Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from the most recent session with Nicola James, Managing Partner of Thomas Brooke International.
Much of this weeks’ coaching call revolved around marketing documents, specifically formulating your resume. One caller asked about resume writing and keyword placement. Should you write your resume to be scannable? How important are keywords?
Nicola notes that keywords matter but they need to be relevant and not random. You can’t guarantee scanning success. Every manager and every company uses different search criteria, and you can’t guess or choose every possible keyword for a specific position. You need to be a natural match, and you can’t achieve authenticity by throwing a series of keywords into your resume.
When we write about ourselves we often overlook things. That’s why it’s important to get someone knowledgeable to review your resume. The right feedback can help you pinpoint where you may have missed critical information. Of course, they must know the target audience; Nicola sees great resumes that neglect to mention the industry or the product line.
Another caller noted that some resume writers are pushing the problem/solution resume style rather than the narrative style. Is this an acceptable trend? Nicola likes the problem/solution style resume when it fits in the commonly acceptable resume format. She wants to see the complete chronological history of a candidate, where they come from, and what their career track looks like, including the company and its size. The resume should be no more than two pages.
Nicola added that she prefers adding a third section: Problem/Action/Result. She wants to see how you did what you did. That’s what sets the great candidates apart from the good candidates. Nicola likes to look at what you did and compare it to what the client needs; is it a good match and does it fit their culture. Present an appropriate example for each position held.
One caller noted that, with 30 years experience, it’s difficult to fit everything into two pages. Nicola advises not to go into extreme detail with every job. Companies are really only interested in the last 10 years of work history. Before that, they want to see a career progression without gaps. Where the company is no longer in business, just tell the truth. Provide dates of employment and explain there was an acquisition or whatever is appropriate. If you need to provide more details, you can always create additional documents or addenda.
If you are interested in learning more about honing your strategies for your marketing documents, join Experts Connection on April 28 for a teleseminar on “Top 5 Critical Marketing Tools for Executives.”
