This is a presentation I recently made to fellow career management professionals focusing on successful resume construction and troubleshooting one that is not working.

1. Resume submittal: an arduous journey

2. 3 major obstacles to success

3. Obstacle 1: Electronic submittal Resumes must contain the language (Keywords) that computer software and staffing personnel are likely to input. Otherwise your resume will sit in a black hole and may never be seen

4. Best guess on keywords:Resume language matches job descriptions

5. Keyword mastery Good: Keywords anywhere in the resume (beware ! New technology is catching up to out-of-context ploys) Better: Keywords in current chronology (your job description says you were responsible for using these skills recently; not that you produced results using them) Best: Keywords within recent accomplishments (you produce good results for your company using skills that are in demand!)

6. Obstacle 2: Staffing Personnel: the guardians of decision-makers’ time

7. To gain a recruiter’s support, set yourself apart: show how you achieve results better or differently than competitors

8. Clear focus on a targeted functional position and level Recent and relevant usage of critical skills Demonstrated, measurable and recognized impact on previous employers Promotions and progression to current level To advance, Recruiters need to see:

9. Recruiters Hate Frequent Unexplained Gaps in Chronology. Unemployed in tough market is one thing…every few years is something else Typographical or grammar errors = careless and lazy “Consultant” without engagements = unemployed in stealth mode Lack of balance, thin recent accomplishment with TONS of old glory = yesterday’s news Accomplishments out of scale = overqualified! Managing a $50M budget ≠ startups

10. Obstacle 3: the Hiring Decision-Maker

11. Impact + Presentation

12. Demonstrating Appropriate Impact Improve Sales Increase market share Improve quality Improve productivity Increase profit Reduce expense Reduce turnover Expand/add territory Launch / build/ develop product Improve compliance Reduce liability / risk

13. Differentiation: be qualified, but different (and better!)

15. Functional or non-traditional formats (like pulling all the accomplishments out of the chronology)

16. The language in the resume (key words and industry jargon) is misaligned with or missing from the document

17. More than 15 years of work history / dates that go back further (with some exceptions, of course)

19. Generic language and format

21. No accomplishments

22. Quantifiers that are inconsistent with target roles

23. Accomplishments without context (5% increase in sales might be great following 5 years at 2%)

24. Language used dates the skill set (FORTRAN/Personnel Manager)

26. Self-employed consultants without specific client engagements

27. Irrelevant, short term jobs

28. Results without aligned action steps