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).

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!”

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.

Univ. of Mary Washington to Host March 20th ‘Tailoring the Green Suit’ Strategy Session

The University of Mary Washington is located in historic Fredericksburg, Va. On March 20, 2012, the university's career development office will host 'Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy'

Happy New Year, everyone! We are pleased to start Twenty-Twelve off with some very exciting news.

On March 20, 2012, we will present our green career strategy session–Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy–at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. This session, sponsored by the Office of Career Development, will provide ten key strategies which soon-to-be-grads may employ to achieve immediate and lasting “green” career success.

If you live or work in the vicinity, then we hope to see you at UMW on March 20th. Further event details will follow, soon.

Greenbiz’s Chrissy Coughlin Posts ‘Dan Smolen and the Art of Getting a Green Job’

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Well, today starts of well with a nice post by Greenbiz.com contributor and WSMN’s Nature of Business radio host Chrissy Coughlin.

Chrissy summarizes last week’s radio interview, HERE.

Check it out!

‘Tailoring the Green Suit’ Author on ‘Nature of Business’ Radio Show

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Wow…that was fun!

This morning, I was Chrissy Coughlin’s guest on her radio show, Nature of Business. Chrissy broadcasts weekly from WSMN Radio in Nashua, New Hampshire; her show is also podcast on GreenBiz.com.

Chrissy is a great host and well-informed green business expert. In the interview, we covered a lot of interesting topics related to green executive employment. In case you weren’t able to listen live, then please check out the podcast, available 24/7: HERE.

What Does $4 or Less Buy These Days?

For less than this, you can download 'Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy.' Photo 2011 D.A. Smolen

• A half-gallon of 100 percent organic locally pressed apple cider;
• A couple of iTunes downloads;
• A hula hoop at Toys “R” Us;
• A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline (maybe);
• A listeria-tainted cantaloupe, and NOW;

A digital download of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy!

That’s right, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have both slashed their Kindle and nook digital downloads of Tailoring the Green Suit to just $3.19.

What else could you buy for such a low price?

Maybe, a half-eaten chalupa?

So, what are you waiting for? Log on today and download your digital copy. When it comes to your career, we guarantee that Tailoring the Green Suit will yield a return-on-investment many more times $3.19!

(And, unlike that cantaloupe, it won’t make you horribly sick!)

Ithaca College Gearing Up for ‘Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy’

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Nov. 3rd at 7PM: Ithaca College will host 'Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy.' Ad h/t Ithaca College Office of Career Studies.

We are very pleased with Ithaca College’s on-campus promotion of our Nov 3rd event: Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy. The discussion will take place at 7PM at the Ithaca College Student Center’s Klingenstein Lounge. And we hope for a ‘SRO’ crowd!

Milllennial Momentum: Required Reading for Corporate America…and the Rest of Us

Cross-posted to The Green Suits:

Aided by my wonderful but eye-straining Kindle for Android app I read Millennial Momentum, Morley Winograd’s and Mike Hais’ great new book about the U.S.’s Millennial Generation.

The Millennials (otherwise known as the “Gen Y” cohort) are Americans born between 1982 and 2001. Milllennials stand in stark contrast to the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers that preceded them; they are highly collaborative, technologically and social-media savvy, and wildly enthusiastic. The term cynic rarely applies to this, the largest demographic cohort in the U.S.

Perhaps of greatest importance, Millennials are the starring cast-members of the New Green Economy. They care deeply about resource sustainability and social responsibility. And they volunteer their time to important social and environmental causes. As business executives, many will become The Green Suits.

Upon finishing Millennial Momentum, I enthusiastically posted this review to Amazon.com:

 

Download 'Millennial Momentum' to your Kindle or mobile device.

MORLEY WINOGRAD and MIKE HAIS have followed up Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics with a truly great book; Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation Is Remaking America brilliantly demonstrates how the huge civic Millennial Generation is remaking and–in many ways improving–every aspect of society. Most important to this writer, Millennials are reinventing work and career in ways few of us [Boomers or Gen Xers] could have imagined; despite the current high rate of U.S. unemployment, Millennials are passionately pursuing work and career opportunities with companies and organizations that share their civic-minded values. And the eco-entrepreneurs in their ranks are hard at work inventing and bringing to market renewable energy, green tech, and resource sustainability technology–the foundation of a strong and scalable New Green Economy.

Millennials are enthusiastically crafting careers to make the world a cleaner, fairer, and more sustainable place.

In the near term it won’t be easy for Millennials to win the warm embraces of Corporate America. Most Boomers and Gen Xers in corporate or C-level executive roles–CEOs, CFOs, COOs, etc.–have not come to fully appreciate this huge cohort of young, talented collaborators. Some cynically portray Millennials as coddled, entitled, and lacking the kind of self-starting drive and ambition necessary to grow the corporate bottom-line.

But, C-level cynics would be well advised to adapt to Millennial motivation or be left in the dust. For sure, we will see once preeminent companies lose their luster because they fail to embrace Millennial innovation and triple bottom-line thinking–to grow profits, but also empower people and save the planet.

That is why this writer believes Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation Is Remaking America should be required reading in Corporate America. And every hiring manager–from Chief Corporate Talent Officers in Fortune 500 companies to the founders of bootstrapped start-up enterprises–should pick up or download a copy, right away.

DAN SMOLEN
Author, Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy

The Millennials face steep challenges ahead. For sure, they have yet to make their impact felt in Corporate America. And it won’t be easy, given that the C-Suite is populated by often cynical, idealistic Boomers and Gen X executives. Further, they will inherit–and likely have to fix–all the world’s structural problems such as debt crises that their Boomer and Gen X parents left them. And they will have to reinvent politics, public policy, and government to render them transparent and trustworthy.

However, if Millennials are anything like the civic generation members that preceded them–the G.I. or “Greatest Generation” that fought World War II–then our future will be very bright, indeed.

Please pick up a copy or download Millennial Momentum. And while you are at it, please pick up or download a copy of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy.

This Summer, New Executive Searches at The Green Suits, LLC

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Greetings, everyone! We hope you are having a most enjoyable–and productive–summer.

We here at The Green Suits, LLC have been very busy, working on several brand new executive searches. And because of the immediate and substantial needs of our executive search clients, we regret to say that we have not posted any new content to TheGreenSuits.com in several weeks.

Despite all the drama on Capitol Hill over raising the federal government’s debt-limit and the causal-relationship (of debt-limit inaction) to our long term economic forecast, it does seem that companies are finally hiring more executives.

The Green Suits, LLC’s  immediate attention shall be directed towards placing more executive candidates in great well-run companies with strong environmental and/or social stewardship missions.

In the next couple of days, we will update the website with details about our new executive searches. Interested candidates may contact us directly, for more information.

Meantime, we are seeking additional new executive assignments with obviously green companies focused on green tech, clean tech, renewable energy, etc.

Despite the insanity on Capitol Hill, please know that our long-term assessment remains the same: our best days lie ahead!

If you haven't already, please purchase a paperback or Kindle copy of 'Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy' from Amazon.com.

Enjoy the remaining days of summer. Please check back with TheGreenSuits.com for new job postings and other information. And if you haven’t already, make sure to purchase a paperback or Kindle copy of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy from Amazon.com.