POP! Your Resume

rnPOP! Your Resume rnby Sam Ho Award-winning speaker and author of rnPOP! Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anythingrn (Perigee-Penguin) In today’s challenging times, with millions of people out of work and looking for a job, it’s more important than ever for your clients to have a resume that POP’s off a crowded desk and captures the favorable attention of bleary-eyed recruiters and employers. rnYou may be thinking, “Easier said than done.” rnThe good news is, there ARE innovative ways to break out of the pack. Here are three steps you can take to produce attention-grabbing resumes for your clients that get them noticed (maybe even hired!) . . . for all the right reasons. rnTip 1. Make It About Them “Enough about me. What do YOU think about me?” - Bette Midler’s character in the movie “Wings” rnA resume needs to be about what the employer needs, not what we want. Focus on how you can meet their needs, fulfill their job requirements, make them money. rnOtherwise, a resume is like a one-sided conversation. This is what I’ve done. This is what I want. Here are my achievements and hobbies. Me, me, me, me. rnThis is a golden opportunity to be different. Instead of following the standard format which is a timeline or laundry list of job experience – why not feature specific needs mentioned in the job description and pithily point out how you can fulfill each of them? rnFor example, one of my consulting clients was applying for a position in which she’d be the Executive Director of an association. She knew they were looking for someone who could increase membership, improve the quality of monthly and annual programs and ramp up their website presence and e-commerce efforts. rnInstead of boringly listing the jobs she’s had over the last 30 years – many of which didn’t even pertain to association management – she highlighted the following: rnIncrease membership: As President of the Northern California chapter of (her professional association,) we increased membership form 140 to 230 professional members in the first six months, and initiated an affiliate-vendor membership drive which added an additional 75 new members (and $150,000 in annual revenue). rnImprove quality of monthly programs and annual conference: As Convention Chair for (her professional association), we acquired 5 corporate sponsors to pay for our opening, closing, and luncheon presentations which allowed us to book nationally known keynoters for the first time in the history of our organization which resulted in 60% more registrations than the previous year and an additional $145,000 net profit (and an unprecedented 4.7 out of 5 approval rating from attendees.) rnUpgrade Website and E-commerce: As President of the Northern California chapter (of her professional association), pioneered a bartering effort to partner with the #1 internet marketing expert in the country to SEO (search-engine-optimize) our content for FREE (which included identifying and saturating our site with key words to bring us up higher in Google rankings). This resulted in a 300% increase in site-visits within 3 months following installation, an additional 1200 people added to our database (obtained with opt-in after requesting a free article), and a 245% increase in sales of e-books, teleseminars and webinars produced/donated by association members. Imagine you were a company rep plowing through the pile of resumes and coming across this resume that proved how this applicant had already successfully done exactly what you were looking for. Wouldn’t you be sufficiently impressed to bring her in for an interview? That’s exactly what happened – and guess who got the job? rnTip 2. Make it About Money “Dullness will not sell your product; neither will irrelevant brilliance.” rnAd genius Bill Bernbachrn- rnThe purpose of a resume is to sell yourself. Unfortunately, many people aren’t comfortable doing this. In fact, when people are asked to write down the first word that comes to mind upon hearing the word “salesman,” guess what they say? “Pushy. Hard sell. Smarmy" and variations on the theme. rnThe good news, your clients can ETHICALLY sell themselves on their resume, without sacrificing their integrity and without making false, grandiose claims. rnThe secret is to selling yourself without making over-stated subjective claims – is to make claims MEASURABLE and back them up with metrics and evidence. That way, you’re not just “saying” you were responsible for a successful product launch (what does that mean, anyway?) – you talk about how, as Project Manager, you turned a product idea into $35,000 in revenue in 6 months. rnNumbers give your claims “teeth.” Look at the example above of the person who was applying the executive director position for an association. See how every single claim was backed up with a percentage – dollar amount – or number of people? rnThat’s irrefutable. That is not a pie-in-the-sky claim plucked out of the air. That’s not an opinion that can’t be proved. By giving measurable evidence, you are indicating exactly how you will contribute to their bottom-line. You are showing you understand it cost money to hire someone. In fact, it costs a lot of money to run ads, pay someone to review resumes, interview candidates, train them, and pay their salary. rnBy including financial results – how much money you’ve made previous organizations or how much money you’ve saved them – you’re showing future employers they can trust you to keep to a budget and maintain a healthy Profit-Loss ratio. They know you’ve generated revenue before and can (hopefully) do it again – for them. rnMost resumes I see have NO numbers or names in them. Furthermore, they focus on indistinct statements such as “was responsible for training and development.” What does that mean? How many employees? Six? Six hundred? What does training and development mean? Designing and delivering supervisory seminars? Delivering safety lectures? Writing an employee manual? What? rnI was preparing a pitch for an author (a book proposal is a resume for a book that is looking for an “employer/publisher”). Her bio stated she was an international speaker. I asked for clarification. “What countries have you spoken in?” She blushed, hesitated and then ‘fessed up. “I spoke at a conference in Canada once.” Oops. That’s stretching the truth. It’s never in your best interests to over-state experience (much less to outright lie). Not only is it unethical; it’s illegal. It can ruin a reputation and you can be fired if an employer discovers you made a misleading claim on your resume. rnThat’s why I suggest you back up every claim with (true!) figures. By attaching a specific number to a claim, “I’ve spoken to more than 30,000 people in 10 states and in Canada,” you increase believability. Imagine the Training and Development manager says on his resume, “I’ve conducted more than 100 orientations for a total of 3500 new employees.” That’s specific. Now we know (and respect) what he’s talking about. rnTip 3. Decision-makers Can’t Read Your Mind. “There are few times in your life when it isn’t too melodramatic to say your destiny hangs on the impression you make.” - Barbara Walters rnOne of the wisest things I’ve ever heard is that “Our strength taken to an extreme becomes our weakness.” rnFor example, kindness is a wonderful quality. But if we’re kind to people who are cruel to us; that’s a weakness. Having a great sense of humor can be delightful. But if we have to be the “clown” who’s always the center of attention, that’s not so good. rnAre you thinking, “What’s that got to do with resumes?” Most people are way too humble on their resume. Humility is a nice trait. But potential employers can’t read your clients’ mind. If they’ve accomplished something outstanding and don’t include it because they don’t like to “boast” or “brag,” they may lose out on a job they could have gotten otherwise. rnIt’s not bragging if you’ve done it. It’s not boasting to let a potential employer know about achievements that may get your foot in their mental door. My son Tom is an excellent example of this. Tom grew up in Hawaii. Even when he was young, if you asked Tom what he wanted to be, he would point to the sky and say, “Something to do with up there.” rnYou can imagine how thrilling it was for Tom when he graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and Physics and a minor in Astronomy and Math. (Suffice it to say, I didn’t help Tom with his homework!) Tom applied for a job at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He prepared his resume and asked me to take a look at it. I was glad to do so –and was shocked to see Tom hadn’t included the fact that he and his college team had won an international contest to plan a Manned Mission to Mars. rnI asked Tom, “Why isn’t this on your resume?” rnTom shrugged and said, “I didn’t think it was important.” rnArgghh. I told him, “Tom, let’s put it this way. Most of the applicants for this job have similar degrees. Most of them have great grades or have been on the honor roll. So that’s nothing special to decision-makers at this point. If you have an impressive achievement that few others can claim; t deserves to go on your resume. It helps make you stand out and makes you one-of-a-kind instead of one-of-many. rnHow can you be one-of-a-kind instead of one-of-many? What can you claim few others can? What have you done, where have you been that is unique? If you were Employee of the Month, that goes on your resume. If you were the top salesperson for your company, that belongs on your resume. If you submitted an idea to the Suggestion Box that reduced workplace accidents by 30%, that deserves to go on your resume. If you graduated summa cum laude, put it down. This isn’t bragging – it’s just giving potential employers a reason to notice you and be sufficiently intrigued to bring you in for an interview. rnHope you found these tips on how to help clients POP! their resume and POP! out of the pack helpful. If you’d like more innovative ways to prepare resumes that get your clients noticed, interviewed and hired, visit www.SamHorn.com for free video clips. rnSam Horn, America's Intrigue Expert and author of POP! Create the Perfect Pitch, Title and Tagline for Anything, helps entrepreneurs and organizations create one-of-a-kind approaches that help them break out vs. blend in. Her presentations receive raves from such clients as NASA, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Capital One and Boeing for being full of real-life ideas they’re able to use immediately to reap real-world results. For more tips on how to get noticed . . .for all the right reasons and to receive a monthly newsletter packed with ways to POP! Your Career and Business, visit www.Samhorn.com or email us at info@samhorn.com. Copyright, Sam Horn, 2009rn