Brand-You Resumes
by Deborah Wile Dib, NCRW, CPRW, JCTC,
CCM
(This is a reprint of an article published in
the Winter 1999 issue of the Resume Writers' Resource, the industry journal of
the National Resume Writers' Association)
 he traditional resume is
dying. Why? Because in today's aggressively knowledge-based economy, companies value
performance over job titles, and process over function. Why? Because employees are being
asked to do more than one job, and to successfully react to lightning-fast changes in the
marketplace. Why? Because a traditional resume is a passive historical document that does
not advertise accomplishments in a way that says "See me! I can do exactly what you
need!"
Companies that downsized in the ' 80's have
consolidated functions and will never again return to fat payrolls. The ' 90's start-ups
are growing and need employees who can use a portfolio of abilities to work in many
capacities. The Internet and New Media firms of the Millennium need employees with skills
that did not exist ten years ago. In short, companies require problemsolvers with
cross-functional skills and proven street-smarts. This trend is illustrated by the
dramatic rise in the use of the behavioral interview to determine applicants' probability
of success. If job-seekers want in on this new hiring model, then their resumes must show
more than a list of responsibilities peppered with a few achievements. This is as true for
entry-level candidates as it is for senior executives.
Candice Carpenter, the CEO of Ivillage, has
said: "Success is about creating value. And it doesn't matter whether you're
financing a new company, launching a brand online, raising a daughter, or scaling a
mountain - the process of creating value requires some specific steps." As resume
writers we can help our clients with those steps. We can start by building a
"brand-you resume" that can help each of our clients to become a name brand in
their field, a "commodity" that will command their target market, and create
demand for their excellence.
The National Resume Writers Association (NRWA)
is at the leading edge of this new wave of change. At the NRWA convention this past
summer, industry leaders' presentations shared a common theme: showcasing past
accomplishments to prove future value. Keynote speaker Richard Karlson, author of Get
Top Dollars in a Job You Love, spoke of future-forward resumes that show what a
candidate will do, not what the candidate did do. Perri Capell, former National
Business Employment Weekly Managing Editor outlined evolving workplace and lifestyle
trends based on performance and skills rather than job titles. The media is acknowledging
this new direction, with the magazine FastCompany and other publication featuring
articles on career "brand-building." Personal marketing is here to stay, and
accomplishments are the driving forces defining personal value in the marketplace.
Giving Our Clients Brand-You Recognition
How do we as resume writers help our clients
meet companies' needs for "value-added" information? How do we write concise and
readable resumes that still include companies, dates, and job titles, but that also supply
detailed information on achievements? The answer is this — we must always remember
that our client is a commodity looking for a buyer and that our client's achievements and
skills are the brand-building "feature and benefits" that must be readily
apparent to the targeted buyer, the employer. Brand-building works because it communicates
value. Brand recognition is built on an intrinsic statement of merit that clearly says,
"This is what I can do for you." That is what a resume writer's client must
achieve to secure interviews. We need to strategically weave the presentation of top
accomplishments into the resume in a way that powerfully illustrates the value of the
candidate, while maintaining the resume's design and readability.
Achievements Build a Brand-You Resume
When structuring accomplishments in today's
brand-building resume, it is vitally important that the accomplishments answer the
employer's implied question: "So what does that mean for me?" Many strong
accomplishments are bottom-line oriented and quantifiable, with numbers or percentages
reflecting revenue generation, cost savings, or efficiency improvements. However, unless
these accomplishments are placed in context, they cannot answer the "So what?"
question. A powerful accomplishment statement answers the "So what?" question
before it is asked, by establishing the value of the accomplishment. This value-added
benefit is the "Gotcha!" of the accomplishment — the sales close that moves
the employer to want to meet our client.
Let's go through the transformation of a typical
resume achievement to a brand-building, interview-generating accomplishment statement.
Here's is a typical management achievement that
might appear on a resume:
Not bad, but the accomplishment doesn't answer
the question "How did you do it?" Now let's try this:
Managed aggressive cost-containment,
focused marketing to high profit industries, and expanded product offering, creating a 15%
pre-tax profit.
That's better, but the statement still needs to
answer the "So what? question. Here's a change that answers that implied question:
Managed aggressive cost-containment,
focused marketing to high profit industries, and expanded product offerings to create a
15% pre-tax profit, more than double the industry standard of 6%
Now the achievement has depth and focus. We know
what the accomplishment is, how it was achieved, and its benefit to the employer. Yet, the
resume writer can make it even better by "front loading" the most important part
of the achievement at the beginning of the sentence. This way, when the resume receives
the employer's ten-second glance-over, the heart of the achievement will jump out:
Consistently create 15% pre-tax profit,
more than doubling the industry standard of 6%. Achieve results by aggressive cost
containment, focused marketing to high profit industries, and expanded product offerings.
This achievement is now crafted in a way that
advertises value, shows process, and implies the candidate's potential to do the same type
of profitable work for the new employer.
Although the accomplishment is now a targeted
personal marketing statement, we can use some design strategies to make the achievement
"pop" within the resume's format. Here are three suggestions:
Consistently create 15% pre-tax
profit, more than doubling the industry standard of 6%. Achieve results by
aggressive cost containment, focused marketing to high profit industries, and
expanded product offerings.
OR...
Consistently create 15% pre-tax
profit.
More than doubled the industry standard of 6%. Achieve results by aggressive cost
containment, focused marketing to high profit industries, and expanded product offerings.
OR...
Consistently create a 15% pre-tax profit
- More than double the 6% industry standard
- Achieve results by aggressive cost containment, focused marketing to high profit
industries, and expanded product offerings.
Highlighting the "Gotcha!" in bold
text gives weight and prominence to the most important statement in the achievement. It
makes a list of expanded achievements visually function like a list of short bulleted
statements.
The Brand-You Executive Resume
Executive resumes are often reviewed by Boards
of Directors, CEO's, and Presidents, and require more detailed information than a middle
management resume would supply. A senior executive is hired for problem-solving and
leadership skills and her action will directly affect the success of the company. The
senior executive's accomplishments must reflect not only the bottom-line result, but also
the challenge faced, and the process used to achieve that result. This is why the best
executive resumes use a "CAR" (challenge, action, result) accomplishment format.
Here are three ways to present an achievement in the CAR format, using design strategies
to add visual power.
Challenge...
Banco Bamerindus do Brasil's communications costs and contract management suffered
from mismanagement and loose controls. Contracts were improperly valuated and bank was
paying for discarded equipment.
Strategy...
Migrated video conferencing from leased lines to ISDN, cleaned up multiplexor
maintenance contracts, and discovered overpayment in WAN lines. Setup a new process to
review all invoices and pre-approved all purchases and communications costs before
forwarding to CIO.
Bottom-Line...
Save company over $50 thousand annually.
OR...
Saved Banco Bamerindus do Brasil over
$50 thousand in annual communication and contract costs.
Challenged to determine solutions to bank's
struggle with communications costs and contract management controls — contracts were
improperly valuated and bank was paying for discarded equipment. In response, migrated
video conferencing from leased lines to ISDN, cleaned up multiplexor maintenance
contracts, and discovered overpayment on WAN lines. Setup a new process to review all
invoices and pre-approved all purchases and communications costs before forwarding to CIO.
OR...
Determined successful solutions to
Banco Bamerindus do Brasil's effort to achieve workable communications costs and contract
management controls. Migrated vidoe conferencing from leased lines to ISDN,
cleaned up multiplixor maintenance contracts, and discovered overpayment on WAN lines.
Setup a new process to review all invoices and pre-approved all purchases and
communications costs before forwarding to CIO.
Result —
Bank is now saving $50 thousand in annual communication and contract costs,
contracts are properly valuated, and bank is no longer paying for discarded equipment.
Build Your Own Brand Recognition
There are countless ways of crafting a
results-driven accomplishments statement and only a few of those methods have been shown
here. Competent resume writers, in partnership with their clients, understand the strategy
and composition of a good resume and as resume professionals we know that there are as
many formats and styles as there are writers. Resume professionals work very hard to
create distintive strategic documents and we endeavor to present accomplishments that will
compel employers to interview our clients.
When we construct accomplishments as
brand-building components of a future-forward resume, we answer the employer's question
— "What can you do for me?" We maximize our clients' chance of being
regarded as skilled problem-solvers. We build our clients' personal brand recognition. We
move our clients closer to their goals.
By helping our clients present themselves in the
most powerful way, using leading-edge techniques that help them manage their career
building, we build our own brand recognition as trusted careers experts. It's a win-win
situation.
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