Your Resume Will Be Your Brand From Cradle To Grave
As a young sales executive I was invited to attend a special marketing presentation featuring Tommy Hopkins who, at age 21, had won the Los Angeles Sales and Marketing Institute’s coveted SAMMY Award, and was already the undisputed “guru” for the sales industry.
We had gathered as the guests of Century-21 at the Century Plaza in Studio City California. We sat with an audience of more than 4,000 real estate professionals staring at the elevated stage in the center of the presentation venue. The ink was still was still dripping from my newly minted real estate license when the convention center went completely dark. Suddenly a dazzling display of lights was accompanied by music and sound effects rebounding off anything that wasn’t moving. Then, the legendary Tommy Hopkins, all 5 feet 3 inches of him, pranced across the stage in a white sequinned and laced jump suit looking something like a miniature version of an Elvis Presley pull toy.
His presentation moved along just as quickly when all of a sudden he stopped and the engaged the audience with carefully measured intimacy. As he rotated quietly around the 360 degree venue he asked, “How many of you have a current copy of your resume and business plan in your possession at this moment.” Only a few hands in an of thousands could be seen. Mine, nor those of my associates, were among them. Then, allow me to paraphrase, he said . . . If you’re not you are neither prepared for an opportunity or, even worse, success. From that day forward, along with my American Express Card, I never leave home without them.
“Your resume will open your first employment door, and will probably secure your last opportunity in life. It will be an element of every written and oral communication, and the foundation of your business and professional empire. It is an expression of your view of the future, and your sentiments of the past. It will be evaluated in absentia, in the abstract and in whole or in part. It will be considered in the presence of others, and it will be the argument you present to those you cannot reach in any other way. It will be the most important communication document you will carry with you throughout your entire life. You will find constructing your resume a very daunting task, and a lifetime work in progress. What details should be included. What experiences and qualities do you highlight. How do start. What should you include. What should you hold back, and how do you use it to close the deal. The way in which you creatively approach each of these issues will be the measure of your success.”
I have learned that a great resume can reverse the fortunes of a fading career, save a failing company and find product markets where none seem to exist. I have seen resumes that make a garage band look like it just came off a world tour, a home business appear to be a thriving institution and to completely remake product roll-outs on the fly. My resume has been the most valuable asset of my career as it opened corporate doors and secured incredible business opportunities. Your resume allows you to create an intimate business relationship with a someone you have never met. Skillfully used it can create a business proposal that crushes the competition, or close the biggest business deal of your career. Today’s employment market is a brutal place. So, here are some brutal facts.
Your resume is like a Web page. You may have 10 seconds to get into the head of the reader. And naswer three questions immediately. Who are you? What do you do? And . . . Why read more? Then, what you say, and how you say it will determine if it goes any further. If your resume looks like every other boiler plate model filled with the ”key words”, bullet points and industrial dogma it will not be read at all unless received by a trusted referral. In fact, your resume is the primary means of eliminating you from consideration. The HR people will deny it. But, those are the facts.
Recently while browsing in a local book store I came across a resume title that caught my eye. Thumbing through the text I found this introduction to a chapter entitled “Goals, Qualifications and Achievements”. It said, “A strong statement of your professional objectives (that is, your goals) and a convincing summary of your achievements to date assure your reader that you’re worth the time it will take to keep reading” Most all of the “boiler plate” examples included bullet point statements beginning with the words knowledgeable, capable, confident, persuasive, adept, strong, proven and on, and on and on.
Unfortunately the employment resume is too often thought of as the necessary precursor to for a job interview rather than a natural extension of the fundamental principles for constructing an argument that sets you apart from, perhaps, thousands of people competing for the same job.
People do not buy anything, particularly employment candidates, because of bold branding statements, or cleverly contrived dialogue. Impersonal summaries, inclusive narratives and empty bullet point entries do nothing to distinguish yours from millions of resumes using the same mind numbing devise. People buy because they believe in the leadership ability to deliver what is needed, or promised. Scattering your story around the page in a series of often unrelated and frequently unimportant events lacks any sense of thoughtful presentation, and does nothing to imply the quality of leadership.
While uncomfortable for many, the job interview, or the big deal, will go to those who have mastered solid presentation skills based on the timeless principles of oratory and written argument. Sadly, the looser will never see, or hear, the winning presentation. In his biography Winston Churchill said, “ There is nothing like oratory . . . . It is a skill that can turn a commoner into a king.” He also believed the written and spoken word to be inseparable saying, “ . . . one rarely begins without the other.”.
If you are a citizen in a democracy you need to be able to construct a convincing written argument, and speak in public. These skills are essential if you are seeking to offer your skills and background to someone who can give you a job or, particularly, their business. Top business professionals must sell themselves before they sell a product or an idea. Professor John Hale, Director of Liberal Studies at the University of Louisville says, “Rhetoric is the art of clothing in words, and gestures, the ideas you have in the most effective way possible.”
Dorsey Armstrong, PH.d and Associate Professor of English at Purdue acknowledges that whether you are crafting a personal profile, application letter or a client presentation, the challenge of achieving a self portrait that will achieve your objective will be compelling at the least. However, she believes, “The autobiography is perhaps the richest and most underused source of practical knowledge for anyone seeking to present herself or himself as qualified to take on a leadership role and make effective use of it.” . She cautions though, She cautions though, “TMI – too much information – is one of the most common and devastating mistakes you can make in a situation that calls for a written self-presentation”.
More to follow –