Identifying Client Skills

I've always struggled with this a bit. What is a skill, exactly? I found some clarity in The Quick Resume & Cover Letter Book.

Author J. Michael Farr identifies several types of skills, including job-related skills, basic skills, and "key transferable skills." For both types of skills, it's important to list them, but then provide justification to "back up" your assertion that your client has these skills.

Job-related skills are the ones the client needs to perform his/her job effectively.
For example--
Auto mechanic: tune engines, repair brakes
Accountant: create a general ledger

Basic skills include:

• Basic academic qualifications
• Accepting supervision
• Following instructions
• Getting along well with coworkers
• Meeting deadlines
• Punctuality
• Good work ethic
• Productivity
• Honesty

Key transferable skills include:

• Instructing others
• Public speaking
• Managing people
• Managing money/budgets
• Meeting the public
• Working effectively as part of a team
• Negotiating
• Organizing/managing projects
• Communicating orally and in writing
• Organizational effectiveness and leadership
• Self-motivation and goal setting
• Creative thinking and problem solving
  

You can also find relevant skills from job postings for the types of position the client is seeking. For example:

"Business management position requiring skills in problem solving, planning, organizing, and cost management."

Spot Runner: A New Tool for Getting Business?

I first heard about Spot Runner a few years back, when I read an article about them in a business magazine. The premise was simple: They created television spots for multiple industries that could be "tagged" -- that is, you could customize them to easily fit your company.

They're an Internet-based advertising agency that makes it easy for local businesses to advertise on television.

They were designed for smaller businesses, like dentists, Realtors®, or boutique travel agencies ... and now they've even got two ads available for resume writers specifically. (I'd embed the videos directly in here, but I can't figure out how!)

Running a television campaign isn't cheap -- Spot Runner recommends running them for a minimum of four weeks to achieve your result of either brand awareness or direct response. You could run a pretty comprehensive campaign for as little as $500 a week (plus the one-time cost of customizing the ad). But you'll pay as little as $4 per ad, and get on high-profile channels in *your* area.

I ran a sample campaign in Omaha and $4,000 could get me 854 spots over a four week period on cable channels like E!, HGTV, and more. It averaged out to less than $5.00 per commercial, and that included the ad production AND airtime to run the ads.

I can see this being a great lead generator for local or regional resume writing groups, like the Arizona Resume Writer's Council. It might be too much exposure for a small, single writer (imagine if you ran 200 spots per week, and you got 40-50 calls per week! Better have your subcontractors lined up ahead of time!) But if you converted even 10% of the callers, that would be 4-5 new projects per week.

Click the ad below and search the TV ad inventory for "resume writing" to find the two spots -- "Get The Edge" and "Steve's World." Then imagine *your* resume writing business is the one being promoted. It could just revolutionize your business. (Especially if you target a local clientele and charge at least $250 per resume package on average.)

Is The Current Style of Qualifications Profile Dead?

I've been thinking about this for a week now, because a couple of resume writers talked to me about it in Savannah. And with yesterday's post, about the recruiter not seeing the value in the profile, I got to wondering, "Are profiles going out of style?"

I think the answer is yes -- and no.

The flowery, puffy, superlative-filled qualifications profile is dead. Or should be. I've written them myself:
"Seasoned sales professional with demonstrated organizational, planning, interpersonal, and team building capabilities. Skilled in identifying, prioritizing, and capturing new business opportunities. Proven ability to deliver bottom-line results under pressure. Excellent relationship-building skills with the capacity to work effectively with individuals at all levels and from diverse backgrounds."

Blah, blah, Blah, BLAH, BLAH!

Sharon Williams, of JobRockit, was the one who first clued me into the demise of the traditional qualifications profile, telling me that resume critiquers at a recent session were simply crossing off the profiles. And the repeated use of "personal brand" when discussing the resume development process only drove a few more nails into the traditional qualifications profile's coffin.

The "so what" factor comes into play here, as does this question: "Does the qualifications profile you just wrote truly reflect this client, or could it be written of a dozen other candidates with his same job objective?"

I'll have more on this topic, including how to write new-style qualifications profiles -- and a future interview with the queen of personal branding, Kirsten Dixson, co-author (with William Arruda) of "Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand."

A Technical Recruiter's Perspective on Resumes

I corresponded recently with a temporary technical recruiter in Seattle, Washington who does contract placements. She shared her insights into the resume screening process -- very instructive for resume writers working with these candidates. She wanted me to note, however, that executive placements are handled quite differently. Temporary placement firms are sourcing for 10-30 jobs per day. She works specifically with IT candidates.

If your client works with a temporary placement firm, due to the high volume of job openings, the job she calls you about today might be gone tomorrow. That's not only due to the larger number of candidates out there, but also because contract recruiters (unlike contingency recruiters) are competing against other contract recruiters. ("I know if I don't fill the job with my candidate, someone like Kelly, Volt, or the like will get the position filled before me," she says.)

Here are her comments about resumes:

• Candidates need to put their phone number on all documents and in e-mails. If you don't provide immediate contact information (and that means phone, not e-mail), you might miss your chance. And tell your clients to return all phone calls promptly. Candidates who call back a week later miss the boat. With 10 jobs to fill a day, the job isn't going to be there in a week, or even a few days.
• Soft skills are important, but hard skills win interviews. What kind of projects have they worked on? What are their technical skills? Areas of expertise? It's not enough to say "good with people." What industry? What tools? What did you create? She wants "the whole alphabet soup." Linus or MS? Database or Web/front end? .net or Java? She'd prefer to have it in a grid to match against the job description. List the skill and the number of years used.
• Don't use a two-column table if you know it's going to be imported into a database. You'll lose the formatting and then it just looks jumbled. ("If you're submitting it to a recruiter, please realize the hiring manager won't see your formatting," she notes.)
  
• "I only give the resume 10 seconds. I read from the bottom up, looking for career history and how the candidate evolved. The hiring manager may be interested in the qualifications profile, but it's less important for me." (As a former resume writer and career coach, she said that's hard for her to admit.)
• Length is less important than depth. ("Six page tech resumes can be fine, surprisingly," she says.) Follow the old adage: "Make the resume as long as it needs to be to make the candidate look credible and worth the money they are asking.")