RESUMES

Your resume is an important selling tool in your job search. There are many different opinions as to what constitutes a "perfect" resume. We don't believe there is any such thing as a "perfect" resume. We believe that you need to carefully consider many factors in crafting your resume.

Some general principles:

Your resume serves two purposes:

•it gets you invited in to interview; and
•it structures the interview

Your resume is yours. It should be a persuasive selling document which clearly explains to the readers:

•who you are,
•what you have done, and
•what you are capable of doing in the future.

In order to do this effectively, you should take a few moments to put yourself into the perspective of the reader. The reader of your resume is a busy person, who is looking at several resumes, all of qualified people, who needs to narrow the field down to the one individual they will offer the position.

The reader of your resume, a decision maker, is looking for the necessary information to be able to draw the conclusion that you have the required skill and ability to effectively do the job that's open. The easier you make it for the reader to draw these conclusions, the more effectively your resume is working for you.

Length:

Many people tell us that they have always heard that a resume must be only one page. While that may have been appropriate when graduating from Business School, it is most definitely not the case once you are in the marketplace and have meaningful experience to relate to the reader. More than 90% of the thousands of resumes we have worked with have been two, or even three, pages in length. Many of the one-page resumes we have worked with should have been two pages, but were compressed to one by using smaller type and less white space. One senior executive has said that before he reaches for his reading glasses, he throws the resume in the trash. No one wants to read a verbose resume, but a concise and complete resume which crisply articulates the individual's experience, accomplishments and achievements is appreciated by all. Put your name at the top of Page Two (and subsequent pages if appropriate).

Format:

Resumes are typically read on two levels, the headline level first, and then the body copy. The headline copy should give the reader a skeletal outline of all the necessary information they need to make an immediate decision regarding the appropriateness of investing additional time to study the body copy. We suggest a format similar to the attached to make it easy for the reader to obtain the information they're seeking.

The reverse chronological order of professional experience, followed by academic credentials, followed by other information that may be pertinent and appropriate allows the reader to quickly understand the framework of your experience. To make it easy for the reader to obtain the necessary information, we suggest using consistent

treatment of similar information. By this we mean all companies you have worked at are presented in the same typeface, e.g., all capitals, bold and underlined; each individual assignment within a given company is in initial caps, bold and underlined; and the respective dates both for total tenure with the company and for time in each assignment are clearly presented in the left margin for ease of identification.

We favor a concise statement of responsibilities for each assignment appearing on the resume, followed immediately by bullet points showcasing the accomplishments and achievements the individual has during that assignment. If appropriate, include necessary context for the reader to understand the position along with the responsibilities.

Content:

What you say on your resume is clearly much more important than how you lay out your resume. Again, put yourself in the reader's shoes. Understand that you are a seller, your resume is your selling tool, and the reader is the buyer. Understanding what they want to buy, and ensuring that you present that information in your selling tool, is good salesmanship.

Deciding what is most appropriate to put in your resume is partly a function of where you are in your career. We suggest you mentally divide your career into three phases: the learning phase; the doing phase; and the leveraging phase.

The learning phase is the first few years after graduation, up to the Brand Manager or District Manager level typically. During this time you are doing more learning than you are managing and decision making. The reader of your resume, who is considering hiring someone making a move during this time frame, is clearly interested in how well trained you are, how broadly based your learning is. Ensuring that your resume clearly articulates the breadth and depth of your mastery of the elements of your profession that are needed to be successful makes good sense.

At this stage of your career, it is entirely appropriate to prepare to write your resume by first making a thorough list of all of the important skills that are necessary to learn in your profession. For a marketer, this might include advertising (broadcast and print); copy and media; market research (syndicated and custom); promotion (consumer and trade); pricing; package development; product development; business analysis; budgeting; etc. For a sales professional, mastery of basic selling skills, product knowledge, account knowledge, industry trends, etc.

Then, make sure you include all of these skills you have experience with or knowledge of on your resume, illustrating each with an accomplishment or achievement to the extent possible.

The doing phase, typically the middle years, is when someone has acquired enough knowledge about their profession and is now in a position of responsibility where they are expected to apply this knowledge to effect in the marketplace. This is typically from the Manager through Director levels in Marketing and from the District through Division levels in Sales. You have a clearly defined set of responsibilities, and an expectation that you will deliver results. Ensuring that your resume reflects exactly that: accomplishments and achievements in the marketplace driving your business forward, is the most appropriate selection criteria for content on resumes at this level.

The leveraging phase of a career typically begins at the Vice President level and more senior positions. Here, it is the compelling obligation of the executive to take the knowledge and skills they have acquired, and their demonstrated ability to directly build the business, and impart that knowledge and skill to the larger organization they have responsibility for, causing the entire organization to deliver effective results in the marketplace. Obviously, at this level resumes should speak to the individual's ability to lead the organization successfully and to deliver much greater results than can be accomplished by one person.

To the extent that someone in the learning phase of their career can cite accomplishments and achievements in the marketplace, demonstrating evidence of the ability "To Do," they clearly communicate to the reader of the resume their preparedness for increased responsibility. Similarly, the extent to which somebody in the doing phase of their career can cite accomplishments and achievements illustrating their ability to leverage their skills and motivate the entire organization, they strengthen their resume.

Style:

We strongly believe that resumes should be written using direct language. Keep it simple, and avoid the use of jargon. After you have written your resume, put it aside, go back to it, and edit it ruthlessly. Make sure that it will clearly and unequivocally say what you intended it to say to a reader who is not familiar with the specific operating routines at your company.

As you write your resume, bear in mind the two purposes it serves: the first is to provide enough information to the reader to interest them in interviewing you; the second is to provide structure to the interview. Most people you will interview with know absolutely nothing about you except what is presented on your resume. To the extent that your well-written resume has presold you, the interview hopefully will go more smoothly. To the extent that you concentrate information on your resume on those issues that are most important to the interviewer in making their selection decision, you are guiding the interview towards those areas. After all, how many of you have heard the question "I see here on your resume that you have..., can you tell me more about that"?

We believe that a resume you use in pursuing an opportunity via an executive recruiter does not need an objective statement and should not have one. The objective statement adds nothing to the readers understanding of you. They already know that you are interested in the position they're considering you for (or they would not be reading your resume, because we would not have sent it to them). Ergo, the objective statement does not reinforce your candidacy. To the extent the objective statement differs in any way from the reader's perception of what the job is, it can serve as a basis to reject the candidate. Since there is a downside, and no upside, we suggest you omit the objective statement.

The statement "References Available Upon Request" is a redundancy. Use the space to communicate something meaningful, or leave it as blank space to allow the reader to take down notes.

We also suggest you omit your business telephone number from the resume. That reduces the chances of an inadvertent communication being left with your office which could compromise you by revealing that you are interviewing in the marketplace.