By Cindy Kraft, RCPBS, RCOIS, CCM, CCMC, CPRW, JCTC
Online ID/Reputation Management & Niche Marketing Expert – Career Thought Leaders Consortium
President – Executive Essentials, d/b/a the CFO-Coach.com
Email:
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/cfocoach
LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/cindykraft
Phone: 813-655-0658
How do the Internet, our fast–paced instant gratification craving, and the Blackberry influence job search and career management activities? Here’s what I’m finding … for some people it really is 25 words … OR LESS! The constant connection age brings with it a new way of reading material, and there is a bias towards short, sweet, and to the point.
Proof of that are Twitter and Twit Pitch. Twitter is the concept of microblogging using less than 140 characters and a Twit Pitch is delivering your elevator pitch in less than 20 words. If you have a Blackberry, you know that reading long documents is not practical … nor is it likely to engage a reader for very long.
Résumés read on a Blackberry, and even paper résumés, need to sell value quickly. How do you meet the preferences of all the different types of readers? Is a one page résumé for a senior–level executive really practical? How can you possibly sell yourself in 20 words or less?
One suggestion is to have a compelling and branded marketable value proposition (MVP) that headlines your résumé, and which is supported by everything else that follows. When a profile is written like a micro–résumé, it fills the requirement for the Blackberry reader while providing the back up information preferred by NBs.
A compelling MVP makes sense, right? When it is compelling, the emotional connection has been made with a reader that translates to … “this is a person we need to talk with because he has solved problems we are experiencing.” In the mind of the company, this translates to “money in the bank.”
But where does the “branded” piece fit? Branding is the intangible that illustrates “how” you do what you do, conveys passion, and clearly shows chemistry and culture fit.
While compelling is what wins the interview, branding is what wins the job. Compelling is synonymous with performance (and it is all about performance, not responsibilities). Branding is illustrative of how you do what you do and why you were successful.
With a compelling and branded MVP, you can now begin building your arsenal of career weapons. Obviously, your résumé is essential. But now, perhaps it is a shorter version of a résumé that is accompanied by a Leadership Brief that contains selected case studies of your leadership initiatives … a strategy that appeals to different types of readers and differentiates you from the competition.
Cover letters that create interest and support a compelling and branded MVP are also critical marketing documents. Some people read cover letters first, others read them last, and some never read them. Using cover letters ensures that you appeal to those who do read them.
An Executive Bio is another critical marketing document to include in your arsenal. If you have a profile at Linked In (and I really hope you do), they have a 2,000 character limit for summaries. Precisely for the reasons in my opening paragraph, Linked In forces its members to write concise bios. A branded bio with a clear MVP can really make you stand out from the crowd.
As shorter attention spans combined with overall busyness continue to drive the way people work, the ability to convey your MVP quickly, clearly, and succinctly will become even more critical to achieving success.
