-performing legacy team members and designed a strategic sales plan targeting 3 industries, driving $4.5MM in revenues in the first year”
“- observed niche market in private dining opportunities, pitched solution and managed its implementation”

Practice these stories 10x over. You’ll find how easily and confidently you can recall these stories when asked a relevant question.

“Why should we hire you to do this?”
“Well, American Express asked the same question when they were challenged to…”

“Can you give me an example of your being resourceful?”
“Sure. While working at the Woodstock Inn I realized that while our numbers were down, we started to get more frequent requests for private dining experiences…”

When you can make quick references to these stories in relevance to your expertise, your confidence in yourself through these seemingly off-the-top-of-your-head responses will build trust in you and what you can do for your clients.

you are what you do

~ careerroundtableorg

In these days of a challenged economy, I find more and more friends out seeking a new job or a new career. While nobody likes to be unemployed, their challenge is often, “but I don’t know what I should do next!”

This is especially so in the States, where people tend to judge you more for your job’s merit rather than your own merit.

A few years ago I read a fantastic book that helps the brainstorming begin. Its called “Do What You Are,” by Paul Tieger. See it here.

It is essentially a dumbed-down Meyers-Briggs test and, based on your personality type (introverted v. extroverted, etc.) You can quickly determine some ideas of jobs for which you’d be well suited.

jack of two trades

~ careerroundtableorg

I find it very interesting that the natural tendency for unemployed individuals or challenged companies in this market is to try to spread a wide net.  They present themselves as the catch-all, the “we can do anything, what do you want?”, the jack of all trades.

Well, as they say, “jack of all trades, master of none.”  What I’ve observed is that this market actually demands the opposite: specialization.  When businesses have needs, you’re best being a jack of two trades: specializing in a few things within one industry, or one thing across several industries.  The more focused you are, the better the chance of you being found, being seen as the expert, and differentiating yourself from all of the other jacks.

This goes the same for individuals as well as creative companies.  For those unemployed individuals out there – don’t spend your days applying with a “general” resume to online jobs.  Instead, create a perfectly targeted resume for every job and use your connections to find any way in. You’ll get your resume to the top of the pile – that is, if you even need a resume.