It’s not enough for some potential employers to simply get a cover letter and resume in response to a job advertisement anymore. They may want a biography, a more detailed look into who you are personally and what your life experiences have been. It is a mini life story, and a good one will take a little work on your part. Do not make the mistake of enclosing a biography with just a standard resume and cover letter, for a job that does not specifically ask for it. Do some research on your job field specifically, and learn the protocol for when and where to submit a biography, if at all. A person applying as a construction worker probably won’t require one; whereas a CFO might.

Start by reading over biographies on the Internet or from the library. Look particularly for those that are short and attached to curriculum vitae or resumes, especially those of people who hold positions you might be interested in pursuing. Keep an eye out for ones that appeal to you personally, and set them aside as a rough guideline for how to conduct the writing of your own biography.

Next, take your resume as a launching pad, providing you with a clear chronology of events. Flesh out these events with any remarkable happenings in between or around your work and educational backgrounds, like accomplishments, professional development, or volunteer work, or personal details that were meaningful to you at the time. This is a brainstorming session, so throw on anything you find interesting or important to you, and edit it at a later point.

Now, pinpoint happenings in your life (education, background and career) that might be relevant to the position for which you are applying, and expound on those events. Be detailed as to what they meant to you, and, if needed,  who the key players were in your experiences.

The hard part comes now, with editing. You’re going to want to cull down your brainstorming session into three or four relatively short paragraphs that are succinct, and relevant to the job you’re going for. You’ll want a strong introductory sentence, followed by a chronological personal history. If it helps, make an outline with headings and subheadings, and write a sentence or two for each of them. Sell yourself, not being too modest, and not being too show-off. You should be proud of your accomplishments, but not appear as though you have nothing new to learn.

When you’re finished, read it out loud to yourself and listen to your tone. Fix any awkward phrases or poor flow, and then have at least two other people whose writing and reading abilities you respect read over the content. Ask them to examine readability, relevance to the topic (the job you want), and look for grammatical and punctuation errors. Ask them for tough editing. Ask them too, if there is anything missing or they would like to know more about, pretending to be a potential employer.

If you aren’t living under a rock, you have been hearing lots of buzz about “branding“. So, what exactly IS branding and how will it help my executive resume? What will it do for me?

With the tight job market today, and thousands of qualified senior level candidates, employers can afford to be picky. How do you get to the top of the pile? How are you going to stand out? Your brand.

Your personal brand is the promise of the value you bring to the company. Your unique-ness. What makes you, you.

Think “Heinz”. When I say that, what immediately comes to mind? Ketchup. You know exactly what it will look like, taste like, smell like, etc. Heinz’ brand offers the promise of tomatoe-y goodness on a french fry or hot dog, right?

It’s more about action, rather than words. What you can do for the company? I talk to my clients about that all the time. In promoting your executive brand on your resume, you are stating to the company, “This is who I am, these are what my strengths are, and this is what I can do for you.” You have to uncover your assets and cultivate them in order to drive credibility and increase your professional/executive presence.

There is so much to be gained from branding your executive resume for the job search. One of the main reasons I like branding resumes is because there is no guesswork involved in what the person does, what their strengths are, and what they are recognized for. Any recruiter out there would agree– there is nothing worse than getting a resume that has no identifiable statements at first glance of what they do– you have to read line by line halfway down the page to figure out, “Ohhhhh, they are Senior VP at the firm, OK.”

I will get more into executive branding in future posts– how it can help you: increase your visibility and online presence, differentiate you from your peers, help you achieve professional success, realize how people will be drawn to you, want to follow/listen to you, and more.

So, in the mean time, dig deep, discover what makes you tick– your strengths, drive, and interests– and start building your brand.

Writing a resume for yourself can be challenging, at best. That is why most people these days hire a professional to do it. It’s much easier for the professional because they aren’t you! It’s hard for people to figure out what information should stay or go. How many pages? What about this job or that job? What about if I went to several colleges? What if I didn’t graduate from college? Should I omit that job in ‘03 because it was only a few months? How do I put this accomplishment into words? Functional? Chronological? I’m terrible at writing, what am I going to do?

It’s hard enough suddenly finding yourself unemployed, but now the task of writing a resume? Forget it!

Take a deep breath and relax, dear reader. Here is a brief synopsis that will help even the “worst writer in the world” overcome writer’s block and put the pen to paper. Keep in mind though that this really is ‘brief’ and you will probably want to discuss any finer points with a Certified Professional Resume Writer.

1.  When starting your resume, the first thing you need to do is put yourself in the mind of the reader. What do they want to see? What do they really want to hear? Are you in sales? Then it’s numbers. Operations? Then it’s process improvements or cost cuts. Business Development? New opportunities, revenue pipelines, partnerships and so on. Always keep your reader in mind. They want to know what you have done– and can you do it for them?

2. After you add your contact information, you need to determine your job objective. What is it that you really want to do? You need to have a clear understanding of your focus. You know what you have been doing, or what you are good at, but what do you really want to do? What is your brand? If you are uncertain, you need to dig deep within and explore your skills, core competencies and what inspires you. Fill your career summary with keyword action phrases and value-added snippets of what you do best. Summarize. Be bold and confident (not cocky) in your language.

3. Getting to the meat of the resume= your work history. It does not have to be a career obituary, “Here lies Erin. I did this, this, and this every day, all day. I did this all with boring bullet point after bullet point, and ended each job without a bang. Hire me?” You can talk about what you did at your job without putting the reader to sleep. Mix it up a bit.

You might add a mini-paragraph after the job title, as your narrative (what you were brought in to do). You don’t want your mini-paragraph to be too long, because the reader may skip right over it. Keep it brief and to the point. Follow it up with your accomplishments, or deliverables, in an action verb, bulleted format.

Show enthusiasm in your tone when writing about your accomplishments. Get the reader excited, create a story! Paint a picture of what was going on in the company when you were there. Were you brought in to clean up a neglected department? Had to put in new processes where none had been in years? Created synergy among a previously hostile union/management environment? That’s a lot of work and it should show on the resume. Bring it out and show it on the resume. Keep it interesting.

4. Education & Professional Development. If you are out of college, you don’t need to add your high school. Personally, unless you are IN college, I never put high school on a resume and sometimes even then I won’t.  Why? If you have a college degree it is a given you went to high school.

What if you went to several colleges? Add the one you graduated from and omit the rest, unless they were for more specialized courses. I’ve seen some resumes with 5 different colleges, no real majors and only a semester here or there. You don’t need to add those. It looks like you were/are wishy washy and can’t stay focused.

Add your professional development and training courses. They add credibility to your resume and show that you are always eager to learn and/or improve.

5.  Miscellaneous. Volunteering is a great thing– especially when it relates to your job or future job. Add it. Hobbies, interests, height, weight and zodiac sign? Omit it.

DO NOT add any political and religious affiliations.

As for your format, I would stick to a reverse chronological style. This is the most popular choice by recruiters and hiring managers. I also create a chrono/functional hybrid style depending on the clients situation.

These are some ideas to help you in the writing process.  Once you start writing, you may not be able to stop! Be confident, have fun and just do it.

                 WHAT IS A THOUGHT LEADER (and is it YOU?)          

 

 

What is a Thought Leader? Lately I’ve had clients discussing this topic with me and wondering what my take was on the term. So, I decided to do some research on the subject and see what others had to say about it.

 

According to Wikipedia, Thought Leaders are used to describe a “futurist or person who is recognized among peers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights (thinklets)”.

 

I have dozens of clients who are thought leaders—organic thinkers, consistently offering ideas that propel businesses forward—and have crafted résumés to position them as such. Thought leadership isn’t anything new—it’s been around for years and years, but the term has grown in popularity the past 5 years or so.

 

I remember back in the 70’s and 80’s when my Dad worked in sales for IBM, he had a block sign that was at his desk at work—which he later brought home and sat on his dresser—that simply said, “THINK”. It intrigued the heck out of me and I would ask him, “Think about WHAT?” As I later came to understand it, it was IBM’s slogan for (among other things) developing the top technical and sales teams in the industry by thinking ‘outside the box’—being unique “expert” leaders of their product or service.

 

Just as it was back then, thought leaders of today are being recruited to work within huge organizations to promulgate an idea and teach this learning to others. It’s going beyond ‘business as usual’ and setting yourself apart as an innovative leader and establishing your organization as a trusted advisor and knowledge resource.

 

The best part, according to Galen DeYoung’s article, “B2B Blogging: Using Thought Leadership to Drive Positioning & Sales”, is thought leaders are sought after and paid more. They are “perceived experts that companies want to hire. In going with an expert, the perceived risk is lower”.

 

I also like what Execunet’s founder, Dave Opton had to say about it in his “Keys to Influence” post of why leaders of any enterprise continually succeed (it’s the attitude… and people trust the confidence)…“I can’t prove it, but this is what I believe…”  

 

I have had clients ask me if I would consider them a “thought leader” due to their contributions and if it is worthwhile to brand themselves as such. Do your career accomplishments include a history of pioneering new products or processes, or promoting or discussing ideas relevant to departments and/or companies? Are you singled out for your innovation and expertise in a certain subject? Have you been told you “think outside the box” or you are a “change agent”? If you answered “Yes” to any of those, then you have your answer. Brand yourself on your résumé and look for new opportunities within that realm. Have fun!