blueskyresumesblog

Al Gore, Being Authentic and the Oscars

Paul Copcutt has an interesting post today over on Career Hub, where he talks about Al Gore's transformation from wooden political candidate to inspiring advocate.

I don't want this post to be political, but I do find Al Gore a shining example of what happens when we stop acting in an authentic way. It's easy to understand why people do this when they run for President. The long election cycles, constant media scrutiny and "attack ad" mentality mean that candidates have to be careful of every word they say.

I think the most successful politicians are the ones who find a way to shape themselves for public consumption while still retaining some connection to who they are at their core. Ronald Reagan was know for his communication skills. Bill Clinton for his ability to connect with ordinary people. And our current President is widely seen as someone who sticks to his guns no matter what anybody else says.

These are core "brand" values that resonate with people, for good or for ill. We may like or dislike what we see, but we all basically see the same thing.

Somehow Al Gore lost that when he ran for office. Perhaps he wasn't skilled enough at politicking. Perhaps he's too honest to do it convincingly. But Paul's right - as a candidate, he never made the connection with ordinary people that he is making now. I think that's because he is now working on an issue that matters to him, and he is being his own authentic self.

So many of us try to squeeze ourselves into the box we find ourselves in. I did it for years when I worked in HR. I am an introvert and I love to write and analyze. I am happiest when I'm working on a challenging project on my own. Of course, that's the opposite of what HR is. My role as an HR exec was to coach and counsel and train and hire - basically to be with people every minute of every day.

I did well. I was successful. But every day I was tired and felt a little bit more defeated than the day before. And when I finally sought career guidance from the wonderful Rockport Institute, I found out why I felt that way. My work now allows me to spend much more time doing the kind of work I really enjoy, and I don't have to pretend to care about things that are not important to me. It's liberating!

I encourage anyone who feels like me (or Al Gore) to work with a coach and explore what you really want to do. Being authentically who you are is good for the soul, but as Al Gore is proving, it also makes you a thousand times more effective.

Focusing Your Resume

I recently worked with a client who perfectly illustrates one of my golden tenets of resume writing: Know Who You Are.

Most people see resume writing as simply listing their career history, but this is such a shame. A truly effective resume - one that communicates exactly who you are and what you have to offer - will immediately generate lots of interest in your target audience.

My client (let's call him Brett) is an HR executive. He has extensive experience in small and mid-size companies that are experiencing massive change. He's done it all - start-ups, rapid growth, downsizing, mergers, and company liquidations. That means he's flexible, able to cope with rapid change, talented at managing through troubled times, willing to work in an unstructured environment - and someone who can be relied upon to quickly put all the necessary procedures, systems and structures in place. These are Brett's selling points.

But there are also some things Brett is NOT - he's not a Fortune 500 guy - he's never had that experience and he'd probably feel stifled in a big company. He's always been the lead guy and has had to figure things out on his own - he's never had the budget for expensive consultants and he's never worked with a truly leading-edge HR organization. This means he may not be up-to-date on the very latest in the HR field.

Therefore, Brett should target his search on the types of companies who will find his experience especially valuable - small or mid-size companies who are experiencing (or plan to experience) change. Lean, entrepreneurial, fast-paced organizations who need a strong leader to help them get to the next level.

His new resume openly states that he's an expert at 'change leadership' and emphasizes start-ups and turnarounds in the positioning statement. All the way through the new resume, I emphasized Brett's experience in building teams, establishing HR policy for the first time, aligning HR with business goals and managing organizational restructuring. I want CEOs of mid-size organizations to be *wowed* by Brett's resume - and it doesn't matter that larger organizations won't like it, because he doesn't want to work for them anyway. Deciding what to include and what to omit became easy once I knew Brett's value proposition.

If you're not getting a great response to your resume, ask yourself whether your resume conveys exactly who you are and what you have to offer. If not, rework until the document is sharply focused. It's a little scary to narrow your focus ("what if I miss a great opportunity?") but the more specific you are in your resume, the more people will react positively. I promise!

Choose Words Carefully

While reviewing resumes the other day, I came across a few words that reminded me I've been meaning to write this post for a while.

When writing a resume, it's a great idea to use dynamic and even unusual words if they can help catch the eye of the reader and IF they convey the right message. But that's where you need to be careful.

One executive resume I read recently contained this bullet point:

• Conspired with company lawyers to create new and innovative stock option plan.

According to dictionary.com 'conspired' is defined this way:

–verb (used without object) 

1.	to agree together, esp. secretly, to do something wrong, evil, or illegal: They conspired to kill the king.

2.	to act or work together toward the same result or goal.

–verb (used with object) 

3.	to plot (something wrong, evil, or illegal).

So, according to #2, 'conspired' can mean something that's not harmful or evil, but what comes to mind when you hear the word? And especially in the context of stock option plans, which have been coming under a lot of scrutiny recently, the overall impression is of something a little shady. In this case, 'worked with'  or 'collaborated' would be far better word choices.

Here's another recent example:

• Made drastic improvements in margin and sales.

Drastic is defined by dictionary.com as meaning "acting with force or violence" or "extremely severe or extensive." In other words, it has negative connotations and yet here it is being used to describe a positive. A much better word choice would have been "dramatic."

This may just all sound like a writer splitting hairs over things most people don't care about, and I admit that I have more of a fascination with words than most people. But the fact remains that many impressions during the hiring process are made in a split-second.

I truly think the wrong word choice can hurt - not because the reader will say "well THAT was the wrong use of the word 'drastic' - I couldn't possibly interview this person!" But because words have greater impact than we realize, and the reader who skims your resume may form a quick negative impression without even really knowing why.

So if in doubt about a word, consult the dictionary just to make sure that you're conveying exactly what you intend.

Need Help with Your Resume? Check out Freeresumehelp.net

I have been remiss with my blogging recently and I apologize. It's just that there are only so many hours in the day and I've been focused on launching a new resume help website. But it's finally done. (Phew!)

www.freeresumehelp.net is totally devoted to resume and cover letter writing and I tried to make sure it covers the needs of people at all levels. There's a free 7-part resume writing course and lots of articles and links to other resources.

I created the site because so many people need help with their resumes and don't know where to go. And there's more - not only do most people not know how to write a great resume ... they don't even know that they don't know how to write a great resume! And for that reason, many don't even consider hiring a professional writer to help them - they just do some searches online, or buy a book and do it themselves.

And the information they find is all over the place. Some of it is good advice and some of it is bad advice. I see the results every day when people send me their resumes for review, and it's a crying shame because most people would see an immediate increase in their response rate if they could just create a compelling resume.

Hence, my new resume help site. I'd love to know what you think, and whether there is other information you'd like to see, so drop me a comment or an email.