This post was encouraged by a conversation I had today with a wonderful young professional who reached out to me via Twitter. She is, like many today, searching for a job. Luckily she is in a position where time is slightly more on her side than others. She has a few months before her company relocates. She came to me asking for help with her resume. I was so impressed with her courage, how could I refuse. As I reviewed her resume and compiled my thoughts and comments, it dawned on me. This needed to be a blog post. Once again it may seem that I am giving away the secrets of management as I did with, “Acing the Interview”. I disagree. The information in this blog can work for the internal resume as well.

It’s probably important that I briefly describe what gives me credibility to write this post. I’ve literally conducted 100’s of interviews and I can’t even estimate how many resume’s I screened. My time in Human Resources and Management gives me a strong understanding of both sides of the hiring process. I am hoping those of you that read this post benefit from the tactics.

First, let’s start by explaining that the resume is nothing more than a 1 page ad about the value you would bring to the organization if they purchased the product of “YOU”. This doesn’t mean use color paper and graphics. Aesthetic creativity should be limited as most interviewers are trained to heed warning if they see it.  The true selling power of your resume is in its content.

There are many different resume formats you can choose that are very professional. I’m not going to spend time on that. My goal is to focus entirely on what you are telling the interviewer about yourself. Are you telling her that you are like everyone else? Are you telling her that she can expect status quo from you? Are you telling her that the brand of “YOU” is generic? I feel confident believing this is not the intent of anyone reading this post.  Therefore, we’ll discuss how to demonstrate the brand of “YOU” is a deal of a lifetime that they can’t miss.

Once you decide on a format to use, it’s time to fill in the blanks. There are three messages that you should tell your interviewer.

• I have experience
• I have achievements
• I have personality

Your work history should shout these to the interviewer. The brand of “YOU” will scream off the page encouraging them to interview you.

Experience is the first message. This is important but in the same breath, it’s on most of the resumes our interviewer is going to read.  Experience is the basic tasks that a job entails.  This can include the following

• Supervising a team
• Organizing events
• Managing customer orders
• Filing
• Scheduling
• Coaching

Your interviewer is reading that and thinking it sounds like the last resume she read, and the one before that, and the one before that, and so on, and so on. Do you get the point?

Achievements are as if a chorus of angels were singing the praises of the value you would bring to the organization. I may be exaggerating a little. However, an experienced interviewer will get a slight chill when they see this in a resume.  Achievements demonstrate what you can do with your skills. Achievements have outcomes and results. They are linked to business goals.  An achievement may sound like the following:

• Increased sales
• Improved morale via 360 degree feedback
• Reduced waste
• Reduced employee turnover
• Increased customer count
• Improved department productivity scores

An Interview is searching for achievements. Too often these jewels are hidden, scarce or nonexistent. If that is the case, the interviewer has no alternative but to move on to the next resume.

The last message is personality. This one may be evasive and confusing. How do I give my resume personality? Do I put stars or flowers on it? The answer is a resounding no. Personality is in how you word it. This can vary between different industries as well. Some industries like Sales, wants an independent, strong willed, never take no for an answer personality. Operations may want a co-dependent team player with a willingness to put the needs of others before their own, a can do attitude that gets everyone to point B collectively. Do some research into your industry to see what personality Interviewers are seeking in that field. Personality can sound like:

• I created…
• My team and I…
• My proposal…
• We conducted…

The personality tells how you used your experience to get the results that led to the achievement. Together, those 3 messages define the brand of “YOU”.

There’s a real art in combining the 3 messages to form a powerful brand. Doing so really makes the bullet points pop off the page. Following are some examples:

• As a supervisor, I implemented a new performance strategy that helped my team exceed their performance goals for the quarter by 10%. The strategy was then adapted company-wide contributing to the company’s best year on record in regards to employee productivity.
• As an Account Manager, I took an underperforming territory and reversed its sales direction by revising the routing and updating customer response protocols leading to a 200% sales increase over the previous year.
• As a production manager, I was able to lead a committee which formulated a rework strategy that ultimately saved the company 10% off its labor expenses in the region.

Hopefully you see the difference between these examples and telling the interviewer that you know how to type.

The interviewer wants to find the best talent. They’re routine is similar to thumbing through a catalogue looking for the best product to buy that will solve their problem at a reasonable price. Move away from simply telling the interviewer the skills you have. Move towards telling them how your skills and the way you used them have changed your organization. If you can do that, most interviewers will surely want to purchase the brand of “YOU”.

You can follow me on Twitter @TerrenceWing and @liquidlearn