Exercise: What's Your 10-10-10?
"Time is the coin of your life. Be careful lest you let other people spend
it for you." - Carl Sandburg
Have you ever felt pulled in a dozen different directions? Have you ever had
a dilemma and couldn't figure out what to do, no matter how long or hard you
thought about it? Does it sometimes seem your life is out of control?
Wouldn't it be nice to have a system to help you figure out which course of
action to take?
There is such a system - and it's in Suzy Welch's new book 10-10-10. There's
a reason Suzy (former Editor of Harvard Business Review) has been on all the
talk shows and why her 3-step process has resonated with people around the
world.
10-10-10 puts metrics to dilemmas. When we're confused and stressed by
conflicting priorities, answering these 3 questions can provide much-needed
clarity.
For example, a client wants you to work late to finish a project for him,
but you promised your kids you'd be at their soccer game. Or, you're trying
to decide whether to stay in a relationship with a person you like but don't
love. Or, your professional association is pressuring you to chair a
committee but you're already going 24/7. What to do?
Suzy suggests you pose your dilemma as a question. For example, "Should I
stay late and finish this project?", "Should I end this relationship?",
"Should I take this position?"
Think of all possible courses of action. Then ask yourself what the
consequences of each option will be in:
10 days?
10 months?
10 years?
Now, compare the info you've gathered to your values, goals and needs. Ask,
"With what I know now about the consequences of these possible courses of
action, which decision will best help me create a life of my own making."
It is amazing how that simple process can help carve out a path through
something that seems overwhelming at the moment.
POP! Your Resume and Get that Interview
by
Sam Horn, Intrigue Expert
Award-winning speaker, consultant and author of
POP! Create the Perfect
Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything
(Perigee-Penguin, ‘09)
In today’s challenging times, with millions of people looking for a job,
it’s more important than ever to have a resume that captures the favorable
attention of recruiters and potential employers.
You may be thinking, “Easier said than done.”
The good news is, there ARE innovative ways to
POP!
of the pack.
Here are three steps you can take to produce attention-grabbing resumes that
get noticed and maybe even get you (or your client, friend or family member)
hired!
Tip 1. Don’t Make the Resume About You
“Enough about me. What do YOU think about me?” - Bette Midler’s character in
the movie “Wings”
A resume needs to be about what the potential employer
needs,
not what we want. Focus on how you can fulfill their job
requirements and produce tangible results.
Otherwise, a resume is like a one-sided conversation.
This is what I’ve done. This is what I want. Here are my achievements, my
positions, my educational background, my hobbies. Me, me, me, me.
This is a golden opportunity to be different.
Instead of following the standard format which is a chronological laundry
list of jobs – why not feature specific needs mentioned in the job
description and pithily point out how you have already successfully
fulfilled each of them?
For example, one of my consulting clients was applying for a position in
which she’d be the Executive Director of an association. She knew they were
looking for someone who could increase membership, improve the quality of
monthly and annual programs and ramp up their website presence and
e-commerce efforts.
Instead of boringly listing the positions she’s held over the last 30 years
– many of which didn’t even pertain to association management – she
highlighted the following:
Increase membership: As President of the Northern California chapter
of (her professional association,) we increased membership form 140 to 230
professional members in the first six months, and initiated an
affiliate-vendor membership drive which added an additional 75 new members
(and $150,000 in annual revenue).
Improve quality of monthly programs and annual conference:
As Convention Chair for (her professional association), we acquired 5
corporate sponsors to pay for our opening, closing, and luncheon
presentations which allowed us to book nationally known keynoters for the
first time in the history of our organization which resulted in 60% more
registrations than the previous year and an additional $145,000 net profit
(and an unprecedented 4.7 out of 5 approval rating from attendees.)
Upgrade Website and E-commerce:
As President of the Northern California chapter (of her professional
association), pioneered a bartering effort to partner with the #1 internet
marketing expert in the country to SEO (search-engine-optimize) our content
for FREE (which included identifying and saturating our site with key words
to bring us up higher in Google rankings).
This resulted in a 300% increase in site-visits within 3 months following
installation, an additional 1200 people added to our database (obtained with
opt-in after requesting a free article), and a 245% increase in sales of
e-books, tele-seminars and webinars produced/donated by association members.
Imagine you were a company rep plowing through the pile of resumes and came
across this resume that proved how this applicant had already successfully
done exactly what you were looking for.
Wouldn’t you be sufficiently impressed to bring her in for an interview?
That’s exactly what happened – and guess who got the job?
Tip 2. Show Them How You’re Going to Make or Save Them Money
“”Money makes the world go around . . .” - lyric from the movie Cabaret
Money may not make the world go around; however sharing specific examples of
you’ve made money in the past for previous employers and how you can do the
same for this prospective employer will definitely get their favorable
attention.
The purpose of a resume isn't to tell - it's to sell.
Unfortunately, many people aren’t comfortable doing this.
In fact, when people are asked to write down the first word that comes to
mind upon hearing the word “salesman,” guess what they say? “Pushy. Hard
sell. Smarmy" and variations on the theme.
The good news, you can ETHICALLY sell yourself on your resume, without
sacrificing your integrity and without making false, grandiose claims.
The secret to selling yourself without making over-stated subjective claims
– is to showcase MEASURABLE, monetary results you’ve produced in the past --
and back them up with metrics and evidence.
That way, you’re not just “saying” you were responsible for a successful
product launch (what does that mean, anyway?) you give specific financial
details such as you increased revenue 30% in 6 months, or you surpassed a
sales quota by $25,00, or you landed a VIP account worth $100,000.
Numbers give your claims “teeth.” Look at the example above of the person
who was applying the executive director position for an association. See how
every single claim was backed up with a percentage – dollar amount – or
number of people?
That is not a pie-in-the-sky claim plucked out of the air. It’s not an
opinion that can’t be proved.
By giving measurable evidence, you are indicating exactly how you will
contribute to this company’s bottom-line.
You are showing you understand it cost money to hire someone. In fact, it
costs a lot of money to run ads, pay someone to review resumes, interview
candidates, train them, and pay their salary.
By including financial results – how much money you’ve made previous
organizations or how much money you’ve saved them – you’re showing future
employers they can trust you to keep to a budget and maintain a healthy
Profit-Loss ratio. They know you’ve generated revenue before and can
(hopefully) do it again – for them.
Most resumes I see have NO numbers or names in them.
Yikes. Furthermore, they focus on indistinct, vague statements such as “was
responsible for training and development.”
What does that mean? How many employees? Six? Six hundred? What does
training and development mean? Designing and delivering supervisory
seminars? Delivering safety lectures? Writing an employee manual? What?
I was preparing a pitch for an author (a book proposal is a resume for a
book that is looking for an “employer/publisher”).
Her bio stated she was an international speaker.
I asked for clarification. “What countries have you spoken in?”
She blushed, hesitated and then ‘fessed up. “I spoke at a conference in
Canada once.”
That’s stretching the truth. It’s never in your best interests to over-state
experience (much less to outright lie). Not only is it unethical; it’s
illegal. It can ruin a reputation and you can be fired if an employer
discovers you made a misleading claim on your resume.
That’s why I suggest you back up every claim with (true!) figures. By
attaching a specific number to a claim, “I’ve spoken to more than 30,000
people in 10 states and in Canada,” you increase believability. Imagine the
Training and Development manager says on his resume, “I’ve conducted more
than 100 orientations for a total of 3500 new employees.” That’s specific.
Now we know (and respect) what he’s talking about.
Tip 3. Don’t Be Shy. If You’ve Accomplished Something Special – Include It!
“There are few times in your life when it isn’t too melodramatic to say
your destiny hangs on the impression you make.” - Barbara Walters
One of the most important things I've learned is, “Our strength taken to an
extreme becomes our Achilles Heel.”
For example, kindness is a wonderful quality. But if we’re kind to people
who are cruel to us; our kindness becomes a weakness.
Having a great sense of humor can be delightful. But if we have to be the
“clown” who’s always the center of attention, not so good.
Are you thinking, “What’s that got to do with resumes?”
Most people are way too humble on their resume.
Humility is a lovely trait. But potential employers can’t read your mind.
If you’ve accomplished something outstanding and don’t include it on your
resume because you don’t like to “boast.,” you could lose out on a job you
could have gotten otherwise.
It’s not bragging if you’ve done it.
It’s your responsibility to let potential employers know about achievements
that may get your foot in their mental door and that may add value for their
organization.
My son Tom is an excellent example of this.
grew up in Hawaii. Even when he was young, if you asked Tom what he wanted
to be, he would point to the sky and say, “Something to do with up there.”
You can imagine how thrilling it was for Tom when he graduated from Virginia
Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and Physics and a minor in
Astronomy and Math. (Suffice it to say, I didn’t help Tom with his
homework!)
Within a week of graduation, Tom applied for a job at NASA’s Johnson Space
Center in Houston, Texas.
He prepared his resume and asked me to take a look at it.
I was glad to do so –and was shocked to see Tom hadn’t included the fact
that he and his college team had won an international contest to plan a
Manned Mission to Mars.
I asked Tom, “Why isn’t this on your resume?”
Tom shrugged and said, “I didn’t want to brag.”
Yikes. I told him, “Tom, it’s not bragging if you’ve done it.
Most of the applicants for this job have similar degrees.
Most of them have a great GPA or were on the Dean’s List. So that’s nothing
special to decision-makers at this point.
If you have an impressive achievement few others can claim; t deserves to go
on your resume. It helps make you stand out and gives them a compelling
reason to bring you in for an interview.
Guess what? Tom got the interview and got the job. Every day he gets to do
work he loves that matters.
As he told me recently, “Mom, this is my dream job. I do something down here
in Mission Control . . .and it affects something up there on the
International Space Station.
Who knows if Tom would have landed that dream job if he had left off that
singular achievement that caught the interviewer’s eye and motivated him to
fly Tom out for a site visit and interview?
So, here's the question . . .
What’s a singular or impressive achievement
you’ve accomplished that
could help you stand out in the stack of resumes?
What can you claim few others can? What have you done that is unique?
If you were Employee of the Month, that goes on your resume.
If you were the top salesperson for your company, that belongs on your
resume.
If you submitted an idea to the Suggestion Box that reduced workplace
accidents by 30%, that deserves to go on your resume.
If you graduated summa cum laude, put it down.
If you compete in triathlons, include it. Who knows? Maybe the interviewer
is an athlete and will be inspired to call you in.
In fact, a client once landed one of the biggest agents in the business by
doing just this. I advised Leslie to put on her book proposal under
Credentials that she rode dressage.
She asked, “That has nothing to do with my book. Why would I include that?”
I smiled and said, “Because the agent you want to work with rides dressage.”
This agent handled some of the biggest authors in the non-fiction genre and
wasn’t really looking for new clients. However, she and Leslie “clicked”
while discussing their horses and dressage lessons and ended up working
together.
What could you include on your resume that gives it a “human” element that
would give an interviewer a good reason to want to interview you? What
intriguing achievement, personal mission, heartfelt hobby, or uncommon
interest could help you POP! out of the pack?
Hope you found these tips helpful?
If you’d like more innovative ways to POP! your career, you communication
and your success, contact:
info@samhorn.com
www.SamHorn.com
for insightful articles, intriguing quotes, how-to video clips and details
about Sam’s consulting services, upcoming speaking engagements, home study
courses,. books and CD’s. . . . and to request her newsletters which are
packed with innovative ways to catapult your personal and professional
success.
********************************************
Sam Horn, America's Intrigue Expert and author of POP! and
Tongue Fu® helps entrepreneurs and organizations create
one-of-a-kind communications that help them break out vs. blend in. Her
presentations receive raves from such clients as NASA, Intel,
Hewlett-Packard, Capital One, Fortune 500 Forum, Inc., and Boeing for being
full of real-life ideas they’re able to use immediately to reap real-world
results . . . and her consulting clients rave about her ability to help them
strategically position themselves so they stand out from the crowd instead
of get lost in the crowd.
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