What should my resume say?

Part 2 of a 3 part article

A properly constructed resume shows your career progression and highlights your professional accomplishments. They generally fall into these parts, listed in descending order of importance:

1. Job responsibilities,


2. Business accomplishments, such as specific projects,


3. Education,


4. Awards and professional recognition,


5. Professional goals,


6. Personal interests.

Your resume will have various uses and different audiences. You will probably need more than one version to provide an appropriate view of yourself in various situations. This does not mean that you should create different versions of yourself, just different ways of looking at the same person. For example, a recruiter needs some basic information to make a rapid decision about your general fit. You should not provide the intimate details of every project to that person. On the other hand a hiring manager will have more interest in the specifics, but here too you must keep his attention span in mind.

In looking for a new position, you should view your resume as a document that provides enough information to prepare you and your audience for a direct discussion. It should clear the path, not become the center of attention. You will distract your audience, if you create an unclear, lengthy or overly detailed resume.

You may find resume templates in the brief article: “How Recruiters Read Your Resume.”

Next Entry: How should I use my resume?

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Should I write a resume? YES!

Part 1 of a 3 part article

“Why is it important for me to have a resume, if I am not looking for a job?” For a few reasons:

1. You never know when you will receive a call from a recruiter to discuss an excellent opportunity, and you want to have something prepared. Frankly, this is a pretty weak reason. You generally don’t want to make your resume too available anyway.


2. Your resume reflects your career history and helps you define yourself. Nothing sells success, like success. If you know what you have accomplished, you can relate to others quickly and powerfully. Knowing yourself builds confidence.


3. It will help you set the course for your future. The process of resume writing will create ideas. It gives us the time to reflect, and hopefully provides the opportunity to think about the future. You will also uncover questions about yourself. While this may cause some discomfort, it also creates the opportunity to solicit the advice of others. In the best case, reflecting on your past accomplishments provides you with raw materials to advance your career.

You may find resume templates in the brief article:“How Recruiters Read Your Resume.”

Next Entry: What should my resume say?

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Candidate! Use your recruiter wisely.

In previous posts, I discussed how to get the attention of an executive recruiter. When you get to a stage in your career where you need to find a new position, one of your first calls will probably be to a headhunter. If you want that person to help you, develop the relationship over time. You can find helpful tips in the post, “Executive recruiters love you!”

Assuming that you have the ear of a recruiter, know what you want out of the call ahead of time. Rule number one: Do not presume that the recruiter has a job with your name written on it! The recruiter probably does not have an open position that fits you, and even if he does, you should never make that assumption. Instead start with something smaller.

1. Gather market information. Flatter us by telling us that we have important insights, then learn what you can about your target market


2. Ask for informational contacts. Depending on your relationship, the recruiter may be open to putting you in touch with someone else in your field. For example, if you are a VP of CRM for a consumer products company, your recruiter may know an expert consultant or author in that field. That person may not have an open job, but they could be a great networking contact.


3. Keep in mind how we get paid. Employers pay our fees, not candidates. Headhunters are not talent agents. We provide a service to our clients, and you are our product. While you might get some mileage out of a long-standing relationship, do not assume that we will market you.


4. Keep in mind how we get paid, part 2. Ultimately, we get paid for making matches. If we have the ability to make a match for a fee, we will work on your behalf. If there is no fee involved, it is unlikely that we will make an introduction.


5. Avoid making the review of your resume the most important reason for the call. It is very easy for us to accept a resume and not call back. The line, “I just want to send you my resume,” lets us off the hook.

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Headhunters Love You!

If you have good relationships with recruiters, you almost certainly exhibit many, if not all of the following behaviors.

1. You return calls. Yes it is our job to hunt you down, but if it takes more than two or three calls to get you, you may not get called in the future.


2. You have important information. People ask us for market intelligence all the time. Our best source is you, and we are happy to share what we know.


3. You provide referrals. This is a good way to stay at the top of a recruiters call list. Careful to provide quality though; one great call is better than five calls to slog through for one good candidate.


4. You are not afraid to get personal. We ask questions and interview people about their jobs all day long. It is always nice to learn something more about a person outside of work. It is a welcome change to share a bit about our world, if you care to ask.


5. You value our input. Many clients treat us like simple providers of resumes, or bodies or even talent. The best of us, however, have a lot to add based on our experience working directly in your field. We may have market insights, or we may have psychological insights, and we probably have some basis for comparing candidates or hiring companies.


6. You have an outstanding professional background. If you are great at what you do, we want to know you.


7. You change jobs every three to seven years. If you change every two years, you are a job-hopper. At ten years, you have probably become a company man. There are variables, but three to seven keeps you moving ahead and keeps us employed.


8. You are a prospective client. Our best candidates become clients, and vice versa. This doesn’t need to be expressed, though, unless you have a clear need.


9. You return calls. Sometimes it can be as simple as that!
   

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Hiring Manager! Use your recruiter wisely.

If you are like most hiring managers, you view your recruiter as a source of resumes and interviews. If you want to maximize your recruiter’s effectiveness, you need to help her manage her talent pipeline, and take advantage of her market insights and knowledge of candidates.

The most important thing you can do to help your recruiter bring you great talent is to make clear decisions, communicate them, and take action. Unwillingness to say no to good, but not great, a candidate is the primary mistake that hiring managers make. If you put candidates on hold, you block your pipeline and your recruiter becomes frustrated that you aren’t pulling the trigger on anyone. Or else, he becomes complacent, figuring that you will hire someone, while he moves on to more urgent projects.

As a hiring manager you are very bus, and sometimes focus on your own projects, sometimes to the detriment of your recruiting efforts. In order to help manage the process during a prolonged hiring initiative, you should consider appointing a person specifically to this task. I devoted an article to the discussion of this new position, “The Candidate Advocate.”

Once you have your pipeline under control, you are free to gather the knowledge and insights that your recruiter has to offer.


Next Entry: How a candidate should use a recruiter


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Headhunters Hate You!

In the course of your business life, you will undoubtedly piss a few people off. Recruiters, by nature, look for the best in people. We make our living by perceiving you in a positive light and representing you to our clients. Like any salespeople with integrity, we want to have confidence in our product. We want to believe in you!

Still, there are people who we don’t just ignore, but who actively avoid. “Hate” may be too strong a word, but you will definitely cause some eye rolling on the other end of the line, if you exhibit the following behaviors:

1. You expect too much. Please don’t call me and expect me to find you a job. As a retained executive search professional, clients call on me to find individuals with very specific backgrounds. Candidates that do not fit our positions may still be valued contacts, but we work for clients, not for candidates.


2. You talk too much. You need to check yourself any time you interview for a new position. Recruiters may have more tolerance than hiring managers, but don’t be abusive. Ask your audience if you are giving them what they need. I would say to pause your conversation every couple of minutes would be a good rule of thumb. You might ask, “Is this helpful? Do you need more or less detail?”


3. You oversell. We want to know that you are excellent, but we also want to believe what you say. Present your credentials to us, but keep in mind we speak with people like you everyday. You need to differentiate yourself, but you can’t fool us into believing you are something that you are not.


4. You don’t listen. Enough said.


5. You say one thing and do another. Don’t make promises you cannot keep and set expectations appropriately.


6. You treat us like “friends of convenience.” You get in touch when you need a job, but don’t help us network. Networking is our life’s blood. Take our call!
   

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Headhunters Ignore You!

More often than not, I take a proactive role in approaching my networking contacts. I view this as my job as a recruiter and expect a certain ratio of return calls to placed calls. I also expect a certain number of unsolicited calls, and many unsolicited resumes.

We are organized enough to be able to respond to unsolicited resumes, but many firms do not care to answer most inbound inquiries.

If you cannot get the ear of a recruiter, it may be for a number of reasons. Here are some to think about:

1. You call without a direct reference. Knowing someone who knows the recruiter is extremely effective. We make our living based on referrals from others, and most of us will reciprocate.


2. You do not define yourself well. We don’t have time to waste, but we are always happy to have more “inventory.” A foggy presentation, however, won’t do you or us any good.


3. You do not know what you want. If you have a very specific message, you have a greater chance of getting our attention.


4. Your resume looks just like everyone else’s. If you are creative, or have the right help, you have an easy way to differentiate yourself from the start.


5. You do not look like an outstanding candidate. We make our living by knowing the best people in your field. Why are you one of them?


6. You have caught us at the wrong moment. Persistence pays off.


7. Finally, your expertise does not match with our specialty. If you approach a recruiter, you need to know what they focus on.

Apart from our retained search services, we provide counseling to executives actively engaged in a job search. Feel free to get in touch for more information.

Contact Jason Sanders