Being at the top of your game in your current profession or position is fantastic. In fact, it’s the best to seek new employment. After all, your confidence is soaring, your results are spot on, and your successes are easy to reference. Having a balanced and realistic perspective of seeking your next opportunity is much easier when you feel good about yourself, right? So why do so many professionals flounder when trying to transition during optimum performance?
There are many reasons however, one reoccurring trend that I see happens when the top performer has a grandiose vision of oneself and talents. More often than not, many professionals prematurely jump into a new career search, hire a resume writer, and throw caution to the wind assuming that a new piece of paper will magically open doors. NOT! [Realistic]
Identifying when you are ready for a resume takes a great deal of objectivity and self-awareness. Tips for setting yourself up for success before hiring a resume writer include being aware that you must:
Set realistic goals:
Are you trying to acquire a position in a new industry and/or new title? If yes, realize you may be taking a significant pay cut. Just because you are earning $200K in your current role for a small company doesn’t mean you will earn the same pay with a similar title in a larger company.
Identify your transferable skill sets and/or be open to your resume writer/coach to do this for you:
If your writer/coach has made a recommendation based on your behavioral strengths, listen to the feedback objectively. A Director of a small company generating $5M annual revenue will likely not be a “right fit” as a Director at a large-scale organization generating $100M. Being a Buyer for a 500 square foot retail store doesn’t equate to being a Buyer for a multi-million dollar clothing brand.
Target your resume to a specific job position:
Having a laser-focused resume with your related achievements will open more doors than a general resume that includes the kitchen sink. Here we are, its 2015 and many candidates continue to think that they will be more marketable by showing up on paper with every position and achievement ticked and tied over the past 20 years. This simply tells the reader, “you’re old and unaware of current trends.” Keep it simple and list your past 10-years of employment with 2-3 successes per position. Letting it all hang out vs. carefully tailoring very specific relatable achievements will surely get your resume tossed to the side. Less continues to be more.
Show up for your resume writing session prepared:
Some resume writers conduct intake sessions using a worksheet plus a phone interview, some work directly from a worksheet, and still others work directly conducting the intake session via telephone or skype. Regardless of how the resume writer works, you must show up prepared.
Know what you can realistically do:
Know your statistics. Know your strengths. Know your projects. Know your results. People who are successful during the resume intake session and/or coaching session excel in the overall process. Asking the resume writer or career coach, “Do you think I can get this job?” is a question that cannot be answered. A resume writer nor a career coach have the answer to this question. What they can tell you is what your strengths appear to be based on past work history.
The resume writer or resume coach is skilled in putting together a marketing campaign on paper with the information that the client is providing:
A resume writer or resume coach is not in a position to create fiction out of your skills. If you don’t know what you’ve done, your resume writer certainly doesn’t know what you’ve done.
One size does not fit all:
If you are targeting a position in a large scale company, your resume will be written as such. If you are targeting a position for a college or university, your resume will more than likely be a CV. Much like a product on the shelf in the store, the label speaks to a specific audience. Your resume is the same. People who succeed in collaborating with their resume writer or resume coach are aware of the subtle marketing nuances for each industry.
“Show 100 recruiters one resume and you will likely have 100 different reactions, likes, dislikes, and criticism.” This is the primary reason that it is critical that you master the skill of having acute career focus and following these important steps.
