Executive Essentials, from APerfectResume.com

I'm Every Woman

Q: "I know I need a new resume because the one I have was written more than 10 years ago, and I am up on things enough to know that times have changed.  Here’s my situation: I have been a COO, CIO, and CFO over the course of my career, and I am confident I can land a senior executive role in any one of these areas.  Should my resume be general enough to present all of this?”

A: To be cliché: “No, no, 1,000 times no.” 

While I understand you are brilliant in several key areas, you cannot be all things to all people.  Your name is not Whitney Houston.  You are not Every Woman. 

You are also not alone in this situation.  Many of my executive clients come to me with a similar set of circumstances.  My first strategy is to see if I can narrow you down to two choices, say, you want to target COO and CIO roles.  If you feel equally compelled to more possibilities than that, I would strongly recommend career counseling with my partner Bettina Seidman at Seitbet Associates in order for you to gain greater clarity regarding your objectives.

I will say this, before I present the second step of my strategy: I am not a big believer in preparing two resumes.  I have found time and time again that the second resume is weaker, significantly so.  My other feeling is that your history is your history, and it cannot and should not be written completely differently depending on whether you’re target is COO or CIO.

What I do recommend, though, is an alternate cover letter and profile.  The cover letter is critically important in further enhancing your authentic voice.  It guides the reader to what you are most proud of and passionate about.  Most likely, you are proud of a different set of achievements from your COO roles, than during your CIO work.

The profile (also known as the “summary,” “synopsis,” or “qualifications” section) at the top of the resume is your opportunity to emphasize those assets which are absolutely most relevant to the employer.  There would certainly be different points to emphasize, based on the role you’re targeting.

The remainder of your resume would be the same for both presentations.

This strategy works because it’s important to not dilute your message.  After all, you’re not going to be a COO and CIO in the same company at the same time, right?  A singular, focused, spot-on message is infinitely superior to a “general” resume.  Uuuuuggh.  I cringe when executives ask me for a general resume.  I cringe even writing it here.  Let’s eliminate that from our lexicon.

This approach has proven to be a sound one, and I send many executive resume clients to pursue their career management goals with their alternate cover letter / profiles.  This positions them to go forth with confidence.

What Is Branding, Anyway?

Q: "It seems like the hot new buzz word is branding, or your personal brand.  I feel the need to incorporate this into my resume and in the interview process.  But truthfully, I'm not crystal clear on what this actually means."

A: Branding means a lot of things.  I counsel my executive clients by saying that branding means being authentic to who you really are, expressing that throughout your career marketing documents, and conveying that in the interview process and during the course of the actual job.

One way that I guide the executive in identifying his or her brand is by asking them to think about what they are known for.  Are they a turnaround specialist?  A start up specialist?  A change agent?  Excellent in establishing infrastructure?  Fantastic and driving process improvements?  Something else?

OK, those are all key words and buzz words.  Your brand does not end there.  It begins there.  The next step is to make the brand uniquely you.  Employers need an executive who can truly bring value to their organization.  The way you demonstrate your ability to deliver is to illustrate past situations in which you've come in, defined the objectives, established the priorities, and executed to a good degree of success.

There is a unique story involved in every professional situation you've encountered throughout your career.  At some point in your career, you likely developed a reputation for being able to do a particular thing, or being able to do a particular thing with a particular flair or style.  That is your brand.

A Reference Guide For Your References

Q: "I am interested in creating a resume portfolio.  This would present my resume, cover letter, executive biography, and professional references.  I have started the process of requesting letters of reference from people.  So far, one letter has come back with a surprising number of grammatical errors.  The second letter says basically nothing of substance and it's not something I would like to showcase in my portfolio.  How do I get these reference letters to be acceptable?"

A: The solution to this problem is to write the reference letters yourself.  Yes, that's what I said.  To expand on this concept, here's what I mean:

Presumably, you identify people you want to ask for reference letters based on how well they know you in a professional capacity, and how much they admire you and are likely to take the time to write the reference.   

Remind people of how well they know you in a professional capacity.  This can be accomplished in one of two ways.  In requesting the letter, provide the person with a bulleted list of 3-5 points you'd like him to discuss in the reference letter.  These could be key projects you worked on together, for example, or some professional success that person knows of in which you delivered an incredible result. 

The second option is to write the letter yourself, around your desired points, and offer it to them for their review and approval.  Either way, you solve a common problem in that while colleagues know you and know your work, when faced with a blank piece of paper, they don't know what to write. 

Offering up a list or a whole letter is in no way forward, arrogant, or putting words in their mouth.  You're actually doing what you can to impose on the person less, and make the letter writing process easy for them.  Ultimately, you get a letter of substance, that highlights the points in your career you wish to highlight, and this serves as an outstanding letter of reference.

Dressing Up A Lack Of Education

Q: "I find myself looking for a job basically for the first time in my career.  I was with my last employer for more than 10 years, and I was on the Director level.  Before that, I networked my way into every position.  Now I have to go the "traditional" route, and I'm concerned about how I look on paper, mainly because I did not finish college.  How can I make this look better?"

A: It's amazing how many senior level candidates present me with this problem.  That should tell you right off the bat that you're in the same boat as a lot of other executives.  I would recommend one of two solutions:

Earn your degree.  But first, identify the true reason why you would go back to school.  If furthering your education would bring you personal fulfillment because the subject matter is something you truly love, then by all means go to school.

Don't earn your degree.  To be perfectly honest, if earning a degree is not an endeavor that's near and dear to your heart, my strong, strong, strong recommendation would be to forge ahead in your career. 

Here's why: On your resume, you lead with your best foot forward.  You're on the Director level, you have a lot of experience, and one would assume you've had some significant successes throughout your career.  All of that would be presented on your resume before the education section.

Once you're invited into the interview, it's highly, highly unlikely that you would spend that time discussing your education, or lack thereof.  Being called into the interview means the potential employer liked you on paper, and he wants to talk to you further to see a) if you live up to your resume; and b) how you might fit into his organization.  Education is no longer a factor of serious consideration.

Two Resumes? Or Not Two Resumes?

Q: "I am basically trying to go on a job search blitz at this point in my career.  I want to apply for several positions for which I know I meet the qualifications.  Do I need to have different resumes for each?"

A: Hmmmmm.  The first thing I'd like you to think about is why are you going on a blitz?  I'm a strong proponent of focus when you're trying to manage your career, particularly if you're on the executive level.  What focus does is get you a high quality response, not a high quantity response.  Quality is what you want.  Quantity gets you a significant portion of responses that are for positions that are essentially beneath you.

Regarding the issue of multiple resumes, I am not a big fan.  First of all, I would recommend career counseling if you had more than two types of job targets in mind.  For clients who do have two career targets, and genuinely have the qualifications and background for both, here's what I recommend:

I prepare an alternate cover letter and profile.  An alternate cover letter means one cover letter focuses on one career target; the other focuses on the second target. 

The alternate profile means preparing two different top sections of the resume, one for one target, the other for the second target.  The profile is the area employers see first, and this is the place in which you need to showcase all that you bring to the table, preferably so the potential employer can review it in 15 seconds or less. 

Beyond that, the remainder of the resume is the same.  My firm belief is that your history is your history.  It's not going to be written completely differently based on your two different job targets.  What the alternate cover letter and profile do is draw out of that history two different sets of skills you bring to the table.

One Solution To An Age Old Question

Q: "I recently retired after owning a business for nearly 20 years, and working in executive management for about 15 years before that.  Two weeks after I retired I came across an ad for a position I know I am PERFECT for.  I submitted my resume by email, no response, hand delivered it, no response, and followed up by email.  I got back a response that I think was masking the likelihood that they don't want to hire me because of my age.  What to do?"

A: This is a reality of working life once you are on the executive level for some time.  Age discrimination is next to impossible to prove.  And perhaps you could consider this: if this is a corporate culture that apparently doesn't want you, is that a professional environment you'd be happy in?

Here's one solution for executives with a long history of experience who would still like to go strong in their careers: consult.  Present a resume and cover letter that strongly position you for contract consulting engagements.

I see this as truly the best of both worlds: you get to focus on the areas of expertise in which you thrive, and the employer does not feel strapped over the long term.  This can be a win-win for both sides involved, and I strongly believe a situation like this would provide you with professional, personal, and financial fulfillment.

Incorrectly Using Key Words?

"I had a resume that was about 15 years old.  I re-wrote it after going to the bookstore and studying the various techniques on key words and active verbs.  I thought it was great.  But I guess the proof was in the results, meaning, I've had zero results except for some automated 'we received your resume' emails.  Why aren't the key words making my resume work?"

This exact situation is something a lot of clients present to me.  Here's what I typically see on a "before" resume (as in "before" and "after"): these are all words executives think apply to them: strategy, vision, leadership, turnaround, etc.  It's not that these words DON'T apply; it's that you most likely didn't apply them correctly.   

The reality is that you cannot stuff your resume full of key words and then sit back and expect all the scanning technology or actual human beings looking at your resume to just automatically pick you.  The key words need to be a true reflection of you.  Let me repeat: YOU.

If you are not in the resume, your resume is a mere piece of paper with a bunch of key words written on it.  My approach is to put those key words into action, which means demonstrate exactly what you did that pertains to "strategy, vision, leadership, turnaround," etc. (and by the way, not all in one sentence either!)

Too Much Info On Resume

Q: "My question is how do I keep my resume from looking so busy?  I have 30 years of work experience, all of it good, with dollar figures and percentages to prove my results."

A:  Here's my guiding philosophy for executive candidates who have a wealth of experience: notice I used the word wealth.  You have what I call an "embarassment of riches."  What a good problem to have!  The best situation is when I work with a client who has almost too much to offer, as opposed to a client who can barely articulate what he's achieved in his career.

To achieve the non-busy look, I choose what I call "instances of greatness."  This means 5,6,7,10, whatever the number is, of examples of the results you've delivered.  That's it. Once you show several examples of these instances of greatness, in my view, you've proven that you can deliver results.  Then move on on your resume to your next position.