Career Goddess

Does Your Resume Have FLAVOR?

Do you have a bland, ho-hum resume? You may not be sure. But if you are not landing job interviews, your resume may be the culprit.

We are in the most competitive job market in history. Consequently, you cannot afford a lackluster resume. Employers and recruiters have high standards, and do look for resumes (and applicants) that stand out.

Here are six elements that can give your resume big FLAVOR:

F – FOCUS
==> Is it obvious to the employer or recruiter what job (job title) you are seeking? Have you led the resume by selectively emphasizing your best assets and value that support that Focus?

OR
==> Do you have a generic, no-focus resume that you use for every job posting to which you respond?

L – LEVERAGE
==> Does your resume showcase your personal branding and what makes you unique and more valuable than other applicants?

OR
==> Are you unknowingly marketing yourself in your resume as a commodity, comparable to many other commodities (job seekers)?

A – ACCOMPLISHMENTS
==> Does the majority of your resume highlight the results (accomplishments) of your jobs, particularly in the past 10 years?

OR
==> Have you simply listed your job duties and responsibilities for each job, in bullet format, much like a grocery shopping list?

V – VALUE
==> Can the employer clearly determine your bottom-line ROI value, based on your quantified accomplishments and desirable Brand Value Proposition?

OR
==> Is there no stated value to the employer for hiring you?

O – OPTIMIZED SEO
==> Can your resume be found and given priority by resume-screening software in an applicant database because your resume has required and desired keywords placed advantageously? Does your resume support those keywords with your accomplishments, training, and continuing professional development?

OR
==> Have you written your resume with no (or very few) of the important industry and job function keywords? If you have included keywords, have you shown evidence of why they should be included?

R – READABILITY
==> Have you designed your resume to be compelling and easy to read with short, powerful content? Do you have resume formats designed for computer “eyes”, as well as human eyes?

OR
==> Is your resume jam-packed with too much content, small margins and fonts, and run-on sentences that confuse and lose the reader almost immediately?

The next six blog posts will delve into each of these FLAVOR elements, providing you with examples and specific resume tips on how YOU can improve your own resume. Stay tuned!

What Do Employers Really Want in the Ideal Candidate?

If you, the job seeker, could have a magic wand in an interview, you would likely wave it to get inside the interviewer’s head. Why? To figure out exactly what the employer or recruiter wants in the ideal candidate and to determine how you are measuring up.

But no magic wand is needed for interviewing. According to George Bradt, an executive onboarding consultant, it’s really simple. There really are only three interview questions:

1. Can you do the job? Strengths
2. Will you love the job? Motivation
3. Can we tolerate working with you? Culture fit

I would like to suggest an addendum to the first question:
“Can you do the job…and do it so well that it brings value to the employer?”

Having the training, experience and other qualifications to do the job puts you in the long line-up of thousands of other applicants who have similar qualifications. That alone is not so special.

So the real question becomes, “How well can you actually do the job?” Are you a “seat-warmer” just putting in your time each day, or do you deliver exceptional results?

This is where quantifiable accomplishments become important. Those accomplishments can demonstrate to the interviewer that you are not a run-of-the-mill applicant. Instead, you are focused on excellence and bringing value to the employer.

No matter the job role you have, there are always quantifiable accomplishments you can talk about in your Personal Brand Stories. These concise stories have a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning entices with a problem or challenge you ultimately addressed, the middle tells the actions you took that are representative of your personal branding strengths, and the end reveals the quantifiable achievement and ultimate value to the employer.

It can be daunting to write and condense your brand stories into a 1-2 minute interview answer. Here is an example of a brand story relating calm and effective leadership in the face of a crisis:

Stepping into the newly created role of City Manager, I was immediately challenged with responding to the aftermath of two successive hurricanes hitting the city. With no previous emergency plan to go by, I created a strategic crisis plan, engaged and motivated the community in a massive clean-up effort, and negotiated with government agencies for assistance. Those efforts culminated in an orderly and collaborative city clean-up within 3 months and 100% FEMA reimbursement within 5 months.

Give interviewers concrete brand stories to sink their teeth into and you may just be amazed at your interviewing results. Instead of a drab recitation of job duties, you will have appealed to the interviewer with the W-I-I-F-M (what’s-in-it-for-me) motivator of bottom-line value to them.

What are your compelling personal brand stories? How do they demonstrate relevant value to the employer based on your real-life accomplishments? Answer the underlying or explicit question of “Can you do the job…and do it well?” in terms of your strengths for the job AND your verifiable track record of results and value to outstrip other candidates.