Excerpts from Jay Block’s book: 101 Best Ways to Land a Job in Troubled Times
In a troubled economy plagued with high unemployment and employee dissatisfaction in the workplace, look-alike, assembly-line resumes won’t get the attention of hiring authorities.
Hiring authorities don’t have time to read stacks of boring biographies from strangers.
They want to know quickly what specific contributions you can make and the results you can produce.
So, by definition, a value-based resume is a marketing document that communicates your ability to produce significant results better than other qualified candidates.
You have 100% control over the information you include in your resume and how you present your marketing document.
What YOU CAN Control — Your Resume
Unfortunately, most job seekers don’t take advantage of their power to control the information hiring authorities need to see on their resumes.
When you effectively control the information on your resume, you will elicit attention and enthusiasm from prospective employers and win an interview.
More than 98% of the resumes being circulated today are nothing more than chronological obituaries; biographies prepared on white paper with black ink formatted like millions of others.
Not only do they all look alike; they don’t communicate enough to differentiate themselves from other competing candidates.
Most resumes don’t address prospective employers’ needs, problems or organizational objectives.
They don’t shout out why they are the best candidate for the job.
During tough economic times, there are way too many competing resumes in circulation for you to submit a blend-in-with-everyone-else resume.
Your resume must STAND OUT if you have any chance of attracting outstanding job opportunities. In the end, your resume must effectively promote and sell you to prospective employers.
3 Types of Messages to Better Sell Yourself
And you MUST promote and sell yourself better than other candidates by communicating 3 types of messages:
1) The ‘Ultimate Results’ message
2) The ‘Core Strengths’ messages
3) The ‘Value-added’ messages
1) The Ultimate Results Messages
The Ultimate Results messages are the most important messages you can communicate because they are the single most essential messages prospective employers yearn for on your resume!
The Ultimate Results messages communicate to prospective companies and hiring authorities your value and worth to them. In other words, what you get paid to produce.
An effective way to determine the Ultimate Results messages is to answer the following question:
If you were to be hired today, what specific performance standards will you be measured on at your first annual review – a year from now?
You get paid for producing results, so what results will you produce that will indicate to a company that you are the best candidate for the job?
When you answer this, you will have your Ultimate Results messages.
Below are examples of Ultimate Results messages for 5 different jobs (I will use the same 5 jobs illustrating all 3 messages).
A Teacher:
• To significantly enhance the educational experience leading to an enriched and rewarding life for all students.
A Sales Professional:
• To significantly increase sales, expand market share and provide unparalleled levels of customer service; to contribute to organizational growth and profit objectives.
An IT College Graduate:
• To advance the goals and objectives of the IT department by utilizing strong programming skills; and, to improve organizational efficiencies and productivity through the use of state-of-the-art technologies.
A Return-to-Work Candidate:
• To utilize skills and abilities to meet organizational goals in a loyal, dependable and professional manner.
A CEO:
• To increase global presence, product mix, and market share to improve and maintain shareholder earnings and value.
2) The Core Strengths Messages
Once you have identified the Ultimate Results messages, you have only to determine your six to eight core strengths that would lead a hiring manager or prospective employer to believe you can produce the Ultimate Results messages.
Core strengths would include skills, qualifications, and talents you have that make you valuable and that are important requirements for landing the job as perceived by prospective employers.
The Core Strengths messages are messages that communicate those specific skills and qualifications that you will use in your daily activities to produce the ultimate skills and achievement-based resume.
A Teacher:
• To significantly enhance the educational experience leading to an enriched and rewarding life for all students.
1) Classroom management / discipline
2) Integrating real-life experiences into the classroom
3) An effective student/parent liaison
4) Work collaboratively with administration and peers
5) Possess strong academic credentials
6) Have 9 years of experience supported by excellent references
A Sales Professional:
• To significantly increase sales, expand market share and provide unparalleled levels of customer service to contribute to organizational growth and profit objectives.
1) Perform in-depth market analysis and create growth plans
2) Lead generation, networking, and relationship building
3) Assess client needs and effectively overcome objections to the sale
4) New territory start-up and turnaround management
5) Identify and capitalize on new and existing business opportunities
6) Provide groundbreaking levels of customer service
An IT College Graduate:
• To advance the goals and objectives of the IT department by utilizing strong programming skills; and, to improve organizational efficiencies and productivity through the use of state-of-the-art technologies.
1) Perl, MySQL, Linux, Apache, Mason, XML, XSL, HTML, JavaScript, Java, MS C++, ASP, 8086 Assembly, Fortran, COBOL, network firewall and hack-proof server installation and configuration and automatic mass website building
2) Internet-based public relations for online applications
3) Wireless applications, Speech recognition, and network administration
4) Skilled in providing excellent customer service
5) Complex, technical troubleshooting, and problem-solving
6) Complete projects on time and on budget
A Return-to-Work Candidate:
• To utilize skills and abilities to meet organizational goals in a loyal, dependable and professional manner.
1) Excellent phone skills
2) Good communication skills
3) Use sound judgment; make good decisions
4) Honest, trustworthy and dependable
5) Complete assignments on time
6) Always go the extra mile; a good team player
A CEO:
• To increase global presence, product mix, and market share to improve and maintain shareholder earnings/value.
1) Mergers and acquisitions; re-engineering and change management
2) International corporate leadership experience
3) Visionary strategist; identify and pursue new growth opportunities
4) Board member and shareholder relations management
5) Possess an MBA from Oxford in International Business
6) Skilled in raising capital for growth and expansion
3) The Value-added Messages
Value-added messages communicate an added value that you bring to the job that goes beyond the call of duty.
In other words, Value-added messages communicate to potential hiring managers and prospective employers that you not only have the skills and qualifications to do the job better than other qualified candidates; but that you bring more “value” to the job than what’s required.
This added value can be the difference between a job offer and a rejection letter. In many cases, Value-added messages are critical messages that differentiate you from your competition. I often refer to this as the differential factor.
For example, suppose you are seeking a job as a Retail Manager.
You might bring added value by being fluent in English, Spanish, and French. Being trilingual may NOT be part of the job description but, can be a valuable asset when working with diverse employees and customers who speak Spanish and French. This Value-added message may tip the scale in your favor.
A Teacher:
• To significantly enhance the educational experience leading to an enriched and rewarding life for all students.
1) Improve reading and writing skills
2) Classroom management / discipline
3) Integrating real-life experiences into the classroom
4) Introducing real-life experiences outside the classroom
5) An effective student/parent liaison
6) Work collaboratively with administration and peers
7) Possess a Masters degree in Education
8) Have 9 years of experience supported by excellent references
• Value-added Message: Have a Masters degree in Library Science (Able to assist and contribute to library and media services)
A Sales Professional:
• To significantly increase sales, expand market share and provide unparalleled levels of customer service to contribute to organizational growth and profit objectives.
1) Perform in-depth market analysis and create growth plans
2) Lead generation, networking and relationship building
3) High-impact presentation and closing skills
4) Assess client needs and effectively overcome objections to the sale
5) New territory start-up and turnaround management
6) New product/service launch
7) Identify and capitalize on new and existing business opportunities
8) Provide groundbreaking levels of customer service
• Value-added Message: Have an existing book of business (Able to deliver immediate sales and growth opportunities)
An IT College Graduate:
• To advance the goals and objectives of the IT department by utilizing strong programming skills, and to improve organizational efficiencies and productivity through the use of state-of-the-art technologies.
1) Perl, MySQL, Linux, Apache, Mason, XML, XSL, HTML, JavaScript, Java, MS C++, ASP, 8086 Assembly, Fortran, COBOL, network firewall and hack-proof server installation and configuration, and automatic mass website building
2) Internet-based public relations for online applications
3) Network administration
4) Wireless and Voice
5) Speech recognition
6) Skilled in providing excellent customer service
7) Complex, technical troubleshooting, and problem-solving
8) Complete projects on time and on budget
• Value-added Message: Have my Dale Carnegie Public Speaking Certification (Able to professionally train and present new technologies and services effectively to employees and customers)
A Return-to-Work Candidate:
• To utilize skills and abilities to meet organizational goals in a loyal, dependable and professional manner.
1) Excellent phone skills
2) Good communication skills
3) Use sound judgment; make good decisions
4) Honest, trustworthy and dependable
5) Complete assignments on time
6) Always go the extra mile
7) A good team player
8) A high school graduate
• Value-added Message: Have own transportation and able to work a flexible work schedule (Provides a great degree of dependability and flexibility compared to others who may be dependent on the bus or others unable to work a flexible work schedule)
A CEO:
• To increase global presence, product mix, and market share to improve and maintain shareholder earnings/value.
1) Mergers and acquisitions
2) Reengineering and change management
3) International corporate leadership experience
4) Visionary strategist; identify and pursue new growth opportunities
5) Board member and shareholder relations management
6) Develop world-class teams to achieve world-class results
7) Possess an MBA from Oxford in International Business
8) Skilled in raising capital for growth and expansion
• Value-added Message: Have built/managed two million-dollar companies (Able to build a 3rd one)
Once you have identified your Ultimate Results, Core Strengths, and Value-added messages, you will have all the messages needed to create a powerfully effective resume (and to conduct a flawless job transition campaign).