The Case Against the Kitchen Sink: Why Résumés Need To Be Only As Long As They Need To Be

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Avoid the impulse to include everything--including the kitchen sink--in your résumé. It need be only as long as it needs to be.

It arrived as a WORD file–about 2.4 megabytes large.

At first, I thought someone emailed me a PowerPoint presentation converted to WORD. But upon opening it, I discovered that the file in my inbox was actually a candidate résumé–the largest one which, in over 14 years of hunting heads, I had ever received. Here, the stats:

• 14 pages
• 1,800+ words
• 9 sections
• 12 candidate references, and
• 13 color graphics (bar charts, pie charts, and a big honkin’ profile portrait on top of each page)

If the sender’s purpose was to shock me then all I can say is MISSION ACCOMPLISHED–indeed, [you] got my attention.

However, once shock subsided I soon realized that the mega file did not include a résumé. Rather it held a catalogue raisonné–an exhaustive listing of everything which this executive experienced in over 12 years on the job. YIKES!

If I, the recipient of such largesse, had been a direct-hiring manager and not a headhunter, then I am certain I would have quickly escaped and moved onto something or someone else.

Careful editing is a critical component of the résumé-writing task. Yet some seasoned executives–afraid that opportunity in a tough and competitive job market will be gotten only when all of their granular details “get ink”–add to their CVs everything including the kitchen sink. (Bad move.)

To paraphrase the iconic line from JFK’s inaugural address: let the word go forth from this time and place…that résumés shall be only as long as they need to be.

Like sands from the hourglass: Too much résumé granularity is not necessarily a good thing.

I am not against in-depth presentations, but I do believe the proper place for sharing a long and detailed career narrative–and for going granular–is the face-to-face interview session. There, a detailed pitch may make a very powerful and positive impression on the hiring manager.

However, to get to the point of a face-to-face interview, a candidate will have had to survive the triage stage during which the hiring manager–allocating mere seconds of eyeball time–saw enough good stuff in [the candidate's] résumé to pull it from the big folder and reach out by phone or email. So do use the résumé real estate extremely well; write and edit it to be only as long as it needs to be.

Are you struggling writing, re-writing, or editing your résumé? Have you thrown into it everything including the kitchen sink, but gotten scant response from hiring managers? Well take heart–help is close at hand. There are several top quality résumé-writing guides on the market from which to choose. The Green Suits recommends Susan Ireland’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume (Fifth Edition).

Brand New on The Green Suits: Solutions Architect at Emarketing Services Company

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Do you have what it takes to be our client's next Solutions Architect? Then contact Randall Byrn at The Green Suits.

We’re excited about the new Solutions Architect opening we have posted to our Jobs Page. It may be worked from a virtual office (anywhere in the US) or from one of our client’s regional offices including NYC. This is a great opportunity with a fantastic company!

Check out the job spec. If you think you’ve got what it takes then email your résumé and salary history to Randall Byrn right away!

Dan Smolen, Author and Founder of The Green Suits, Appearing on Sustainability News and Entertainment Radio

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Radio Host Diana Dehm hosts Sustainability News and Entertainment Radio. Her show airs Saturdays at 10AM Eastern Time on WSMN Radio 1590 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Afterwards, show segments are available as podcasts.

At 10AM Eastern Time this Saturday April 14, I will be host Diana Dehm’s guest on her show, Sustainability News and Entertainment. The show airs on WSMN Radio in Nashua, New Hampshire and may be heard via the station’s website. In case you miss the Saturday airing, you may listen to the rebroadcast Sunday, April 15 at 10AM Eastern Time, or, listen to the podcast.

Diana and I discuss the current state of green business career development and how talented and purpose-driven executives may use their knowledge, skill, and experience to successfully pivot into “green” careers. We talk about “skill-based volunteerism”–a truly great and noble way to add greenness to a professional résumé–and much more.

To quote another radio host with a similar name, NPR’s Diane Rehm: “Do join us!”

Place Meaningless Jargon in the Jar: Expert Tips for Writing Impressive Résumés

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Perhaps the CV was written by the senior executive who enjoyed years of consistent career success but suddenly finds himself out of work. Or, it shows up courtesy of the management professional who—for sheer stubbornness or other motivation—refuses or never seeks critical feedback from others. For these and many other reasons, résumés full of meaningless jargon arrive in my email in-box on a daily basis.

In and of itself, jargon is fine. In conversation it is often makes the back-and-forth refreshingly cheeky.

Executive Recruiter Tim Welo says: "What I look for in the résumé is credibility in the form of numbers and results."

But headhunters like me groan at the sight of meaninglessness résumé jargon. Often times, candidates rely heavily on these “word droppings” in the vain effort to set themselves apart from other professionals; in reality it blends them back into the towering CV stack. Executive recruiters are usually of the same mind: meaninglessness résumé jargon belongs in a jar. Here are 10 examples:

1. Any compound word which starts with “proven,” such as: proven-leader, proven-performer, and proven-successful

In the words of SNL’s Seth Meyers: “REALLY?” What’s your proof?

2. Effective team leader

What exactly does this mean?

3. Detail-oriented

Your CV is seven pages-long. I GET IT!

4. Meets and exceeds goals

For goodness sake, I do hope you meet and exceed your goals. (But now I wonder, which goals did you miss by a mile?)

5. Expert presenter, negotiator, and deal-closer

Uh oh. My BS-O-Meter is RED-LINING!

6. Always gets the job done

So if I bump into you at the Apple store 10 o’clock on a Monday morning–checking out the new iPad3–I must conclude that you are there because you are an amazingly talented task master with lots of free time?

7. Track Record of Success

Listen Casey Jones: choo-choo train metaphors are overplayed to the point of absurdity. Sure, “track record of success” is used ad nauseum in job specs. But you are writing your CV for maximum effect–to gain the positive attention of a hiring manager. Move this bit of jargon to the rail yard.

8. Seasoned

Personally, I prefer wet-marinades. They keep the food from burning on the barbie… (Oh, that’s not what you meant?)

“Seasoned” is a term often used by executives who believe it makes them seem “more experienced.” And it does.  But, it is also a pejorative; it can mean…tired, complacent, and completely out-of-touch.

9. Go-to Resource

Oh…please…STOP!

10. Strong communication, customer services, and organizational tool-box

So if your boss asks you to “tighten up” that executive summary you just drafted, will you pull out C-clamps, spring clamps, or Jorgensen Clamps from your tool box? (Enough, already!)

But wait. There’s one more meaningless bit of jargon to offer:

Use too much meaningless jargon in your résumé and the "BS-O-Meter" will red-line!

Out-of-the-box thinker

I think this term came into vogue thirty years ago–in the ascendancy of Management by Objective–to describe rugged individualists: the type of successful people who as kids ignored the teacher, using their 12-pack of Crayola crayons to color outside the lines. Thirty years later, “out-of-the-box-thinker” is the prime example of overused and meaningless CV jargon. 

Let’s be real: a résumé without jargon is like a day without sunshine—dark, flat, devoid of feeling and emotion. It is as dry as a job-application form.

And there are some examples of jargon which do catch my attention. I like “change agents” and I want to know more about them.

But a résumé with too much meaningless jargon is…a deal-killer.

Now, you ask: what makes jargon meaningless? And, I’ll tell you: jargon becomes meaningless when it is not backed up by credible career-success metrics. Executive recruiter Tim Welo makes this point crystal clear:

“What I look for in the résumé is credibility in the form of numbers and results. I respond to statements like, ‘I did X and the result was Y.’ Claims must be backed up by numbers like ‘sales of $10 million,’ ‘Y was over quota by 11%,’ and the like. I want to see what a candidate has done which contributes to success in business—be it revenue gains, operational efficiency, staffing growth, or other measures.”

Thanks, Tim. That is great insight.

Here’s my takeaway. Jargon is fine. Used well in the CV, it can set you apart from other candidates. But, as Tim Welo points out, jargon must be supported by great metrics. Example:

Change agent who led Acme Industries to achieve impressive Triple-Bottom Line improvement

- Cut carbon emissions by 46 million metric tonnes

- Recycled 98 percent of factory material which would have been placed in landfill, returning $3.8 million dollars to operating budget, and

- Led 100 skill-based volunteers in mission which taught life-management strategies to long-term unemployed adults. 

Now, that’s meaningful jargon!

For Resumes (CVs), METRICS Are Everything

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Greetings, one and all!

We hope that you have gotten March 2012 off to a truly great start. Indeed, we have: the executive job market has picked up considerably, and, we are busier than we’ve been in a very long time.

Make sure your CV includes great metrics. Or else, the hiring manager might read it thusly:

At The Green Suits, all this new activity has us reconnecting with many people who have been off our radar screens for a few months or for several years. And we are meeting lots of great talent who we have never engaged before.

Whether we know the person on the other end of the line or not, our phone conversations with business executive talent are usually the best part of the work day.

Whether we know the person on the other end of the line or not, our phone conversations with business executive talent are usually the best part of the work day.

During phone calls, some candidates request feedback on their résumés.  While we are not a  résumé-writing service, we do look to offer whatever meaningful insight–from on our many years in the business of hunting heads–that we can.

Often, the conversations on résumés turns to metrics–the numeric and monetary measures of an executive’s career success. Generally speaking, we can count on our friends in the direct/interactive marketing or marketing analytics spaces to provide great metrics in their  résumés (CVs). For instance, we learn from sales pros how much new business–percentage and dollar-wise–they sold beyond their 2011 revenue goals. And, we discover from our marketing and web analytics executives just how much their insight gathering and exploitation have improved recency, frequency, and monetary results for their or their clients’ integrated marketing campaigns.

One would expect that sustainability and CSR-focused talent would similarly provide lots of juicy metrics in their résumés. But, more often than not, we find that these Green Suits skip the numbers–serving up instead long, detailed descriptions of their work assignments, which a bleary-eyed and easily distracted hiring manager may read as: BLAH BLAH BLAH.

So let this be a clarion call to anyone looking to further their career in the sustainability, CSR, greentech/cleantech, or related “green” industries: THERE IS NO WAY AROUND IT; YOU MUST INCLUDE CRITICAL METRICS IN YOUR CV!

Our economy in finally emerging from four years of desert-like conditions. It is not just a gut feeling; the executive employment market is improving. So use the upswing as a reason to re-work your résumé for optimal effect.

In particular, employ lots of #s, %s, $s, ₤s,¥s, €s, and Δs in your CV to demonstrate the positive impact your efforts have had on your company’s or organization’s Triple Bottom Line (profits + people + planet).

If you struggle writing about you and your career accomplishments then you may seek out a professional  résumé service. But know the such a service will set you back at least a few hundred dollars. Or, you can pick up any one of several self-help books that are available, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume by Susan Ireland.

Whether you do the “re-do” yourself or hire a writer for a three-figure-sum, do tell your “metric” story well. It could mean the difference between getting hired and not getting hired.

The Green Suits Seeks “A” Players for Three New Executive Roles

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

The Green Suits seeks "A" players for three new executive assignments.

It’s been a very busy week at The Green Suits as we’ve added THREE great new executive assignments to our JOBS page.

Our client is a phenomenal emarketing services company in mega scale-up mode. So, if you believe you are the right person for any of these new assignments, then we need to hear from you, right away!

Regional Vice President of Sales – We are looking for a supremely confident and successful new business sales manager to inspire and motivate a team of new business sales “hunters” to beat their revenue targets. Ideally, this person is based near NYC; but if not…NO WORRIES. Our client fully supports a virtual office set up anywhere along the Eastern Seaboard (Maine to Florida).  MUST HAVE 7+ years of sales and sales management experience, preferably in the email/emarketing or database marketing spaces. Check out the job posting HERE, and forward your résumé (CV) and salary history to dan@thegreensuits.com

Solutions Consultant – This “go to” resource is responsible for articulating our client’s email marketing differentiators and the technical benefits related to their excellent products and services. The Solutions Consultant functions as the technical point of contact for our client’s sales organization. Are you this person? Whatyawaitinfor? Check out the job posting HERE, and forward your résumé (CV) and salary history to randall@thegreensuits.com.

Solutions Engineer – is responsible for articulating our client’s technical benefits and market differentiators to new prospects and existing customers.  The Solutions Engineer will serve as a technical point of contact for the company’s Account Executives and Account Managers from the field sales and client services organizations. Are you this person? Randall cannot wait to hear from you! Check out the job posting HERE, and forward your résumé (CV) and salary history to randall@thegreensuits.com

Recruiter Randall Byrn Joins The Green Suits

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Randall Byrn has joined The Green Suits, LLC as Executive Recruiter. He represents clients seeking executive talent in direct marketing, market research and consumer insights, and "green" business.

We are very pleased to announce to the world that Randall Byrn has joined The Green Suits as Executive Recruiter. Over the weekend, we got to interview our newest talent hunter.

TGS: Welcome to The Green Suits. Please tell everyone about you: Where are you from? Where did you attend college?

Randall Byrn: I grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee and at first studied English at Southwestern at Memphis (now called Rhodes College). Then, I transferred to USC in Los Angeles to study film making; I have a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema from USC. Movies didn’t turn into a career for me, but they are my lifelong passion.

TGS: Tell us please about your pre-recruiting career.

Randall Byrn: The first part of my career was in book publishing: as a catalog copywriter for Ingram; a sales executive for Berkley Books, and after moving to New York; a direct mail manager for John Wiley & Sons. I left publishing for direct marketing assignments in the conferences space, first at IQPC and then at CFO Magazine.

TGS: Where have you lived?

Randall Byrn: A few places such as the west side of Manhattan and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Last summer, I moved back to my native Tennessee.

TGS: What do you like about being an executive recruiter?

Randall Byrn: I compare recruiting to being a detective, hunting down the right candidates for the assignment. Getting to know candidates is quite enjoyable. Also, it is very fulfilling to communicate to the hiring manager the candidate’s strengths and appropriateness for the position. But of course placing a great candidate in a new role is the biggest thrill of all; sure, it is a personal success for me, but I especially enjoy the happy outcome for the both candidate and the hiring manager.

TGS: The Green Suits, LLC represents clients in the marketing analytics space. As a result, you have connected to–and gotten to work with–hundreds of talented marketing analysts and other insights professionals. What is it like to work with people who analyze marketing metrics for a living?

Randall Byrn: Well, it is a good time to be in analytics! It is the “need” in most companies, and it is likely to remain that way for a while. Many of our analytics candidates–especially the more experienced ones–are learning just how valuable they are to hiring companies.

TGS: You are also working with companies which are committed to environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

Randall Byrn: Most large companies have incorporated sustainability and corporate social responsibility into their strategies and identities, and this will expand to mid-tier and small companies–especially ones which do business on a global scale. Being perceived as responsible corporate citizens just makes good business sense. And it is certainly a draw–or a selling point–in attracting great talent, whether or not a particular job has “sustainability” or “corporate social responsibility” in the title.

TGS: The Green Suits promotes remote office work. And you too work from a remote office. What do you think are the most important steps one can take to be truly effective in a remote office environment?

Randall Bryn: It does take discipline to work effectively from a remote office. Everyone must find what works best for her or him. I find that starting early and finishing late–with several breaks lasting a few minutes to an hour or more–provides me with the flexibility I need. Plus, I go to the gym. Of course, recruiters need to accommodate the needs of candidates and clients, which means making and taking calls during evenings and on weekends. Sometimes, weekends are good for catching up on what used to be called “paperwork.”

TGS: Great to have you on the team.

Randall Byrn: Thank you. I am thrilled to be a part of The Green Suits!

Are you a marketing insights expert? Now is the time to get on Randall’s radar screen. Ring him up at 931-538-4433 or email him your résumé (CV) at: randall@thegreensuits.com.

The Three Questions

Cross-posted to The Green Suits:

As is the case at Monty Python's Bridge of Death, successful job interviews depend on the answers to three questions. Image h/t 1975, Monty Python (pythonline.com)

Fans of this website know that I am a big fan of Monty Python. And from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the “Bridge of Death” scene may be one of the funniest ever filmed. Remember the three questions the Bridgekeeper asks all who approach the Bridge of Death?

Bridgekeeper: “What is your name?”
First man: “Sir Lancelot.”
Bridgekeeper: “What is your quest?”
First man: “I seek the Holy Grail.”
Bridgekeeper: “And what is your favorite color?”
First man: “Red!”
Bridgekeeper: “Well…off you go then.”

Sir Lancelot answers wisely and safely gains passage across The Bridge of Death. To some, Lancelot’s experience seems much like an interview in the current job market.

So, what three questions might you expect to hear from a hiring manager? Last year, Fortune interviewed Heidrick & Struggles CEO Kevin Kelly who provided this boiled down but spot-on answer:

“Can you do the job?
Will you love the job?
Can we tolerate working with you?”

Hopefully, you won’t hear a hiring manager posing questions to you in such a brusque manner. But with these three questions, Kelly identifies the essential need. Let’s break it down:

CAN YOU DO THE JOB?

How well suited are you for the assignment? Do you have the requisite knowledge, training, and experience? Can you back up your claims with positive metrics? Can you hit the ground running with minimal or no training? Seriously, if you couldn’t do the job you wouldn’t have made it past the phone interview stage.

WILL YOU LOVE THE JOB?

This question speaks directly to motivation: What sets the fire burning in your belly each morning as you leave for work? Are you passionate? Will you enjoy a place where missions and strategies seem to turn on a dime? Can you visualize yourself being successful on the job and at the company? Can you see yourself rising through the ranks at the company? Will there be enough challenges and reward-opportunities three, four, five or more years from now to keep you jazzed about the company? And for The Green Suits: Is this company as committed to environmental sustainability and social responsibility as am I?

Actually, it is most-likely during the face-to-face interview round that the hiring manager will pick up on your body-language and soft-skills to determine whether or not you will be happy and thrive at the company.

CAN WE TOLERATE WORKING WITH YOU?

This is the “fit-check.” Regardless of great answers to the previous two questions, a hiring manager and his or her team may not see you being successful–or worse–compatible with company culture. Or the consensus may be that you are too much like the company culture and the need is for an iconoclast, someone who is a shaker-upper who will rattle a struggling company out of malaise. With this question, you hope for the best outcome. But really it is for others to decide.

For The Green Suit presenting him or herself for a sustainability or social responsibility management role in a not-already-committed-company, determining whether or not the team members can work with you may have a lot to do with how you frame language and answer [their] questions about difficult situational dynamics or company politics.

Still, knowing that it basically comes down to these Three Questions can be empowering. It need not be disabling. Understanding the mechanics of the candidate-selection process will help you be better prepared for interviews, and may increase your chances of landing a truly great job.

Now, I must ask: what is YOUR favorite color?

The Green Suits Featured in Ithaca College’s Sustainability Newsletter

Our thanks to Marian Brown, head of sustainability at Ithaca College, for highlighting our recent on-campus visit in the latest issue of Collective Impacts (the college’s sustainability newsletter).

Read more about our visit, and other sustainability stories, HERE.

Telepresence: the New Normal for Candidate Interviews

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

A belated Happy New Year, everyone! As you can see, we’ve not posted in a couple of weeks. And that is because we are quite busy.

A good thing…eh?

Along with some very positive signs in the 2012 executive hiring market, I am pleased to inform that a concept we first reported on nearly four years ago–the Video Interview–is at last gaining broad acceptance with hiring managers. In 2008, the idea of interviewing candidates via broadband video was just gaining traction. But even then, most people were not using Skype (or had ever heard of it).

Now in 2012, the term telepresence–made popular by the marketing team at Cisco Systems–is part of our everyday business lexicon. What is more, telepresence is quickly becoming a popular tool in the candidate recruitment process.

Several of our clients connect regularly with out-of-town candidates via Skype. It saves them many thousands of dollars in T&E expenses. And it is easy to use. Plus, one cannot beat the price….IT’S FREE!

And…The Green Suits saw this coming! From our May 2008 “Video Interview” post:

With the cost of hiring being impacted heavily by the skyrocketing price of energy, some talent acquisition managers have already started considering alternatives to the traditional face-to-face interview. But now, many are opening up to the idea of staging parts of the process virtually, with the Video Interview.

Over 40 years ago, AT&T was already thinking about the idea of video-communicating. (At right: a rendering of the first AT&T PicturePhone prototype).

But as recently as [2006], the thought of staging a video interview might have struck most talent scouts as interesting, but probably too complicated and expensive to pull off. And, they would have been right to think that way; video interviews were costly, hindered by technological incompatibility, and, very difficult to schedule and complete.

But now, the planets are lining up in favor of the video interview. Consider these developments:

• Broadband internet speeds are rapidly increasing (supporting very good video transmission capability);
• More notebook and desktop PCs have pre-installed webcams (new Macs already have them);
• The spread of WiFi hot-spots has enabled greater scheduling flexibility;
• Software compatibility issues have been eliminated, or greatly reduced.

According to Henry DelAngelo, a marketing executive with DelAngelo Consulting LLC, the day of the video interview has arrived:

“The prospective employee does not have to travel in order to be face-to-face interviewed. The hiring manager can conduct a Virtual Interview efficiently, without the hassle and expense of travel.”

Can you imagine the impact on your hiring budget, and the thousands of dollars in potential savings?

Still, the Video Interview is not for widespread application, thus it should be used carefully. We recommend staging Video Interviews, when:

• Your talent pool is hundreds or thousands of miles from your location, you can save thousands of dollars in T&E while achieving a quality interviewing experience;
• You have to fill a position quickly, but time constraints make interview scheduling a nightmare. Video interviews can be staged at any time…before, during, or after regular business hours;
• You must narrow your candidate field, quickly;
• You want to get a better sense of the candidate than could be gotten with a conventional telephone interview. This may be especially important to you if the executive you hire will be client-facing.

This final point is obvious, but merits repeating: do not hire any executive candidate without holding a subsequent (and literal) face-to-face interview round, or rounds. There’s a lot to be learned from that first handshake.

The Virtual Interview: a very green element in your hiring of talented green business executives.

One added reason for the popularity of telepresence is the explosion of mobile technology; every device sold has a built-in camera.

For candidates and hiring managers alike, there are some critical steps to staging a successful Video Interview that bear repeating:

IS THAT A BRA HANGING FROM MY CANDIDATE'S TREADMILL??? Make sure you stage your office or interviewing location like a television studio. Make things neat and presentable. If possible, sit for your interview with a wall behind you.

1. If you are new to Skype then you will need to register with them. Pick a handle that looks and sounds professional. Our Skype handle is TheGreenSuits.
2. The Video Interview creates a virtual TV studio effect. REMEMBER THIS: if your office is a mess, you must tidy it up…and stage it like a TV interview set. About six months ago, we interviewed an executive candidate via Skype whose treadmill appeared in the background; it was festooned with ladies undergarments! Thus, it is best to stage your interview set well, and if at all possible, to seat yourself before the webcam with a wall behind you.
3. Where you interview is important. Find an appropriately private indoor place, for sure. Do not interview in a bar, or a restaurant, or your kid’s swim meet, or a parking garage. Big, empty conference rooms tend to echo. Be mindful of ambient noise; turn off anything that beeps or bleeps or buzzes including your office phone and all mobile devices.
4. Dress appropriately. No, that doesn’t mean ties and jackets. But it does mean wearing clean, nicely ironed casual dress shirts or blouses. And fellas…you might want to lose the Five O’Clock Shadow. Save the formal business ensemble for your actual face-to-face interview, to follow.
5. Be on time. Most Skype calls I engage start within 60 seconds of the start time.
6. Be mindful of your body-language. Sit up straight and don’t fidget. Remember that the person on the other end of the call is watching you and taking note of your soft-skills.
7. LOOK INTO THE CAMERA. It is common when Skyping to fix your gaze at the other party’s video. But when you are speaking make sure to look directly into the lens. Soften your eyes. Don’t rush. Be natural.
8. And, last, enjoy the experience!