My husband and I sold our home this month (yeah!). The house had been on the market for over a year. It took me some time to work through the reality that although I loved the home and understandably had personal attachments to it (20 years of memories), it was pitted against a flood of others with comparable features: pricing, square footage, design, etc. It had no intrinsic value to the buyers out there.
So we diligently went about the business of making it marketable: fix-ups, decluttering, staging, and keeping it perpetually presentable for the inevitable short-notice showings. We waited for that right buyer, and it happened. There was a couple out there who liked it, and welcomed it into their lives as the right fit.
It is also a buyer’s market for the job seeker. It is important for you, the individual candidate, to put your sensitivities aside, and think about what the buyer will want and how you can help them. It’s not personal! There are many candidates out there with comparable features: degrees, years of experience, job titles, etc. While there are many variables involved in conducting a successful job campaign, the résumé is still essentially that staging piece.
Staging by definition is the act of preparing for a sale in a marketplace, with the goal of making the home (candidate) appealing to the highest number of potential buyers, thereby selling a property (candidate) more swiftly and for more money. Staging techniques focus on improving a property’s (candidate’s) appeal by transforming it into a welcoming, attractive product wanted by the right buyers. Résumé! Bingo!
The résumé is arguably the most important “staging” to securing your next job interview (and subsequent job offer). The key is to pay attention to the content and presentation focused on your target audience or buyers!
- The first quarter of the first page is the résumé’s most important real estate space. Just as walking into the front entry of a home, this area attracts the buyer’s initial eye contact and interest. The reader will spend 10-30 seconds reading this section and will make a premature (right or wrong) decision as to whether the candidate is worthy of an interview. It’s imperative to make yourself visible and to present your most powerful and unique parts while also covering what the hiring folks are looking for. Make your readers’ eyes stop by giving them something to catch their attention! Be prepared with a crystal-clear headline title (your dual focus and credibility) and branding verbiage to show immediately what you bring to the table, what you are known for, and what sets you apart from the competition. This is not puffery. We are talking authentic and consistent brand and value proposition.
- Your name is your number-one brand. Use a larger font than for the rest of your contact information. Put your former last name or “conversational name” in parentheses if there is “paper trail” with those references. Make your name the most visible part of your résumé. This has the subtle effect of linking your name with all of the accomplishments and successes that follow.
- Use a professional email user name. “sweetiepie84” is just not good branding. Use a variation of your full name to display on your resume such as [email protected]. There are hireable candidates who never get to the interview stage simply became of an inappropriate email name. Some of the worst examples that come to mind (from those I’ve seen in the last week) are he-man, hot-chick and goofy-guy#1, just to name a few. Email names give an employer an impression before a candidate has an opportunity to present their skills. Even the nicest (take the sweetiepie example), can still be viewed as nonprofessional. The lesson relative to walking in the front entry of a home and first impressions? You may never get a foot in the door with an inappropriate email name. While you never know how an employer perceives you before they meet you, you can control some of the variables before they evaluate you. Use YOUR name, as it connects and brands you. If it is a common name, fill it with initials, surnames, or a marketable credential. I suggest that my clients set up a free Gmail account. Advantages include spam protection, powerful search features, mobile access, threaded conversions and seamless integration with other Google applications.
- Your experience, skills and value should match the expectations of the targeted position/audience. Study the posted job description that you are applying for, locate the key qualifications/criteria sought, and determine which of them most align with your strongest competencies. It is critical to use keywords, particularly when the hiring organization uses talent/HR management software to digitally scan applicant résumés. Using keywords will increase the odds that your résumé is assigned the right level of interest; and of getting in front of the decision-makers, aka buyers!
- Entice the reader by justifying the skills and/or brand contained in the top section of the résumé (headline, tagline, profile and/or keywords). Market your professional success stories. Each job seeker has accomplishments in the workplace he/she should be proud of and ready to talk about. Whet the buyer’s appetite to hear more about your successes by sprinkling your résumé with some stories. Perhaps you were recognized as Top Salesperson or other awards. Perhaps it was how you calmed an angry customer, saved your employer money, or brought in new revenues through a creative idea. Your résumé should devote a lion’s share of its real estate space to showcasing metrics-driven achievements. Use dollars, percentages and numbers as much as possible. One format that works well is to present an overview of your role and accountability in a BRIEF paragraph format. Then use bullets to showcase accomplishments. Write tight to keep these short as well. For every statement, ask the “so what” question. What were the results? Impact? How were things better for your employer and those you served because of what you achieved?
- Edit, edit and edit again. Although recommending that you make sure your résumé is free of errors in grammar, spelling or punctuation may seem “no duh” advice; it is exactly these types of mistakes that are deal-breakers. It’s like the home buyer just opening the door and then immediately turning away; those screening résumés frequently toss those containing errors into the physical or electronic trash pile. Go beyond using spell-check. Have three or more people you trust as proofreaders review your résumé. Read it out loud and proofread it with your own eyes. Make sure you don’t mix up words (their versus they’re). Be consistent with using or not using periods after bullets. Verify that you have not inadvertently used a word that was spelled correctly; but was not the right word choice (I recently saw a résumé that referred to the candidate’s “Consistently tanking as top sales producer” instead of the obvious right word choice, “ranking”. Another candidate spoke English and “Spinach”. You get the gist. Review with an Eagle eye everything on your résumé—from size of fonts to verb tenses.
The résumé, though powerful, is that staging tool. It is not enough by itself. Whether a home seller is handling the sale independently or working through a broker/agent, there are strategies and tactics that are important. Marketing and networking are crucial activities. This is true for selling yourself in the job market too. Take time to carefully research what you want (position) and where (employer). Expand your network face-to-face and online. Make phone calls. Conduct informational interviews. Ask questions and talk to as many people as you can about what you want and the value you offer. These activities, combined with that wonderfully staged résumé, will help you transition from “selling” to “sold” in a buyer’s market!! Best wishes in your job search campaign!!
