The Job Search Document Trifecta: Enhanced Resume, Marketing Plan, T-Style Cover Letter
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Just as a horse race trifecta bet pays off big when you back a winning combination, a job searcher will increase the odds of landing a great new job sooner when effectively creating and combining documents. This presentation will cover enhancing one's resume to strengthen the "above the fold" content, and creating a personal marketing plan to increase networking effectiveness. A T-style cover letter rounds out the "trifecta" of documents.
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The Job Search Document Trifecta: Enhanced Resume, Marketing Plan, T-Style Cover Letter
- 1. WORKSHOP THE JOB SEARCH DOCUMENTTHE JOB SEARCH DOCUMENTTHE JOB SEARCH DOCUMENTTHE JOB SEARCH DOCUMENT TRIFECTATRIFECTATRIFECTATRIFECTA THE JOB SEARCH DOCUMENTTHE JOB SEARCH DOCUMENTTHE JOB SEARCH DOCUMENTTHE JOB SEARCH DOCUMENT TRIFECTATRIFECTATRIFECTATRIFECTA
- 3. 3 3 THIS ISTHIS ISTHIS ISTHIS ISTHIS ISTHIS ISTHIS ISTHIS IS NOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOT ABOUT HORSESABOUT HORSESABOUT HORSESABOUT HORSESABOUT HORSESABOUT HORSESABOUT HORSESABOUT HORSES
- 4. 4 4 INCREASING YOUR ODDSINCREASING YOUR ODDSINCREASING YOUR ODDSINCREASING YOUR ODDSINCREASING YOUR ODDSINCREASING YOUR ODDSINCREASING YOUR ODDSINCREASING YOUR ODDS
- 5. 5 TONIGHTTONIGHTTONIGHTTONIGHT’’’’S OBJECTIVESS OBJECTIVESS OBJECTIVESS OBJECTIVES • PROMOTE your VALUE • ALIGN your SKILLS • UNIFY your PRESENTATION 5
- 6. 6 LETLETLETLET’’’’S START!S START!S START!S START! 6
- 7. 7 TRIFECTA:TRIFECTA:TRIFECTA:TRIFECTA: COMBINATION ofCOMBINATION ofCOMBINATION ofCOMBINATION of 3333 7 MAXIMIZE YOUR RESULTS: • WIN – 1st PLACE – T-LETTER • PLACE – 2nd PLACE – MKTG PLAN • SHOW – 3rd PLACE – RESUME + COMBINE ALL THREE – WIN BIG!!
- 8. 8 SHOWSHOWSHOWSHOW –––– ENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUME 8
- 9. 9 ENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUME –––– SAMPLESAMPLESAMPLESAMPLE 9
- 10. 10 ENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUME –––– SAMPLESAMPLESAMPLESAMPLE 10
- 11. 11 11 USEUSEUSEUSE PARPARPARPARIMUTUEL FORMIMUTUEL FORMIMUTUEL FORMIMUTUEL FORM
- 12. 12 PARPARPARPAR STATEMENTSSTATEMENTSSTATEMENTSSTATEMENTS P-A-R stands for the: •• PPROBLEM you ENCOUNTERED •• AACTIONS you TOOK •• RRESULTS you ACHIEVED Sometimes also called RAP or SAR 12
- 13. 13 ENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUMEENHANCED RESUME –––– PPPP----AAAA----RRRR 13
- 14. 14 PLACEPLACEPLACEPLACE –––– MARKETING PLANMARKETING PLANMARKETING PLANMARKETING PLAN 14
- 15. 15 MARKETING PLANMARKETING PLANMARKETING PLANMARKETING PLAN –––– SAMPLESAMPLESAMPLESAMPLE 15
- 16. 16 MARKETING PLANMARKETING PLANMARKETING PLANMARKETING PLAN –––– SAMPLESAMPLESAMPLESAMPLE 16
- 20. 20 BRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRING ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘EM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHER 20 BRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRING ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘EM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHER
- 21. 21 BRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRING ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘EM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHER 21 BRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRING ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘EM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHEREM ALL TOGETHER
- 22. 22 HANDI (RE)CAPHANDI (RE)CAPHANDI (RE)CAPHANDI (RE)CAP 22 TO MAXIMIZE YOUR RESULTS: • T-LETTER • MARKETING PLAN • ENHANCED RESUME
- 23. 23 FINISH STRONG!FINISH STRONG!FINISH STRONG!FINISH STRONG! 23
- 24. 24 DONDONDONDON’’’’T COME UP SHORT!T COME UP SHORT!T COME UP SHORT!T COME UP SHORT! 24
- 25. 25 CHECK YOUR RESULTSCHECK YOUR RESULTSCHECK YOUR RESULTSCHECK YOUR RESULTS 25
- 27. 27 YOU WIN!!YOU WIN!!YOU WIN!!YOU WIN!! 27
- 28. 28 YOU WIN!!YOU WIN!!YOU WIN!!YOU WIN!! –––– ACTION ITEMACTION ITEMACTION ITEMACTION ITEM 28 If you’d like me to send templates for: • Enhanced Resume • Marketing Plan • T-Letter Please send me a request e-mail to: KJKJ [at][at] LeggUppLeggUpp [dot][dot] comcom and tell me any one of the numbers you noticed during this presentation.
- 29. 29 THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU! 29 THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!
Editor's Notes
- Tonight I will present a topic about which I am quite passionate, because I believe that these documents helped me to land my current job. I gave this presentation a few years ago, but it wasn’t as colourful or themed. But recently, when I agreed to give it again, I decided to completely retool the slide deck. I picked the term “trifecta” as this is used in horse racing to indicate winning with three. And, as you’ll see, this is what I hope that you will do, too – win with three. So, let’s begin.
- I like to always start with a warm-up slide. It give me a chance to assess the audience, and to engage as well. So, first, with a show of hands, may I ask did you previously view the LinkedIn presentation? And, if you did, did you also take action, and make some improvements to your LinkedIn profile since then? I’m going to ask that you commit to taking some action as well, so get ready for that. [Photo credit: David Monniaux, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.]
- This slide is a disclaimer. Tonight, you will see many images of race horses. I used them to help make this presentation POP. But, don’t be fooled. This isn’t about them, it’s about YOU! It’s about… [Photo credit: Matt Brockmeyer (Galopin), from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.]
- It’s about increasing your odds of getting your next job quicker, and setting a foundation in place, so, if necessary, that you can use that to do it again in the future. So, I’ll ask a classic question, “Does anyone know the definition of job security?” Well, it’s your ability to get your next job. Pretty much, the concept of job security back in our parents’ era is no longer. So, as the Marines are known to say, we must improvise, adapt, and overcome.
- Here we go! Tonight, I hope to show you how you can better promote your value. You’ll do this mostly on paper, and to friends, family, networking contacts, companies, and hopefully, to your next boss. We’ll also cover how to best align your skills with the job requirements, to increase your visibility and selectability. And, finally, you’ll learn how to unify your presentation, so that you’ll appear more professional, more polished, more attractive to hire.
- So, let’s start!! [Photo credit: Robert Hensley, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.]
- Now, here’s where the “trifecta” comes in. At a race track, when someone bets a trifecta, they bet on three horses together. And, if that bet comes in, they win big. How many of you have ever heard of Win, Place & Show? In racing terms, the Show position is 3rd, the Place is 2nd, and the Win, or winner, is 1st. I will showcase three separate job search documents, these are: the T-Letter, the Marketing Plan, and an Enhanced Resume. If you use all three well, you may very well win big, and score that next great position.
- Starting with 3rd, leading up to the win, we have your resume. When I lost my job a few years back, I was blessed to have been given the benefit of outplacement services. While there, my career counselor recommended that I rework my resume. Frankly, I thought that what I already had was fine, and you may as well. I hope to now convince you otherwise… [Photo credit: Anthony92931, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.]
- The changes that she advised me to make were mostly to add seemingly redundant information at the top of my resume. Under the summary, she instructed me to place my MBA degree, and also some of my certifications. I thought, hey, I already have these included in the sections for these types of items. And I was mildly resistant, then. What I learned next served to convince me otherwise. You see, an HR screener may get a few hundred resumes for an open position. And, their job is to select a handful or two of viable candidates to pass on to the hiring manager for review. With hundreds of resumes, how much time do you think they spend on each resume in that pile? On average, they may spend as little as 10 to 15 seconds on each. So, it’s really important that your resume gets their attention, AND gets into the right pile. Hence, everything that is shown “above the fold” is extremely important. If you’re not familiar with the term “above the fold”, it’s typically used for newspapers, such as the New York Times, for example. At a newsstand, what’s above the fold is face up, below the fold is face down. So, what gets noticed?? I received two other recommendations from my counselor, as well. Take three or four Key Accomplishments from my Experience section, and bring those up above the fold as well. And, also, to highlight and display my Areas of Expertise right below the Accomplishments. So, you can see how all of your great selling points are now front-loaded on your resume. Hence, I call it an Enhanced Resume, and you can do this as well.
- This slide simply illustrates that your resume remains mostly intact. You are just recounting the important information at the top, so as to make it easily for you to stand out.
- In racing terminology, the word parimutuel refers to setting the odds based upon how many bet how much on each of the horses in a particular race. I want to focus next on only the first three letter in PARimutuel, though. P-A-R. [Photo credit: In the public domain from dfmock at the Wikipedia Project, via Wikimedia Commons.]
- You may have heard about PAR statements before. PAR stands for: PROBLEM ACTION RESULT P-A-R I’d ask you to review the bullet points in your resume, and if needed, look to rework each into this format. You should eloquently, and succinctly, state the problem which you encountered, the actions which you took, and the result that you achieved. To illustrate this, let’s go back a couple of slides to our Enhanced Resume example.
- Here’s our resume example from before… And, I’ve now made a portion to display at 110% magnification on this slide. See, I’m already giving you 110%! (Groan.) Let’s take a look at a couple of examples, so that you get the feel of how P-A-R sounds. What PAR does for you, is it: Highlights your experience to the hiring manager; Shows that you are a PROBLEM-solver; Shows that you take ACTION; Shows that you get RESULTS. Would you feel comfortable about hiring a problem-solver, who takes action, and gets results? So would I!
- Now, on to 2nd place, the Marketing Plan. May I ask: Do you have, and use, a Personal Marketing Plan in your job search already? One more question: Are you hearing of a Marketing Plan for the first time now? Well, a Marketing Plan is one of the lesser known, but rather important documents in your arsenal. It’s like a mini-resume for your networking contacts. Let’s have a look at a example. [Photo credit: Anthony92931, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.]
- Looking just at the very top, what do you notice? Yes, it looks somewhat the same as the resume in the last section, with a letterhead and summary. But, then it begin to change up a bit. Let’s review briefly some of the sections… Objective -- Here you give examples of job titles which would be a good fit for you. Different companies have different title structures. In fact, when I worked at a bank, many co-workers were vice presidents there. Qualifications – You can pull out your most impressive PAR bullet points from your resume to include here. Then, you should where you’ve been, listing your Employers and your Education and Certs.
- After that, you list the geographic areas where you’re currently willing to work. This gives the reader guidance. Some job seeker are willing to relocate, or to commute longer distances than others. Next, and this is very different, and especially effective – you highlight Potential Contributions which you could make for your next hiring manager: to solve problems, to increase revenue, etc. Finally, you list your target companies. Doing this starts the reader thinking about who in their network they may know in these companies, in order to help you. It also helps you to focus on where you should be spending your time networking into, by search for potential contacts and connections using LinkedIn, etc. As you’ll discover, the Marketing Plan can be quite effective. So, commit to creating one tomorrow, if you don’t already have one. And, if you have one, commit to reviewing it and revising it, if needed.
- Okay, so we’re now at 1st place – the T-Letter. This is a technique which I discovered in my search, which I thought was a wonderful idea. I hope that you will, too. [Photo credit: 76wins, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.]
- On this slide, you’ll notice why it is called a T-letter, because the layout forms a ‘T’ shape. Very simply, you copy and paste the requirements from a job posting into the section on the left-hand side. On the right-hand side, you include the skill and experience that you have, that meet the requirements. It does take some time and typing to do this, but it has some valuable payoffs. First, if when you’re filling it out, you’re struggling to make your skills and experience fit the reqs, then maybe you’re a good fit for this particular position. But, if you do align well with the posted requirements, then you’ve made an easily visible case for why they should consider you, interview you, and perhaps, hire you!
- You can use the sample to show you how you may word the opening and closing paragraphs for this type of cover letter. But the real value is in the middle section.
- So, let’s now look at how you can bring this all together… Say, you’ve used the Marketing Plan with your network, and you’ve found a terrific opportunity. You’ve enhanced you resume, to lift up and highlight your value. And, you’ve prepared a T-letter to make very clear why you’re the best candidate for the job. [Photo credit: Rennett Stowe, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.]
- This is how I bring the documents together when responding via e-mail to a job posting. I recount the opening and closing paragraphs from my T-letter in the e-mail. And, I create a unified, PDF-formatted documents, containing both the T-letter and resume together. I do this by copying and pasting both documents into one MS Word document, then fixing any page break issues, and printing as a PDF into a file. I use a free program called CutePDF to print to a PDF, but you can use what works best for you, and your current system. I then attach the PDF to the e-mail, and send. This approach got me an impromptu phone interview from my current boss. You can also use this PDF combo approach when uploading into many online job submissions as well.
- So, to recap… We covered the T-letter, to make it easy for HR to select you for further consideration. We covered the Marketing Plan, to make it easy for your network to better look out for jobs for you. And, we covered the Enhanced Resume, to make it easy for your value to be seen in a quick scan by HR or hiring managers.
- So, please, take these techniques and put the them into motion as soon as you can. I guess that I’m asking you to “Place your bets…” [Photo credit: Rennett Stowe, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.]
- If you commit to doing this well, you won’t come up short. (Yes, I know. Bad jockey joke.) [Photo credit: Ronnie Macdonald, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.]
- When you’ve put this into play, check to see what is working for you, and what isn’t – and adjust.
- I think that we may have time for a few questions. [Photo credit: Maryland GovPics, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.]
- My objective tonight was to provide some solid, valuable tools, tips and techniques so that you may win – and get that next great job faster. I hope that I was successful. [Photo credit: Superbass, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.] [Additional photo credit information: © Superbass / CC-BY-SA-3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons) – see http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weidenpesch_Otto_March-Rennen_2011_1.jpg]
- So as to help you to WIN, I’ll be glad to send out the Word templates for the sample documents which I handed out. What I ask is that you send me an e-mail, and be sure to let me know one of the numbers which you noticed during tonight’s presentation. I want to see how closely you were paying attention. My e-mail address is KJ [at] LeggUpp [dot] com, that’s two G’s and two U’s in LeggUpp.
- Thank you for your attention and participation. [Photo credit: Paul Mannix, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.]