Proving An Attractive Resume to Be True

A resume is your advertisement that needs proof to be effective. 

Consider any advertisement that captures your attention to learn more by promoting the attributes of a product being faster, easier, etc. that fit a need you have.   Your next step is to see the product in action since there are multiple products making the same claim and you want proof it meets the claims.  No doubt you have experiences where the claim and proof have matched, so you proceed to buy.   The same rule applies to resumes: capture attention and then give proof to those who want to know more.

First, a resume that captures a reader’s attention:

• ·         There is no shortage of articles, books, consultants, etc. to get insight on how to write, so let’s focus on the proof by going to three sources: trusted recruiter, HR and colleague in role who would hire you/colleague in similar role to get their honest opinion if it does anything to want them to learn more.
• ·         I recall sitting with Marcia Ballinger (Keystone Search and author of “The 20 Minute Networking Meeting”), it was providing less, not more, and being specific and relevant terms that improved a resume’s appeal – the goal was to think from the viewpoint of the reader to whom you are sending.  This is why you need a couple of different viewpoints and most likely a couple different versions of your resume so you give the reader something of interest.

Second, proving your resume to be true:

In terms of priority, here are the areas to build the proof behind your resume.

• ·         Your network: This is the most important item since a positive recommendation from a former employer or colleague with whom you’ve shared your skills (work, for non-profit, etc.).  Talk with each person, preferably face-to-face, to ask them for their recommendation and provide them specific areas where you want them to emphasize your skills (don’t worry about personal traits like integrity, etc. – your colleague will only give a recommendation if they feel that is true).  You can even write a short and specific recommendation to put on your LinkedIn profile.

• ·         Examples of work: With file sharing sites, like Dropbox, etc., you can share examples of your work or additional details about your background that do not fit on resume.  To show the scope and depth of my experience in Finance, I built a simple a grid with the typical functions of a CFO in the 1^st column and the next columns with years of experience and specific examples.  I also have actual work (I’ve sanitized by removing name and sensitive data) to show how I approached an issue and style of communication.  I usually embed the hyperlink to the proof of work in my cover letter, e-mails, etc. – just to get them immediate access.  I was surprised to find that people looked at the files more often than I expected.  Here’s some starter ideas for presenting your background differently: Alternatives for Presenting Your Background
• ·         Social media: It’s free and easily accessible by everyone.  Set up account(s) specifically for business and use them to show content.  I wrote “Using Twitter to Promote Yourself” several years ago and the principles apply for any social media outlet.  Remember, don’t expect people to be following you in real-time – they will scan what you’ve written or posted.

A good resume gets you in the door, your proof shows it’s where you belong – the proof is what helps set you apart.

To get started, go through your resume and highlight those points of your background.  For each important point in the resume, write down what proof you can add by personal network, work examples and social media.  No one is going to have a set of proof of work like you – because you apply a unique set of skills and experience into your work.  For the more complex items, follow the rule to help them to help you: Include a simple guide to explain the work’s purpose and how to review.

Hope this helps and good luck today.

Mark

www.candidateschair.com – Tools and Advice from a Candidate’s viewpoint to help get past job search roadblocks and keep your spirit strong.  Please take a visit.

http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community

Where is Value Created in Networking?

Networking is like any sport in that it is the practice before and after a match that gives you the best performance.   The chart below offers a view of where you create value in networking.  At first glance, you may think just opposite, since if you can only win during the game, would not the meeting be the most important event to creating value?   

A typical networking meeting allows you to start or expand a relationship and launch a pipeline of possible job opportunities and the victory usually comes after the meeting.  The ability to get the relationship and pipeline going begins before you ever meet and the ability to grow the relationship comes after you meet.

The graph above is built from my 700+ networking meetings, in particular, its built on my realization of what made a networking meeting really pay off. 

Before: Selection is the most important step in networking.  Selection begins with understanding what you want (career development, job search, etc.) and identifying the type of networking contact who can help you achieve that task.  Your goal is to make sure that your pitch/ask is something that your contact can act upon.  Then it’s research about your contact and prep.

During: Establishing that you came to network is what set the tone that you came to build a relationship.  The key purpose of the research is to find ways you can offer help to your contact, it’s that offer of help is what sets the tone.  The other most important item to create value is a simple message that will remain, so a ‘less is more’ approach when it comes to how much you share about yourself.

After: Get ready for action, because this is where it all happens and is the payoff to the work before. If your objective is a new position, unless you’re lucky, most contacts generally do not have any roles they know of when you meet, but they will over time.   You goal after a meeting is to continue to stay in contact and offer connection, insight, etc. from your continued networking.

The chart below is how the payoff will occur after a meeting.

1. 1.       You and your initial contact will exchange connections as a result of your meeting
2. 2.       You meet their connections using the ‘relationship building’ approach (offer connections, etc.)
3. 3.       These connections will provide feedback to your initial contact, usually because of your ‘relationship building’ approach.  That feedback builds your reputation.
4. 4.       You continue to network to a broader number of people.
5. 5.       The people in Step 2 are known to your initial contact, but the people in Step 4 may be people of interest to them.  Taking a few minutes after a meeting to make that connection can build a relationship (make sure the introduction has mutual value to both parties).
6. 6.       Here’s the payoff.  Because you maintained and tried to build upon the relationship, your initial contact will remember you when opportunities come about and pass them to you.

This seems like work and it is, however, the cool part about making connections like this is that it becomes easier over time because you get to know the person.

These charts are also good indicator of where time is spent.  Value is created when a relationship can be maintained.  Therefore, consider how much time you have to invest into networking.  You want to allow time in both building and developing your network.   

Good luck today.

Mark

www.candidateschair.com - For candidates, by candidates - what really happens in job search


http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community

The Art of Managing Your Job Search Downtime

A last minute call cancels a networking meeting.  You have another meeting close-by, but it does not make sense to drive home and back.  For whatever reason, you have an extra hour or two on your hand.  Now what?

When we are employed, there is generally a well-stocked backlog of activities that fill any extra time.   When unemployed, we can adopt a less urgent focus on time, as we seem to have all day.  Yet, time is a search’s most value asset to be invested wisely.

Those extra hours happen more often than you like and the number can add up pretty fast.  If you allow ten hours of prime ‘job search time’ to go unused, that’s ten hours you take out of time needed to keep your psyche strong (being with family, volunteering, consulting, etc.)

A colleague of mine, Tom Kulikowski, once remarked “He stayed ruthlessly organized” during his search.  The ruthless organization was as much for eliminating unnecessary work as it was for keeping his weekly search time under 40 hours a week.    It is easy to occupy 60+ hours a week, but after 40 hours, both your productivity and effectiveness drop off like a rock.  Trust me, I know from both being ineffective and seeing in fellow candidates.  Working smarter instead of longer applies regardless of your employment status.

To use that extra hour, my activities fell into the following areas.  While not presented in a ranked priority, I always gave precedent to preparation for meetings/interviews and follow-up. For which, the tools were my calendar for the last month and upcoming two weeks and my Targeted Company list.

One: Upcoming meetings – Have you determined what you want from the meeting and how you can offer your contact something to make you memorable?  Use the time to fill in a “Networking Meeting Checklist” for each of our upcoming meeting.   

Two: Empty Spots in Your Calendar – I would check my progress on my Targeted Company list and figure out who I needed to meet to either within the company or to help me get in the company.  Then I would send out my invites, suggesting the times that were open in my calendar.  Having a roadmap makes it much easier to reach your destination, so I recommend you use a Targeted Company List.

Three: Follow-up to past networking meetings is what takes them from interesting to relevant.  Your follow-up on commitments and reminders of theirs is critical especially for demonstrating action on your part.

Four: Sharing or creating content that demonstrate your skills highlighted in your resume.  Early in my search, another colleague, Peter Van Nest, showed me the examples of his work for use in networking and interviews.  He was right in that an actual example of your work was significantly more powerful in proving you can deliver that just telling someone about it.  I now have two dozen examples that I share.

Five: Professional research to keep you up to date or expand your understanding of an area.  One of the reasons I like Proformative so much is the depth of content and practical advice from fellow finance professionals.  There are many sites for each professional area for sharing, not to mention the different groups within LinkedIn.

Six: Read the local business news to see what businesses are growing or changing.  I got into more companies simply because I followed up on a news article with an e-mail.

These items were more than enough to fill an hour and you can do every one while still enjoying a large coffee.

Good luck today!

Mark Richards
www.candidateschair.com



http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community

Good Question: Do Cold Letters Work?

I answer job search questions on Proformative.com, I like to share the good questions from their members.

Original Good Question:

Given the job market we are experiencing, do you recommend sending a letter to a business that does not have an advertised position posted? Are cold letters such as this viewed as irritating to the business leaders?

My response:

If you recommend sending a letter, should it be very brief merely asking about a job or should it accompany a resume to inform the business of your skills?

Is a Cold Letter Effective?

A cold letter is generally ineffective because there is not an immediate need to fill, therefore, no reason to look at talent.  Also, without a referral or introduction, it is difficult for someone to dedicate time from their day to review the letter (e-mail, etc.)

No Advertised Position - How to get in:

To get into companies with no advertised positions, I have used two steps with success

First, I have looked for 'events' that could trigger need for people with my skill set (new products, funding, acquisition, etc.).  I looked at events within the last six months - it's usually a series of small events, not a major one.  While that seems like a big window of time, a company may need an extended period to determine what it needs.

Second, I find a way to get a referral or connection to remove the 'cold' - just to give your letter a chance to be read.  Remember, regardless of how strong a referral, your letter may go unread. 

I think the book "Take the Cold out of Cold Calling" (www.takethecold.com) by Sam Ritcher is a great tool for finding connections.

Letter versus E-mail:

Use an e-mail; you are more likely to get it read.  Letters are good for follow-up.  I like to send notes like this on Sunday night, when people begin to scan e-mails on their smartphones in prep for the week, but their Inbox is not jammed.

What's in your e-mail:

As what to include in the e-mail it's all about addressing a need.  In addition to using your network to get a connection, also seek insight into what's happening in the firm and specifically for the person you want to meet.

Here's what I've included in my e-mail. 

1) Should be to a specific person (e.g. CFO)

2) Reference your referral by name (I include in the title of my e-mail)

3) Identify the need that person has from the event (e.g. integration of accounting post-acquisition).  When I say need, what do they think about are those tasks they personally need to accomplish to remain successful.

4) In short, mention only background that is relevant to the addressing the need (e.g. I've done 4 integration projects).

5) Ask if they would like to meet, at a minimum you can share insight from your background.   

Your objective is to have them take a meeting.  Give them a compelling reason why to meet - anything more simply gets in the way and diminishes your chances.

Include the URL to your LinkedIn profile instead of a resume and leave out asking for a job.  You want to avoid making someone feel like they will have to say "No" to you regarding a job (Who wants to take a meeting like that?)

There are no advertised jobs for a reason, they are not looking.  But just because they are not actively looking does not mean they do not have a need to solve.  What you want to do with your e-mail and meeting is highlight the need.

While these are generally longer-term plays, the interesting part is very few people use this method to get in - 

especially when it comes to stringing together several events where the cumulative effect could be significant.

Hope this helps.

Mark

www.candidateschair.com - sharing ideas from candidates for candidates to keep your psyche strong and search focused. 

http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community

Pitching Your Startup Experience to an Non-Startup Audience

Question: Does having a start-up or early-stage experience help or hinder your resume’s appeal?

The answer: Depends on the reader.

I know that’s a crummy answer, but it’s the truth.

If the reader has a background with firms that were with startup/early-stage, entrepreneurial, fast growing or rapidly changing business, they can see how the experience effects what you can offer a potential employer. If not, it’s more difficult.

Think of it like working outside your home country, it’s tough to truly appreciate until you cross the border.
Since you may move between established firms and start-ups, understanding how to position your experience to a non-Startup audience is important.

Having worked in and with start-up/early-stage firms for the past five years I can share some of the key upsides and downsides. There are loads of both, but these items that come up most frequently in either discussion with colleagues or what I’ve experienced firsthand.

UPSIDES:
These are the items to emphasize in a cover letter, pitch or within body of resume.

Fine tune your view of the customer: Without all the meetings, processes, etc. this is where you focus all of your attention on understanding the need, design a product to fulfill it, understand their motivation to buy, how to find them and convince them to put money in your wallet. There’s not a company on the planet that does not want to serve their customer better. This is the best thing going for a start-up, that ability to get to the absolute essentials of bringing revenue into the business.

Visibility to the entire business process: This is the second best thing going for a startup; you get to see the entire delivery process to a client – from product, pricing, operations through collection of cash. You learn both what’s truly essential to running the business and when to add functions to your company.

Expand and Understand Your Skills: Titles are given, but generally optional when it comes to getting the work done. Those skills you were good at become great; those skills you were okay at become better. My titles have been CFO, but my tasks have including designing web pages, developing a social media plan, creating sales tools, and operating manuals. I’d never say you’ll become an expert, but you certainly learn to use what you’ve got and how to deal with situations where you have little past experience. In a small firm, you are pretty open about your strengths (also it’s hard to hide) and when to ask for help – which makes you a more effective member of a team to accomplish a given task.

Speed of Decision-Making/Risk Taking: Due to a variety of constraints, you learn to move quickly with less information. More importantly, you learn to focus on the ‘right’ information. How you approach risk is also finely tuned, because you learn to balance the need to move quickly and the risk that a bad decision can sink the firm. You move to try new ideas quickly, but you move to shut down rotten ideas with equal speed.

Problems = Innovation: There’s always some problem or roadblock to overcome. Whether it’s too little capital, change in client behavior, your solution did not work exactly right, or new competitors, you learn to adapt your original vision of what you bring to market. Because of their frequency, you become enamored with what you can deliver, less on how it’s delivered. Innovation extends well beyond the initial idea into how to make the idea commercially viable.

DOWNSIDES:
A non-startup audience may often view the following items as less than favorable because of how they differ from their typically established company perspective. I describe the traits and how to offset it in your pitch, etc. When it comes to the downsides, my advice is to assassinate the assassin, by directly addressing the issues that may derail your chances.

You could not get job in big firm: There is a common belief that traditional firms were not interested in you, so you went to a start-up.

Offsetting argument: The reality is that given the risk of capital, the investors, board and management tend to be very choosey as to who gets hired. They have both capital and reputation on the line, and when it comes to raising capital for their next deal, protecting these is critical.

Failure or non-performance of start-up: It’s the nature of the beast and no one is immune. You are defining a new product, new market or both and with this come higher risk.

Offsetting argument: It’s this risk that enables the upsides noted above, however, without a roadmap, processes or history – you are likely to make mistakes. You can compare a start-up success rate to a number of projects, products in a large firm.

Nomadic lifestyle: People will see that you may have worked with a number of start-ups in a short period of time. There are three primary reasons why this might be true. First, it can take several tries to find the right deal and you may have to jump in to figure it out. Second, not every start-up needs your skill full-time after launch; your work can be a project to get the business launched. Third, the business does not succeed or grow, so it’s time to try a new one because they cannot afford you or there’s no upside.

Offsetting argument: Start-up investors lay bets on a large number of start-ups with the belief that 1 in 10 or 20 will have a significant return that more than offsets the deals that goes sideways. They go into deals knowing that many will not succeed; the tough part is that they don’t which one up front.

CAVEATS:
Before pitching someone, learn their background and their firms. For their firms, remember that big does not always equal stodgy, and may view itself as very entrepreneurial for their size.

The non-startup audience is not wrong in their view of skills, simply different than you. It’s your responsibility to help them appreciate the startup experience.

Your experience will vary in scope and depth. Before you head out to pitch yourself, take an inventory of your experiences – you’ll be surprised at what you’ve learned!

If your start-up hit it big, then skip the above and promote the end result, you’ve punched your ticket.

Good luck today.

Mark

www.candidateschair.com/blog

http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community