How to Sabotage Your Executive Resume is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

It’s time to start writing your executive resume, or updating it, for a new job search.

This may be your first active job search ever, because you’ve been in demand and easily slid from one job to the next, as your career progressed. You never needed a resume.

Or it could be several years since you’ve dusted off that resume to dive into yet another search.

You know that the purpose of your resume is to attract executive recruiters and hiring authorities at the companies where you’re applying for a job. Your resume should prompt those people to contact you for an interview.

Maybe you know that resumes don’t look or read the way they did even a few years ago.

Maybe you figure that, if you just consult a resume book, you’ll learn how you have to format, write and edit your resume. You may think that things like too many pages, whether or not to use an objective statement, and dealing with employment gaps are your biggest worries.

Figure out how to handle these kinds of things and you’ll be all set, right?

What you may not understand is that resumes today are more personal branding- and personal marketing-driven than ever before. They are meant to drive home what makes you a good-fit candidate for the companies you’re targeting, and differentiate the unique value you offer over your competition.

Not heeding this imperative is at the crux of poor executive resume writing. That is, resumes that are too generic, fall flat and don’t resonate with anyone. Without knowing who your target audience is and what their needs are for a good-fit candidate, there is no way you can know what information you should (and shouldn’t) put into your resume.

Read more about this biggest executive resume writing mistake  at my Executive Career Branding blog.

Related posts:

How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Brand Resume in 10 Steps

Is the Executive Resume Dead or Dying?

Resume and Brand Story for President-CEO-COO Manufacturing Turnarounds

10 Brand-Diluting Phrases That Can Ruin Your Executive Resume

What’s Wrong with Copying an Executive Resume Sample?

photo by Drew Coffman

The Future of the Executive Resume: Martin Yate’s Thoughts is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

My friend and colleague, Martin Yate (@KnockemDead on Twitter), job search expert and author of the excellent Knock ‘em Dead series of career and job search books, recently spoke with me about the future of the resume.

I was thrilled to contribute to his latest must-have book shown here, Knock ‘em Dead: Secrets & Strategies for Success in an Uncertain World, in which Martin reveals how to take control of your job search, career, and life.

In an earlier discussion, we talked about the top two biggest mistakes he’s seen executives make with their job search efforts, how they should approach hiring managers, and what executive job search will look like in 10 years.

I asked Martin if he thought the traditional paper/digital resume was dead, and if the resume is still a critical component in every executive’s job search toolkit.

His answer:

There is nothing I like about the traditional paper/digital resume — they are hell to write and once they’re written you know that no one is rushing into the office looking forward to an exciting day of resume reading.

Nevertheless, I don’t think the resume is dead or dying or that it will be replaced by streamed video resumes, personally branded websites or anything else in the near future. The traditional paper/digital resume continues to evolve and is not in danger of imminent demise.

Technology constantly makes new tools and services possible and these tools often get applied to the world of resumes. Any new approach that renders the paper/digital resume obsolete must do so by improved speed and performance in the evaluation of the customer, and it must be affordable by the vast majority of job seekers. That hasn’t happened yet and I don’t see the applied technology that will bring it to pass anytime soon.

What I do see are technology applications that make greater depth of evaluation possible. Yes, a personal website that brands you is a plus, assuming you can afford it and have something worth branding. And yes a streamed video resume can also be a plus, again assuming you can afford it, and that you are telegenic and natural in front of a camera, something very few people are.

These and other approaches like them are genuinely exciting new tools. Well kinda new, video resumes were first promoted as the next big thing twenty-eight years ago in 1983. But given the customers’ needs — for a tired and distracted recruiter or hiring manager, who just wants the facts and wants them fast — the paper/digital resume is tough to beat.

For you, a properly crafted resume is both the process and the tool with which, as a professional, you first succinctly define who you are and what you can deliver to an employer. On the other side of the desk, recruiters and hiring managers:

• Use that paper or digital resume as a time saving device to get a fast (5-45 second) take on a candidate; fast and accurate enough to rule you in or out of consideration.
• Use it to prepare for and refer to during an interview.
• Use it in reviewing final candidates at decision time.

In fact, the recruiters I know, and I know a thousand or more, all prefer the paper/digital resume. They also appreciate the enriched resume that has links to your social networking profile, personal website or video resume. Such links give recruiters and hiring managers an option for deeper investigation … once you have been evaluated as worthwhile from your paper/digital resume.

The new tools are here to stay and will continue to evolve, and money and time allowing can be valuable additions to your arsenal, when they are properly focused and expressed. In the meantime, no one is going to rule you out of consideration for a job because all you have is a kickass, easy and fast to read paper or digital resume.

Related posts:

My own take on the future of the executive resume, Is the Executive Resume Dead or Dying?

How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Brand Resume in 10 Steps

4 Reasons You Can’t Write Your Own Executive Resume

What’s Wrong with Copying an Executive Resume Sample?

Executive Branding & Job Search Ebook PRICE CUT! is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Many people look forward to catching up on reading over the summer. Light novels and other diversions are popular.

But if you’re in a job search, or think you’re headed there, summer is a great time to strategize your search, do some career planning, and actually get a foothold and gain some traction.

Your target companies may be hiring this summer . . . and they may be looking for candidates like you.

To entice you to buy and read my ebook this summer — and learn some basics on how to navigate the complex world of today’s executive job search — I’ve reduced the price. Read about and purchase my ebook here.

The ebook will help you pull together all the pieces:

• Targeting
• Branding
• Career Communications — executive resume, biography, and other career documents
• Storytelling
• Online Identity
• Online Reputation Management
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Blogging
• Social Networking
• Social Media
• Networking
• Interviewing

Along with taking a little time to recharge from your job search efforts, devote some of your reading time this summer to accelerating your search by learning how to better manage it.

Happy reading! Happy summer!

Related posts:

Chapter 1 of My Ebook: 23 Ways You Sabotage Your Executive Job Search

Why I Wrote My Executive Branding and Job Search Ebook

10 Things I Learned Writing My Ebook

The Executive Resume is Dead? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

You’ve probably read and heard plenty of conflicting advice about resumes in the digital age.

Are they completely useless in this new job search landscape? Do you really need one anymore?

Does your online presence trump any documents you may have needed in the past?

Many self-appointed experts argue that the paper and digital resume most job seekers still build their career marketing plan around has become obsolete — completely replaced by modern day tools like a LinkedIn profile, e-resume or some kind of web page.

I argue that it’s way too soon to give up that traditional document entirely — and it may never go away. Get the whole story in my Executive Career Brand post, Is the Executive Resume Dead or Dying?

Related posts:

How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Brand Resume in 10 Steps

Executive Brand Resume: Differentiate Your ROI Value Above the Fold

C-level Executive Resume Length: One, Two, or Three Pages?

What NOT To Put in Your C-level Executive Resume

photo by jstonkatoy

Job-Hunt Personal Branding Expert is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

For nearly 4 years, I’ve been fortunate to be the Personal Branding Expert at Job-Hunt.org, the top-rated Internet employment portal, among some very distinguished experts in other job search-related fields.

Contributing a new article every month or two, I’ve amassed a long list of what I hope are helpful articles on personal brand in job search, and using various tools and strategies to build one’s brand, including:

• Google Profiles
• LinkedIn Profiles
• Google Alerts
• Twitter
• Guest Blogging
• Online Photos
• The 3 C’s Test
• The Colors of Your Brand

You’ll find the rest of my Job-Hunt articles here.

Some of my favorite other Job-Hunt experts include:

• Randi Bussin, Career Change
• Laura DeCarlo, Job Interviewing
• Robyn Greenspan, Job Search Networking
• Rosalind Joffe, Job Search with Chronic Illness
• Susan P. Joyce, Online Job Search
• Jeff Lipschultz, Working with Recruiters
• Hannah Morgan, Job Search Navigation
• Phyllis Mufson, Boomer Job Search
• Miriam Salpeter, Social Media & Job Search
• Harry Urschel, Job Search Mindset

You’ll find all of the Job-Hunt experts here.

Can You Really Write Your Own Executive Resume? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Over the years, I’ve reviewed many home-grown resumes written by c-level executives taking a stab at do-it-yourself career marketing.

Some are pretty good attempts to capture the value they offer to potential employers.

Most don’t hit the mark at all.

Often, the problem these executives face is suddenly being thrust into job search when they never really experienced it before. Like so many senior leaders, they never needed a resume. They easily slid from one job to the next, through referrals and networking, as they progressed in their careers.

They have a vague idea of what should go into a resume, but often don’t understand all that goes into resume strategy. And they often don’t know the impact personal branding and the new job search landscape have had on resume strategy.

Over at Executive Career Brand, I’ve outlined 4 Reasons You Can’t Write Your Own Executive Resume.

Related posts:

How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Brand Resume in 10 Steps

What NOT To Put in Your C-level Executive Resume

What’s Wrong with Copying an Executive Brand Resume Sample?

photo by Drew Coffman

President-CEO-COO Manufacturing Operations Turnarounds Resume is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

My client, Bruce Smythe, a pioneering leader in manufacturing revitalization and transformations, is actively seeking a c-level business leadership role with a new company.

Because he’s not in a confidential search, he wanted me to use his real name here. We collaborated on developing his executive brand, resume, biography and LinkedIn profile.

Bruce had already done some branding work and created a tagline that he wanted to continue using – “Innovating and Transforming Companies into Market Leaders”.

He had also updated his resume, but didn’t think the document presented the value he offered well enough, and it didn’t contain a true brand positioning statement.

What stood out most about Bruce was his unwavering success, throughout his career, with companies in distress – exacting operations-wide change fast, and leaving the organization healthy, with manufacturing operations improved by 5 to 10 times and employees with a secure future.

To make his career successes and promise of value to potential employers immediately evident in his resume, I needed to bring forward to the first page his early career contributions – things that would normally fall to the second page – and back them up with his phenomenal metrics.

As you’ll see in his resume, with this strategy, the first page stands on its own, even if people assessing him never go to page two. Page one tells just enough to generate interest in him and compel people to want to learn more. It worked. When Bruce put his resume into circulation, he started getting attention and interviews within a few days.

In working through the branding process, we uncovered the following:

• Top values – Challenge, drive, ingenuity, making a difference, being the best
• Top brand attributes – Fearless, confident, resourceful, passionate
• Top strengths – Seeing the big picture, visioning, innovating, solving problems, creating value

Bruce described what differentiates him from his competitors in the job market:

“There may be better CEOs in healthy companies, but there are very few that can outperform me in a turnaround or restructure that results in a strong market leader – not just a company that is stripped through cost reduction and is ‘still in business’ . . . ALL of my companies have gone on to sustain success and become industry leaders.

My differentiating qualities include knowledge of all business functions at a detailed level and how to optimize them. I have strong marketing and sales skills, and world-class expertise across all aspects of engineering, manufacturing, materials, quality, systems, and especially JIT/Demand Flow Technology/LEAN.”

For his resume, we created the following brand positioning statement to generate chemistry for his personal values, attributes, strengths and drivers:

A fearless change agent fuel-injected with enthusiasm, I envision and execute game-changing turnarounds FAST, get returns NOW and bullet-proof companies against the economic tsunami forces driving today’s highly volatile global marketplace. It is my responsibility to save companies, make them healthy, ignite strong leadership across all levels and enable good people to have a secure future.

For his biography, I slightly adjusted the brand statement, and used it to lead the document. As is always the case, his bio allowed us to better showcase his softer skills and personality, and more deeply express what his brand is all about.

Bruce can be reached at (865) 437 – 9968 or via email at BruceSmythe1@gmail.com.

Related posts:

10 Steps to an Authentic, Magnetic Personal Brand: The Executive Personal Brand Worksheet

How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Brand Resume in 10 Steps

How to Write a C-level Executive Career Brand Biography

How Do I Use My Executive Biography? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Typically, the brand communications plan my c-level executive clients and I collaborate on includes developing their executive resume, biography and Linkedin profile.

It goes without saying that they must have a standout resume and most understand that they need a strong LinkedIn profile, too – even if only for passive job search, even if they don’t leverage all the networking features LinkedIn has to offer.

But a question they frequently ask is “Why do I need a biography. Won’t my resume be enough?”

My answer includes explaining what we can do in writing a biography that we can’t do with a resume — mainly telling a deeper brand story that injects much more of their personality than a resume allows.

But also, I tell them that they can use the digital or paper document in different ways than a resume. Two of the 8 Ways to Use Your Executive Biography, which I outlined in a post at Executive Career Brand, are:

1.  Your bio, instead of resume, may be the better first document to present to people when introducing yourself. A resume is an obvious job search tool. A bio is a more general career management tool. Because a bio allows you to better tell your brand story, it conveys personality and good-fit qualities better than a resume. It may work better at informational interviews and when you’re making new contacts, other than recruiters and employers’ hiring decision makers.

2.  Bios are essential introductions for speaking engagements. When making a presentation or giving a speech, give your bio to the introducer ahead of time.

Hop over to the original post for the other six ways.

Related posts:

How to Write a C-level Executive Career Brand Biography

10 Steps to an Authentic, Magnetic Personal Brand

How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Brand Resume in 10 Steps

Guilty of Copying An Executive Resume Sample? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Clients have told me they were tempted to copy from a resume sample on my blogsites. They said that parts of it described them perfectly — they couldn’t have said it better themselves.

One client actually did copy from a sample of mine. When we first discussed working together, he presented me with his current resume. It included a brand statement plucked directly from one of my samples.

Aside from the fact that I work hard crafting highly personalized content for my clients and the statement didn’t really fit the client who copied it, copying from my samples, or anyone else’s samples, is stealing.

If that doesn’t dissuade you, I lay out several other reasons why this is not okay to do in my Executive Career Brand post, What’s Wrong with Copying an Executive Brand Resume Sample?

Related posts:

How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Brand Resume in 10 Steps

4 Executive Job Search First Steps, Before You Write Your Resume

10 Reasons Your Executive Resume Needs a Major Facelift

C-level Executive Resume Length: One, Two, or Three Pages?

What NOT To Put in Your C-level Executive Resume

photo by Horia Varlan

Executive Branding: Differentiate Yourself and Your ROI Value in 10 Seconds is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Want to capture and hold the attention of your target employers in your executive resume, LinkedIn profile and all your career marketing materials? Hit them with your best shot above the fold. That is, the top third or half of the paper, digital or web page.

Recruiters and hiring decision makers are busy people, often overwhelmed with candidates and materials to assess. They will typically allow 10-15 seconds for an initial review. If you don’t draw them in that quickly, they may pass right over you.

Whatever lands in that first-to-be-seen spot has the most impact on the reader . . . it’s the most valuable real estate on any page.

That spot needs to stand on its own as your brand and career marketing calling card. It needs to tell enough of your story to compel readers to want to know more about you, and to want to talk to you.

For “above the fold” strategies for your documents and online profiles, see my Executive Career Brand post, Executive Brand Resume: Differentiate Your ROI Value Above the Fold.

Related posts:

4 Executive Job Search First Steps, Before You Write Your Resume

C-level Executive Resume Length: One, Two, or Three Pages?

What NOT To Put in Your C-level Executive Resume

Executive Branding and Your LinkedIn Profile