Create Curb Appeal to Attract Interviews

Never so much did the term, “Resume Real Estate” resonate until I was tasked to sell my home.

“I want to sell my home ‘as-is,’” I firmly asserted to my real estate agent.  It’s a beautiful home in a great neighborhood and is an ideal opportunity for the right buyer. Standing head and shoulders among its peer group, I felt, this home offered a unique opportunity that would be obvious to the right buyer, and they would know to make an offer – and quickly!

Not only was the home of high quality, positioned in an established neighborhood with a track record of success (e.g., the neighborhood quiet, the homeowners’ association upkeep consistent, the reputation for the city’s upscale attitude broad-ranging, the schools high-caliber – the list goes on), but it also was uniquely located off of a key corridor in the community – easy to get everywhere else from here. Its value speaks for itself!

So … why the continual stream of visitors but no offers?

Hooking the Buyer With First Impressions

Over the next several weeks and months I gained clarity — through a series of buyer feedback messages and conversations with my professional real estate agent, here’s what I discovered: Other homeowners were going an extra few miles to market themselves and “hook” the buyer, and it was making a big difference! Further, the extra miles they pursued were based directly on the target market’s needs. Moreover, the marketing strategies included appealing to buyers’ emotions – a key component to their ultimate decision to buy.

These competitors were not discounting the value of creating a “wow” first impression, beyond the inherent value that the visitors were able to seek out after initially being hooked in.

These competitors of mine were investing in their marketing – from buying new carpet to painting the entire interior to installing new appliances and more. And first impressions were counting! The seller wasn’t expecting the buyer to “envision” or “imagine” the potential of the home – they were underscoring the home’s magnificence by placing an up-front investment with the confidence and hope that the investment would pay off – that an ROI was in store. When that would happen was not known or even guaranteed to happen. These home sellers were taking a calculated risk.

Targeting Buyers’ Real Needs

Further, the competing home sellers’ marketing approach was based on the target buyers’ real (rather than perceived) needs. I discovered I hadn’t been honing in on my target market’s real needs. One of my mantras regarding the value of my home was: “I just invested in a new air conditioning and heating system, so of course the buyer will immediately and intellectually interpret the value of these items just as much as if I had painted the walls or added carpet.” However, my target market (single individual/couple/parent and child) seemed to be more transient in nature, and fulfilling long-term needs such as the need for a reliable, long lasting AC/heating system was lower priority.

In short, if the buyers’ areas of pain include a need to buy a freshly carpeted/painted home so that they may immediately settle into a comfortable routine (without the burden of installing carpet and painting walls) then that is what I must address. Without this focus, I was being weeded out of the buyers’ processes before I had a chance to really engage them beyond first impressions with the subtle qualities and nuances of my special home.

Parallels Between Home Sellers and Job Searchers

This experience struck a cord with me in how my attitude has paralleled that of some my (less-informed) resume prospects! They are ready for a job search, and they want to initiate it NOW – “as-is” with little preparation or respect for the processes or preparation for creating their “curb appeal,” as it were in order to really wow “their” buyers – the employers.

Those job seekers who haven’t been educated about the importance of communicating value drivers and focus just want a “simple” resume that outlines, without any flash or exaggeration “who I am and what I do / have achieved.” No pomp and circumstance and no real up-front investment of time or money should be necessary – “the employer will be able to read between the lines the value I offer them if I simply outline where I worked, my titles and a bulleted listing of responsibilities and accomplishments. They should be ‘hooked into’ me, though my presentation is plain vanilla and uninspiring.”

Their resume marketing, therefore, lacks emotional appeal – how will they, as the employee, influence the employer that they are immediately qualified to solve specific PAIN? To do this, they must identify a target market and then go out on a limb, market to a specific audience and address particular needs (not just overpower the employer with ideas of what is assumed they most wish to hear).

For example, a sales professional may wish to transition their focus to opportunities that are more product development focused than sales focused. However, they may miss the boat by quickly writing a resume that speaks heavily to sales goals, sales teams, territory growth and more because that seems to be the easiest and most natural way to outline their reverse chronological history of experience.

As a result, the experiences listing may deemphasize product development/launch or present it in a low-level way, burying the candidates’ value to the target company, and making it too much work for the hiring authority to understand that indeed, the candidate is a perfect match. The hiring authority, therefore, will most likely move on to a candidate that showcases the product development information in a “wow first impression” way, attending to the company’s specific needs.

In summary, the components of marketing oneself to sell special value in a job search and marketing one’s home to sell in the real estate market are strikingly similar. Although negotiating the final sale/job is about much more than initial curb appeal and marketing enticement, without that initial hook and “wow first impression” to entice the buyer, home sellers and job seekers most likely will stall the attainment of their ultimate goal.

You can thrive in, not just survive, an economic slogging!

As co-coordinator with my colleague Miriam Salpeter, I am pleased to participate in our second round of posts from our community of expert career advisors and resume writing professionals called the Career Collective.

This month’s articles are in response to Quintessential Careers Job Action Day. I encourage you to visit other members’ responses, which will be linked at the end of my article on November 2nd. Please follow our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The economy is in a slump. Cost cutting and lay offs persist. We all know this. It’s not news.

The question: How do job seekers boost their visibility and generate more interviews during these trying times? Moreso than ever before, it is about being crystal clear on your value proposition – what not only makes you unique (yes, your uniqueness is nice to know and often will perk up the hiring manager’s or recruiter’s ears), but it also is about why you matter to that hiring decision-maker. What’s in it for them, specifically?

Although refining and communicating one’s unique market value was advice I ‘would’ have given a year ago, I believe this year’s message is greatly amplified. Your likelihood of being edited out from a hiring manager’s radar screen is multiplied because of the shear masses of resumes circulating for each open job.

More than ever before, being crisp, smart and quick in illuminating your resume and career communication message to the reader or listener is critical to being cutting-edge in your job search initiatives.

How do you do this?

1. Begin by doing career brain dump, an exercise that you should anticipate taking 6-8 hours over the course of several days to accomplish. Do not short-change this step!

a. Be somewhat orderly about it. In other words, start with the overarching initiatives that you faced this past year and the year before that, and the year before that, then flesh out the actions you took, describe the hurdles you leapt over and brag about the special problem solving skills you tapped to make things better (i.e., improved processes, negotiated buy-in to an idea, grew revenue or profit, shortened lead times for product development, appeased disgruntled customers, expanded the marketplace footprint … and much more).

b. Of course, punctuate these stories with the end result in a measurable way: percentages, numbers and dollars work. Remember, even if you didn’t directly impact a measurable outcome, you always are indirectly impacting something bigger and better that a department, division or the entire company is accomplishing. (If you weren’t impacting the bottom line, you wouldn’t be earning your salary!) Map to that – find the path to the numbers.

c. Then, flesh out your soft skills and traits, and how your actions map to those: i.e., Approachability, Having Composure, Inspiring Teams, Listening, Conflict Management, Ethics and Values … etc.

2. Research, research, research. Investigate companies  and types of jobs that interest you and those which loop back to your particular experiences and results. What is realistic? Earmark those! Where (at what jobs) might you take a chance and try to bridge gaps where your experience and /or education fall short? Earmark those, too! Who would be willing to listen to you if the best, most value-laden message were at-the-ready? Note their names, titles, emails and phone numbers. When researching, use these online tools:

a. Company research: ZoomInfo, Hoovers, RileyGuide, Bizjournals, Manta, corporate websites… and many others.

b. Jobs research: LinkUp, CareerBuilder, Indeed.com, Monster, corporate web sites, etc.

3. Start writing, or better yet, partner with a professional resume writer to flesh out your career story. This isn’t the time to be mechanical or rules-focused [i.e., list of subjective resume writing rules that you check-mark; i.e., a. Font size (check!); b. Page length correct (check!); c. # of buzzwords sprinkled throughout (check!); d. Summary broadly written so I don’t miss any opportunities (i.e., “I would take any job mentality) (check!)].

a. Meaningful writing is critical; during this phase you must drill down to the right words and story points that will best resonate with the target reader!

b. Moving a dozen or 2 dozen pages of career brain dump into a 2-3 page sales piece that proves value in a snap through your career camera lens is vital.

Once the resume is complete, begin connecting …

5. Know your audience and reach out to them. Join LinkedIn, then join and interact in groups, post links and updates and invite others. Expand your network, learn about individuals in other companies and become known by them.

6. Start a blog. WordPress.com is free and easy to get started with. Sign up today for an account, choose a backdrop, write an article focused on articulating your value and expertise. Tell your friends and colleagues. Post your blog URL to your LinkedIn account.

7. Join Twitter. Create a profile with a picture and be known for the industry or job-specific expert you are. Tweet meaningful thoughts that will add value to your followers. Retweet value-add information from others. Comment on others’ tweets; engage; smile; be uplifting. Offer genuine opinions but don’t openly criticize.

Final thoughts: Your career message in this new economy should certainly weave in your abilities in containing costs, shoring up resources and boosting productivity. However, equally important is a focus on advancing growth, turning around distressed companies, netting multifold returns on capital and generating revenue and profit. It’s not just about surviving, it’s about thriving.

Show (don’t tell) the reader that you are capable of helping them lift themselves from the slog of this downtrend and into a robust, revenue-multiplying and profit expanding new place. Be someone who proves s/he can both execute and deliver the goods for a better future!

Meg Montford:  Job Action Day: Finding Your “MOJO” After Layoff http://coachmeg.typepad.com/career_chaos/2009/10/job-action-day-finding-your-mojo-after-layoff.html

Debra Wheatman: Plan B from outer space; or what do you have in case your first plan doesn’t work out? http://resumesdonewrite.blogspot.com/2009/10/plan-b-from-outer-space-or-what-do-you.html

Heather Mundell: Green Jobs – What They Are and How to Find Them, http://dbcs.typepad.com/lifeatwork/2009/10/green-jobs-what-they-are-and-how-to-find-them.html

Erin Kennedy: Cutting Edge Job Search Blueprint http://exclusive-executive-resumes.com/resumes/job-search-blueprint/

Grace Kutney: Securing Your Career While Navigating the Winds of Change http://sweetcareers.blogspot.com/2009/10/securing-your-career-while-navigating.html

Hannah Morgan: Career Sherpa– Why Our Job Search Advice is the Same but Different http://hannahmorgan.typepad.com/hannah_morgan/2009/10/why-our-job-search-advice-is-the-same-but-different.html

Gayle Howard: The Enlightened Jobseeker http://www.theexecutivebrand.com/?p=500

Laurie Berenson: Making lemonade out of lemons: Turn unemployment into entrepreneurship http://blog.sterlingcareerconcepts.com/2009/10/30/making-lemonade-out-of-lemons-turn-unemployment-into-entrepreneurship.aspx

Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter: You Can Thrive In, Not Just Survive, an Economic Slogging http://careertrend.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/you-can-thrive-not-just-survive-an-economic-slogging/

Rosalind Joffe: Preparedness: It’s Not Just for Boyscouts http://workingwithchronicillness.com/2009/10/preparedness-its-not-just-for-boy-scouts/

Rosa E. Vargas: Are You Evolving Into The In-Demand Professional of Tomorrow? http://resume-writing.typepad.com/resume_writing_and_job_se/2009/10/furture-careers.html

Dawn Bugni: Your network IS your net worth http://thewritesolution.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/your-network-is-your-net-worth/

Miriam Salpeter: Optimize your job hunt for today’s economy http://www.keppiecareers.com/2009/10/30/optimize-your-job-hunt-for-todays-ecomony/

GL Hoffman: The Life of An Entrepreneur: Is It for You? http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2009/10/30/the-life-of-an-entrepreneur-is-it-for-you/

Katharine Hansen: Job Action Day 09: His Resume Savvy Helped New Career Rise from Layoff Ashes http://resumesandcoverletters.com/tips_blog/2009/11/job-action-day-09-his-resume-s.html

Martin Buckland: Job Search–The Key to Securing Your Future Career. http://aneliteresume.com/job-search/the-key-to-securing-your-future-career/

Chandlee Bryan: Where the Green Jobs Are: http://emergingprofessional.typepad.com/the_emerging_professional/2009/11/where-the-green-jobs-are.html

Heather R. Huhman, Take Action: 10 Steps for Landing an Entry-Level Job, http://www.heatherhuhman.com/2009/10/take-action/

Barbara Safani: Where the Jobs Are 2009 and Beyond: http://www.careersolvers.com/blog/2009/10/31/where-the-jobs-are-2009-and-beyond/

J.T. O’Donnell: Actions that got people jobs in this recession http://www.careerealism.com/4-actions-that-got-people-jobs-in-this-recession/

I’m not a career coach, and that’s okay

Okay, so by default, I weave guidance into my in-depth resume writing processes that smacks of coaching.  Recently, Recruiting Animal (@Animal) took note of this in his blog post: “The Resume Writer.”

However, today, I beg to differentiate myself: I am a word wrangler, message clarifier and career story teller (i.e., resume writer) – not a career coach. At the end of the day, my clients hire me for the influential ‘words’ that erupt from the virtual and literal pages that we create, for the words that spring from their lips during job interviews, networking conversations or when caught unaware in casual conversation.

As well, my job as a career writer is to push, prod, ask the reporter’s ‘who, what, where, when and why’ questions, drive for deeper understanding of where the job seeker has been and even more importantly, provide them the spade to unearth their unique value drivers that help define where they want to go!

As a good career reporter, I do my research. This involves a barrage of questions, the answers of which often lie dormant in the job hunter’s head and involve intellectually rigorous recovery and regurgitation (My clients work hard! Likewise, I lift intellectual weights on their behalf!). Moreover, the job seekers I write for find themselves performing research to illustrate their go-forward goals.

Serious about my writing trade, I maintain ongoing niche-specific credentials (including Master Resume Writer) qualifying me to build the engine for a job seeker’s career vehicle, tapping the job seeker’s truth and powering it up with word fuel that drives the message home to the target reader. It’s all about the audience reading the story, after all!

It’s been bugging me for awhile, this tendency to lump resume writers and coaches into one entity, almost as if to say, that without adding ‘coaching’ to our label, then we’re ‘just’ resume writers with perceived lower value.

I applaud my resume writing colleagues who equally market their career coaching and resume writing talents, for many are passionate about blending the two professions. However, that’s not me. My overriding value proposition is my career reporting skills: abilities in in-depth research, asking the driving questions, unearthing career gold nuggets, whittling 25 pages of career brain dump down to 2-3 crisp, compelling and focused pages, and marketing the job seeker’s value to the right reader, influencing them to call.

Eating Bananas Doesn’t Make You an Ape

As co-coordinator with my colleague, Miriam Salpeter, I am proud to help launch a new community of expert career advisors and resume writing professionals called the Career Collective. Today’s post is one of many responses to the question, “Are you a cookie cutter job seeker?” I encourage you to visit other members’ responses, which will be linked at the end of my reply later this afternoon! Please follow our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.

~~~~~

So, you are the guy with the master’s degree in the same thing your job competitors have a

master’s degree in. At your last position you were personally responsible for _______________. Fill in the blank with one of the following answers, A. Increasing Sales, B. Increasing Productivity or C. Team Building.

Guess what? So did 99% of the other applicants.

You are just like every other cookie on the sheet. Same size, cooked for the same amount of time, same golden brown color, same texture.

What real difference does it make to one eating the cookies as to which row on the sheet the cookie came from, they are all exactly alike. Just pick one, eat it and move on.

The same holds true in the world of look alike resumes. Same old blah, blah, blah. For the most part hiring managers could take them, fling them in the air, grab one from the pile as they float to the floor, and make his or her decision based on that highly technical and thorough, technique.

You must stand out from the crowd. Especially in today’s highly competitive job market.

One of the best ways to stand out of course is to work with a professional who will ferret out those things that you either don’t think are important or you may have forgotten about.

How many times have you sat down to write your own resume, or a letter to your mother, or a note to your spouse for that matter, and after sending it to the recipient thought to yourself, “Oh, I forgot to mention this , or that?”

Had you consulted with someone first, the odds of leaving anything out would have been greatly diminished. That is the beauty of having your resume professionally written. Once the worksheet is done, you have had the opportunity to spend time thoroughly going over your career up to this point. All the while your resume writer asks probing questions that allow them to get down to the nuts and bolts of who you are and how you were able to accomplish those successes.

Almost every Saturday night during sailing season a group of us sit around and tell stories about recent sailing adventures. We laugh at each other, compliment each other and offer ideas on how to do it better. But the most fun part is when someone else tells a story about what I did or didn’t do. Now , I could tell the same story about myself, and all the facts would remain. But listening to someone else tell the same story from their unique perspective is always a hundred times more entertaining, not just to me, but to the rest of the crew as well.

The same holds true with allowing an expert “story teller” tell your story.

You are what you are and most people are not professional writers. Professional writers, or at least successful professional writers, spend much of their time researching the English language and constantly are on the lookout for better ways to express thoughts and ideas.

You’ve worked too long and too hard at becoming a success to wind up just another cookie on the tray. So why not make sure the one in charge of cookie selection is aware that you have a lot more chips then the other guys.

~~~~~

Please link below to additional ‘Cookie-Cutter” blog posts from Career Collective members:

Megan Fitzgerald, Career By Choice’s Expat Success Tips: Ongoing Career management is No Longer Optional for the Expat in Today’s New World of Work

Gayle Howard, Top Margin:  Sabotaging Your Prospects: Cookie-cutter Style

J.T. O’Donnell, CAREEREALISM: Cookie Cutters are for Baking…Not Job Searching!

Chandlee Bryan: The Emerging Professional: On the “Cookie Cutter” Approach to Job Search: Do You Need a Recipe?

Laurie Berenson, Sterling Career Concepts: Job seekers: Break out of the mold!

Dawn Bugni The Write Solution: Dawn’s Blog: Is your job search “cookie-cutter” or “hand-dropped”?

Rosa Vargas, Creating Prints Resume-Writing Blog: Being a Cookie-Cutter Job Seeker is a Misfortune

Heather Mundell, life@work: How Not to Be a Cookie Cutter Job Seeker

Sweet Careers: Passive Job Seeker=Cookie Cutter Job Seeker

Barbara Safani Career Solvers Blog: Cookie Cutter Resumes Can Leave a Bad Taste in the Hiring Manager’s Mouth

Miriam Salpeter, Keppie Careers: How Can a Job Seeker Stand Out?

Katharine Hansen, Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters Tips Blog: Avoiding Being a Cookie-Cutter Job-seeker in Your Resume and Throughout Your Job Search

Heather R. Huhman, HeatherHuhman.com: Break the Mold: Don’t Be a Cookie Cutter

Rosalind Joffe, WorkingWithChronicIllness.com: Forget the Cookies! Start With Vision

Hannah Morgan, Career Sherpa: Are You a Cookie-Cutter Job Seeker?

Don’t Be a “People Person” In Your Job Search

I understand the impulse to flesh out one’s career value with sweeping generalities:

• I’m a people person (or, I’m really good with people; or, I like people).
• I’m very strategic.
• I’m attentive to detail.
• I’m very organized.
• I’m results oriented.
• I’m innovative.
• I think outside the box.
• I’m a change leader.
• I’m a team leader.
• I bring people together.

I discourage this approach in favor of a more specific, focused method.

To engage in a job-search-related conversation with such bland language is counterproductive and akin to omitting the baking powder from a chocolate cake. The conversation falls flat. That glazed-eyes look you evoke in your listener (e.g., hiring manager, recruiter, HR manager, networking contact, etc.) results.

What listeners desire is a vivid word picture that you paint using bold color strokes that evoke emotion and crystallize your value to them.

If you’re speaking with a hiring manager, and he’s looking for a sales manager who can take their down-trodden, global sales team from lagging sales to double-digit growth, then you’d best BE that person. Your words must serve as both frame and photo; you quickly frame the situation and then create a bold, focused snapshot that crops out unnecessary details, a word snapshot that illustrates you’ve been there, done that!

By snapping word pictures ahead of interviews (i.e., creating a targeted, crisp resume story and interview prep material), you’re equipped with a word story collection that you can tap for interviews.

Initially, you may be sifting and sorting through an amassment of 5, 10, 15 or even 25+ years of career snapshots. Many of these snapshots are only relevant to you, and not the listener, as they lack vivid focus, have too much background noise, or simply, aren’t relevant to the targeted listener who can impact hiring you or recommending you. Pack those irrelevant pictures away and maintain the relevant images top of stack.

To recap:

• Don’t be a “people person.”

• Be a problem fixer whose stories resonate with the listener’s needs (points of pain; areas where revenues need boosted, costs need contained, processes need streamlined, etc.).

• Show, through striking word snapshots that you have solved problems similar to the problems the company you’re targeting is facing.

• Be selective, identify the most relevant, compelling word pictures that illustrate your value to the individual you’re communicating to (versus spilling open a long album of word snapshots that will invoke boredom and frustration).

• Frame your picture (your frame should accentuate and introduce your picture story, not detract from it).

• Ensure you’ve used word snapshots that are colorful and sharply focused.

• Be humbly confident in your picture storytelling abilities; this positive energy will flow to the listener.

Six Tips to Hit Your Job-Target Bullseye

After a recent consultation with a job seeker, I was inspired to post the following on Twitter (via @ValueIntoWords): Often hear re: job target, “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.” Take a stand, be somebody~focus on a bullseye.

Harry Urschel, also a Twitterer via @eExecutives and founder of the recruiting company under the same name, followed with this value-add post: No one can help you find a job if you can’t tell them what you’re looking for! Make a decision and go after it!

As a resume writer, I’m often a sounding board for job searchers who have catapulted their careers from undergrad to high-performing executives, yet when asked their job target to focus their resume they stutter and stumble, unable to articulate a concrete, concise snapshot of their go-forward goal.

Oftentimes, they ask me, “Where do YOU see the market opening? Where do YOU see my skills a fit? What do YOU think?” The answer is never within ME … it is tucked under layers of the job seeker’s fear–a fear that they will be aiming at too narrow of a target and missing the 100s of other perceived opportunities outside of their target.

This simply is NOT true. By sharpening and meticulously aiming your arrow, you will be the one who hits the job-search bullseye, versus the 100s of other job seekers who commoditize and water-down their message to the point of hitting the outer perimeters of the job-search dartboard, thus, removing them from the winners’ circle.

Six tips to aiming your arrow:

1. Take initial stock of your achievements, bottom-lining your overall value to your recent company. How did you achieve results? What skills and abilities did you tap to accomplish those results? Write those down! (This tip is the first of 2 written assignments, the second of which is more in-depth career archaeology, later on in the prep process, below. Initially, in tip 1, simply sketch out your overall results and skills/abilities, then move on to tip 2).

2. Research target jobs that have the look and feel of a job you would be excited to apply for. Use LinkUp.com, ExecuNet.com (membership-driven site I urge all executives to join), SixFigureJobs.Com, etc. and copy/paste those jobs into a Word document. Either print the jobs out and grab a yellow highlighter or use MS Word’s highlight feature to highlight key phrases and language that describe requirements that map to your experience.

3. Review position titles and make a list of those titles.

4. Make a list of requirements that you see ‘repeating’ themselves from one job posting to the next.

5. Google several of the companies you wish to target and unearth intelligence news stories, reports and content that helps you construct a visual snapshot of their current situation, their areas of pain, their future needs, etc. Get intimate with your target companies’ stories. Network with individuals at these companies live/in-person/telephone or via LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media venues.

6. Write down (yes, this is hard, tangible work – you must write, not just ‘think’ about these things), 7-10 of your own CAR (challenge, action and results) stories. Create a funnel based on your target goal, your target companies’ needs and target companies’ pain points; then filter your stories through this funnel.

The so-what factor applies. Your decisions about resume content must meaningfully answer the resume readers’ question, “So what?” — the “What’s in it for me?” question.

Bottom line, to hit your career search bullseye, your value proposition statements must be sharpened and aimed at your target audience’s needs.

For further reading on how to sift through your career past and present to prove your future marketability (personal marketability) via your resume, you may visit my article at Job-Hunt.org: Your Resume as a Job Search Marketability Tool.

Einstein, Bob Marley and Me

As I sat watching the cars whiz by me on the interstate, I envied them all their 4 good tires, all full of air going around and around, 70 miles per hour plus.

I, on the other hand, had only three, which is why I am here, on the shoulder of the highway I had only moments ago been on. Air conditioning blowing cold, Bob Marley playing at about a level 21 on my level 20 radio, speedo needle dipping just a little over 75, quite confident in my ability to reach my destination in the time I had allotted for myself, not a care in the world, just cruisin’ man, just cruisin’.

The soulful Rastafarian’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ was abruptly interrupted by the sound of rubber being thrown forcefully into the wheel wells, and echoing throughout the cabin. A sense of dread suddenly gripped my soul as my mind tried to come to grips with the sudden change in atmosphere. All of  the usual questions came up:

Do I have a spare?

Do I have a jack?

Do I have one of those things that undoes the bolts on the bad wheel?

Do I have roadside assistance?

Do I have time for this?

The answer to the last question was superfluous at best.

I landed as gently as I could on the shoulder, popped the trunk release and headed for an area of my car, that until now I had only heard of. I rarely carry passengers in my car so the backseat typically holds anything that would normally be fodder for the trunk.

I raised the deck lid, not sure of what I might find, and tried to remember what the car salesman had told me about this area and the tools within when I bought this car 5 years ago. A tab marked ‘pull here’ lurked conspicuously from the right corner of the carpeted trunk. So I pulled, and to my delight, was rewarded with the sight of a wheel with a somewhat smaller tire wrapped around it, and a nifty little plastic bag bolted to the center of the hub with every tool necessary to accomplish the task at hand. I won’t bore you with the details of the next few moments of this scenario, but suffice it to say these car guys really no how to put together a step-by-step manual. It was written as though I had never seen a car before, much less had knowledge that  the wheels were actually changeable.

The guy who wrote this step-by-step brochure made sure that I was parked on a level surface. He also made sure I turned the lug wrench to the left to loosen the wheel and to the right to tighten the wheel in steps 10 and 24 respectively.

Now I’m no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but this manual could have been less then three steps long and it would have sufficed for most people.

Step 1 . Raise Car

Step 2. Remove old wheel, put new wheel in its place

Step 3. Lower Car

Had I been tasked with this project, that is what you would find in your trunk marked, “Instruction Manual.”

Soon enough I was back on the road, but the detail of that manual reminded me how often people will hand in a resume almost as simplistic as my version of the instructions and then scratch their head and wonder why the phone’s not ringing off the hook.

Instructions manuals are written with the idea in mind that the reader has absolutely no preconceived ideas about the task they are about to undertake, Most are simple yet detailed to the point that Einstein and I both can understand them and decipher them equally as well.

While most resumes are written for a target audience, you never know if the person making the decision will be Einstein or me. If you always assume they are me, like the folks who wrote the manual for changing my tire, then your chances of success go way up.

~~~~~

Written by Rob Poindexter, sales executive and sailor, who, as Jacqui’s husband, provides an observer’s perspective to job-search coaching and resume writing.

“I Can Write My Own Resume!”

Feeling Adrift at Sea in Your Job Search?

Adrift in Job Search, (but I Don’t ‘Get’ Resume Writers)

I get it: most professionals do not understand, until well into the job search process, the impact and importance of their resume nor the complexity of the process and complex strategy involved in creating a meaningful resume. Though some professionals embark on a job search with an appreciation for the value of partnering with a professional resume writer, many wait until they are ‘not’ getting interviews, or, more important, not getting interviews with the right audience, before reaching for the resume writer life line.

Avoid Urge for Fast-Food Resume Services

Resume writers must continually aspire to do a better job to educate job seekers to our value before they sink into the abyss of the job-search sea. However, if they already feel water filling their job-search lungs, we can first throw them a quick life-line to prevent drowning. Once the imminent crisis is resolved, we can move them gently and proactively into a meaningful resume development process versus a fast-food, cheapened resume experience that further weakens and lengthens their career transition process.

In this economy, with so many professionals being laid off, companies folding, and organizations downsizing, the pool of unemployed job seekers has multiplied (as has the pool of resume writers, many lacking a value proposition). Many in our resume writing field now feel compelled to provide a less expensive, short-cut service approach, shaving prices, giving away services and advice, shortening service turnaround time frames, abbreviating processes, and stripping the value of professional resume writing in the desire for leaner operations while maintaining revenue flow.

I encourage job seekers to look beyond resume writers offering cut-rate services and engage with writers who provide maximum value and service. Slashed price and diminished service does not effectively serve the job seeking public.

Insider Resume Writing Information Unveiled

Foundation of Resume Writing Value

A few weeks ago, following a Tweet I posted, GL Hoffman, chairman of JobDig, (Twitter: @GLHoffman) asked how I trimmed 34 pages of a job seeker’s resume worksheet down to a three-page resume. As a result, I am revealing insider information (i.e., overview of my consultative writing process) as follows:

The resume rewrite (totally from scratch) is the primary service that clients hire me for – it is my specialty (this is not an enhancement; not a fluff up; not a reformat; not a “putting punch into existing resume;” – is totally, bare-bones, from the ground UP rewrite).

The processes my client and I navigate are a valuable take-away for them preparing for interviews, clarifying their unique value proposition talk points, identifying and carving out their most compelling stories affixed to their target goal — clearing the clutter of non-relevant stories. This involves hacking content with a very large machete at times, but also trimming very selectively, blade by blade, if you will.

Another HUGE insider secret: Clients are deeply involved in and committed to heavy lifting (i.e., company, industry, and position research and worksheet completion that takes them hours/days to complete). The worksheet is purposeful (I realize that means arduous manual labor of the mind for the client). I combine a phone interview with the worksheets to garner forethought, introspection, and clarification from my clients that will not erupt solely through either a phone interview or worksheet. With the results of both — worksheet and interview — I accumulate a depth and breadth of career introspection and stories essential in understanding their unique brand and performing the writing.

This is when, behind the scenes at Career Trend, a LOT of  heavy lifting occurs, hours upon hours of ferreting out nuggets of gold from the worksheet/interview notes to write a crystal-clear resume story that stands apart from all other candidates.

Beyond my unique processes, I know my worth is to flush out the job seeker’s own unique value drivers. Most people are far too broad with this endeavor. They are so CLOSE to their own day-to-day initiatives they dismiss critical nuggets of gold and ‘blather on’ about insignificant information that has no value to the reader. In addition, many people wish to transition their skills/experience/achievements to new industries and have no clue how to do this effectively.

Many Job-seekers Blindly Navigate the Job-Search Sea

As Jane, my Twitter friend, so eloquently pointed out, “People unfamiliar with the vast and unknown job search sea are trying to navigate it without a compass.” In her own experience, she has worked with professionals whose “can-do attitudes, results-driven focus” works against them because they are certain they can write their own resume.

And here’s an additional kernel of wisdom Jane so articulately expressed: “They have no idea how their resumes pale in comparison to others seeking the same position. They also do not comprehend that most times the only key that will open the door they want to go through is a stellar resume.”

Resume writers must continue to promote value to permeate the job-seeking public, collecting and marketing client statements and success stories that stand apart in the media streams fueled by Twitter, Career Management Alliance Blog, LinkedIn, and other venues to reinforce how our services provide job seekers a SOLID return-on-investment.

Cost of Job Hunt

Speaking of return on investment, job seekers can seek to better understand the exponential impact of an extended job search process. If hiring a resume writer can decrease the job search by just a few weeks, the investment pays off.

Dawn Bugni (Twitter: @dawnbugni), Certified Professional Resume Writer and owner of The Write Solution, references the July 2009 Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches newsletter to underscore the cost of being unemployed during a protracted job search.

• If you want a $20,000 salary, your weekly salary is $384.61 and an 18 week job hunt will cost you $6,992.98.
• If you want a $50,000 salary, your weekly salary is $961.54 and an 18 week job hunt costs you $17,307.69.
• If you want a $100,000 salary, your weekly salary is $1,923.08 and an 18 week job hunt costs you $34,615.38.

Taking Responsibility

Bottom line: As resume writers, we must ooze our value and maintain momentum in positioning ourselves as career thought leaders and drivers steering our professional job-seeking clients to swifter job landings, saving them potentially tens of thousands of dollars in lost wages, boosting their incomes, and revitalizing their careers. As job seekers, professionals must conduct their due diligence and search out reputable, experienced, and quality-centered resume writing and career strategy firms focused on their unique needs to multiply job search results.

Article by: Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, MRW (Twitter: @ValueIntoWords), inspired via a recent Twitter chat with my friend Jane Dominguez, a trainer and champion for better business writing and owner of The Write Business Advantage—Twitter handle: @WriteAdvantage.  She posed the question: “How do you overcome the objections of professionals that they do not need expert help with their resumes?” As a result of our exchange, this article evolved.

Step Right Up: Career Blog Carnival Ride Awaits

Welcome to the Career Blog Carnival! Career Trend (Twitter handle @ValueIntoWords; aka, Jac Poindexter aka Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter) proudly hosts this recurring event originated by Ben Eubanks (@beneubanks).  With a strong response by a diverse mix of career folks: resume writers, career strategists, career coaches and recruiters, we’ll get started!

Our first post-er is world-renowned careers blogger GL Hoffman (@glhoffman) who just today announced his Gruzzles roll-out in FastCompany.com (wow!). His ever-popular What Would Dad Say blog is the fuel for today’s Carnival post.  Entitled, Al Schweitzer Quote this article discusses the significance in each of our lives in having someone special who will rekindle our inner spirit when we need it most. This “bursting into flame by an encounter with another human being” struck a huge chord with me! I have several in my life who provided such inner-fire rekindling (on my mom, Ann Barrett’s, 70th birthday today, I want to provide a special ’shout out’ to her for her consistent mantra of supportive words, particularly during my times of great darkness).  As GL articulates, “we all need unconditional support, love, encouragement … and someone to set ever-increasing expectations.”  READ this article for inspiration, hope and for reminding yourself of the great people who have sparked your flame when you needed it most.

Next, read words of wisdom from Heather Huhman (@heatherhuhman) a mentor to individuals seeking entry-level positions, particularly in public relations. She’s ‘been there, done that’ when it comes to young careers.  In today’s featured article, Heather fleshes out seven key opportunities for interns to maximize opportunities to move From Intern to Full-Time Employee.

Preparing job seekers for a new job search is the topic of @eExecutive’s article, Are You Ready? Providing 13 tools and tips for job seekers to consider whether just starting or in the midst of their job search process, Harry Urschel lends his 20+ years’ experience helping people into new jobs and careers, seeing the job search process from both sides of the table to offer what works now … and what doesn’t.

Julie Ann Erickson is a writer and on-line career transformation coach who provides tools and guidance to help people identify what they want to do and then do it! Her article, Research to Make Your Resume Document provides a three-pronged approach to ensuring the resume you’ve written is YOU, that it serves as a meaningful marketing document and that it communicates what you intended.

For consistently positive messages of hope and optimism, mixed with a blend of pragmatism and ‘real’ opinions, Life Strategist @WalterAkana provides the inspiring article, “You: Rock Star” for this week’s Carnival.  No matter your career field of endeavor, you can attain the clarity that will make YOU a rock star! Thanks, Walter Akana, for your words gems that inspire!

Job Search Is Like Dating is @DeniseMpl’s analogy. Connecting the dots between the two relationship-focused activities, Denise Felder, a career adviser and freelance writer who wants to help people make positive choices that impact their lives and society, shows how things like first impressions, follow-up and displays of genuine interest MATTER in both job search and dating.

For anyone working with chronic illness, working for someone with chronic illness, employing someone with chronic illness, whose family or friend works with chronic illness (you get the drift), Rosalind Joffe at @WorkWithIllness is your lady. Her post: Can You Job Hunt, Live With Illness and Stay Motivated? explores looking for a job in a depressed economy AND living with a chronic illness that impacts your employment history (ouch!).  Helping job seekers ‘break the overwhelm’ via a project management approach, this article provides tactical daily movements to garner positivity during a job search with chronic illness.

Jeff Lipschultz’s popularity on Twitter, I assume, is his clarity and consistency in his brand — my take, he’s positive, proactive, determined, foward-focused, ‘real’ and supportive of others. A founding partner of A-List Solutions recruiting firm, Jeff blogs about the challenges of finding the best jobs as candidates and finding the best employees as companies, among other employment, technology and societal topics. His post, Ten Reasons to Take Up Biking During Job Search taps into one of his personal passions. By moving through job search with physical and intellectual momentum, Jeff demonstrates the multiplicity of positive effects of exercise  (biking, in particular) in job search.

The ever-delightful, humorous and career savvy @DawnBugni never fails to satisfy in her regularly posted career tweets and blogs.  Her ’storied’ article, Work Like You’re Working for Yourself … Well, Because You Are talks about Dawn’s favorite topics: a positive attitude, good customer service, social media and old friends, linking them into job search and career advice. Inspired – that’s the word I (and others who commented on her blog) would use to sum up feelings after soaking up Dawn Bugni’s inviting article of best practices in life, careers and customer service.

April Dowling (aka @adowling) is certified as a professional in human resources and currently works as an HR Generalist with a focus on recruiting and employee relations. Her post: Between Interview and Offer: Now What? articulates action steps job seekers should take once an interview occurs, including: Keep Interviewing!  All job seekers should read this HR expert’s tips to ensure they are up to speed on what to do when in the midst of an interview process.

Cris Janzen (@crisjobcoach) really does love her job! Why? Because she gets to help other people do the same, and she blogs about her passion: helping people find, create and keep work that plays to their strengths and feeds their soul and pocketbook. Her article: How a Job Search Is Like Painting a Room identifies 12 parallels between the two activities.  For example, “It always takes longer than you estimate — and hope.” And, “Preparation is 80% of the job. The 20% of ‘execution’ is a breeze if you have done your preparation in a quality way.” How true!

Increasing Your Shares during job search is Abby Kohut’s (@Absolutely_Abby) post. Wow! A great reminder to all of us the value of ’sharing’ your job leads with others. This pay-it-forward attitude is essential to effective networking (and something we learned early on as a child when sharing toys, ice cream, etc.). Read this post if you want positive reinforcement regarding our interconnectedness with others and how it dramatically impacts job search (and life) success.

Mary Wilson, career coach, owns a consulting practice focused on enhancing relationships in the workplace that provides training, consulting and mediation services. Asking Are You in the Right Career?, @LearnSolMary’s article eloquently advises people beginning their career journey or contemplating a change. In particular, I loved the lines: “Don’t let fear of the unknown or what others will think stop you before you even get started” and “Never let others disabuse you of your gifts and your purpose for being on earth.” This is a must read!

Phyllis Mufson (@PhyllisMufson) is a career coach, small business consultant and certified life coach who helps people who don’t know what’s next. According to Phyllis, people usually don’t know the options available to them often because of their embedded fear. Moving them into a sense of adventure, helping people tap into their intuition, passion and potentiality, Phyllis shares her value proposition in this unique Carnival post — a video interview with @BillVick, entitled, Phyllis Mufson – Career Coach.

Miriam Salpeter advises job-hunting clients, teaching them how to take advantage of traditional and social networking strategies and writing targeted resumes that get results. Her article, Job Search Planning — Steps, Tips and Tricks is replete with valuable action steps job seekers can start today to gain immediate traction. As a starting point, be introspective and take time to outline your unique value offerings — identify your 3% that is unique and special. Pinpoint and research companies and then begin networking (via LinkedIn, etc.) with employees within those organizations. Another great article @Keppie_Careers!

Meghan Biro (@meghanmbiro) quickly became a true Twitter pal as we swapped synergistic exchanges that fueled an offline relationship.  An accomplished executive recruiter and career coach, Meghan’s fundamental belief in the importance of corporate culture and candidate personality fueled today’s article: Hiring for Personality and Culture Fit. Just listen to the article lead-in to get a feel for Meghan’s own high-energy and tuned in personality: “In my practice with career seekers, evaluation of a resume and coaching are table stakes. I prefer to focus on understanding a candidate’s personality (as well as resume and overall skill set) … key to whether a person will fit with my recruiting clients’ corporate culture …” The reading only gets better. Advise all perusers take a moment and sink their teeth into this meaty article.

With a repository of career blog posts that would fill a small library, I’m in awe of Erin Kennedy’s (@ErinKennedyCPRW) ability to quickly germinate and introduce her thoughts on resume and cover letter writing, job search and a multitude of career strategy topics. In her recent article on cover letters, Erin energizes her readers suggesting that cover letter writing is both fun and creative.  Read her nuggets of gold in the Cover Letter Tips article.

Finally, my own article, the very popular Steel Your Career links the process of smelting to career management and likens our careers to a strong piece of steel. Co-written by my ghost-writer husband,  Rob Poindexter, whose vocabulary sucked me into its vortex during our early courtship,  (will be introducing him in future blog posts), this story shows how like our own career paths steel is, as we mine our raw ore first from schools and institutes and then begin purifying  this treasure when it sees the light of day … and much more. A popular post that drove my blog visit numbers to record heights, this intriguing story is worth the read (in my not so objective opinion!

As our Career Blog Carnival winds down for today, I encourage you to share this link with friends and colleagues who may find value from the consortium of careers capital hereto. As for me, the take-aways run deep and broad as this experience further connected me with industry leaders and further educated me with meaty careers articles. Stay tuned for the next Career Blog Carnival – I’m sure Ben Eubanks (@beneubanks) has a stellar line-up over the coming weeks and months.

Visit to Eye Dr. Clarifies Resume Vision

Perched in the chair at the optometrist’s office, I eagerly awaited my new set of eyes. Actually, I was there to update my contacts prescription which I had garnered only one year before, and still being somewhat new to the world of contacts, I admit it felt akin to receiving new eyes when two of those wiggly contacts acquaint themselves with a vital part of my anatomy.

Suddenly, the target of my vision became clearer and more vivid. I saw details that otherwise were nebulous; I could read words that otherwise were strings of blurred letters. A bit oblivious (or perhaps resistant) the past few years to the idea of wearing contact lenses or glasses on a full-time basis, I had come to the realization that, day in and day out, I was wearing my reading glasses for more than just reading. It was time, therefore, to accept my fate and ramp up my vision program.

Throughout this one-hour experience at my eye doctor’s, I encountered at least one “aha” moment and took away with me a couple of additional ideas that overlay nicely into what I do and how I think as a resume writer and career strategist.

What I do is to help my clients cast a clearer vision of their own value proposition, prescribing for them a solution that will convert their fuzzy value proposition into a more clearly focused brand message. I also educate prospective clients as to the value of this whole resume strategy process of defining their uniqueness and intangibles and attract them to the pragmatic, immediate and long-term significance of employing me for such an exercise and service offering.

How I think has evolved immensely over the years – but one of the challenges I still grapple with from time to time is the ability to briefly, yet emphatically explain the value of what I do so that it resonates with the client, compelling them to get off the fence and invest in themselves for such a service.

As such, the “aha” moment with my doctor was simple and translated nicely into “What I do” and “How I think.” He and I were discussing the contact lenses that I had been wearing the past year or so, and he was asking several customer-centric questions to assist in assessing my current situation. Throughout this brief conversation, I mentioned that I could see pretty well with the contacts, as well as I felt I was intended to see with them – they were progressive lenses that allowed me to see rather well up close and rather well at a distance, but not “really” well in either instance. That was okay, because that was my expectation (in my opinion, not unlike a resume that is designed in a “somewhat focused” way, but tries to hit multiple targets or is just a bit too general in its focus, overall).

Therefore, these lenses which I’d worn the past year had greatly improved my vision and permitted me to “not” reach for my reading glasses for most social activities — reading menus at restaurants, viewing a theater production, etc. — but the lenses were not intended for computer work or other more detailed and ongoing reading. For those I still employed my glasses. [This situation loosely equates to employing a broadcast / generally focused resume (my progressive contacts) as opposed to the deeply branded and targeted resume (my reading glasses)].

However, from time to time, I still found myself pulling out reading glasses to support the contact lenses even in social situations, and armed with this knowledge, along with a couple of other remarks I made about the overall comfort of my current contact lenses, my doctor made a recommendation by way of a question to me (and herein lies the “aha” moment): “Would you like to be able to see better?”

In this instance of awakening, I felt a question that evoked a simple “Yes” or “No” was quite remarkable and inventive. Of course I replied, “Yes, I would certainly like to see better.” (At the same time, I secretly vowed to employ a version of this simplicity into my own business interactions with prospective clients; i.e., job seekers.) Confidently, yet calmly, the doctor proceeded to prescribe a different type of contact lens that he clearly felt would give me better results. No promises made – just testimonials he’d had from other satisfied clients for whom these alternative lenses were a solution. Of course, if I felt the same did not hold true for me, I could always revert to the former lens prescription. To me, it was a calculated risk to try something new, and really the risks were quite minimal.

One of my points here is that my initial reaction was to accept his recommendation as-is without much adieu (oh, I may have asked a few clarifying questions, but mostly just to understand as best as I could as a layperson, what might be some differences, aside from better vision, that I would encounter when using these new contacts). In the end, though, the intentions of his simple question (Do you want to see better?) and simple conclusion (I’ll recommend this alternative lens) were clear – I was being taken care of – my situation likely was to improve. And like the Nike ad, I said to myself, “Just do it.”

By parlaying my experience, I hope that my career transition and job-seeking reader will better understand my value proposition. Sometimes I get so mired in the complexity of what I do and how I do it, that I may overwhelm the job seeker with information on my value.

Instead, I simply wish to ask the question: “Would you like to generate more interviews?” Or perhaps, “Would you like to generate more interviews that are focused in the area of interest you wish to land a job?” — (i.e., eliminating the residual emails and phone calls from jobs that are nowhere near your target goals, and really sharpening the results of your resume submissions).