SET Personal Marketing: September 2011

Monday, September 26, 2011

Equipping You With a Marketing Website

We will be creating and hosting your personal marketing website. We do this because our experience has proven that if you have a superior resume and marketing website, job hunting can be much easier.

Job hunting is all about getting enough of the “right people” to look at your credentials. A “Personal Marketing Website” is a website that presents your universal resume... and sometimes your biography... for those who wish to review it.

Here’s how this works at our firm. When we write resumes, we create a distinctive and professional “Personal Marketing Website.” Displaying one on the web in color... is an impressive way of presenting yourself. It gives you a fast, no-cost way to get your presentation in front of the right decision makers.

How? Because you can simply send out emails with a link to your “Personal Marketing Website.” Through our job hunting information system, all you need to do is get the names of decision makers... and emails of key employers... throughout the U.S.... or the world... in industries that are right for you... or in the area where you want to live.

Can this make networking easier? Yes. For people you already know... all you do is send an email to let them know that you are open to new opportunities... and that you put up a new and unique “personal marketing website.” And, when people see your presentation, they will be far more impressed than anything you could say over the phone.

With access to our Job Market Access Center (JMAC), you can even comfortably network people you don’t know. For example, you can quickly get the names of alumni from your school who hold influential jobs... or others who worked with you some years ago... or executives in an industry or metro area... whose advice and referrals you’d appreciate.

Can this website also be used for responding to ads? Absolutely. Mention your link in a compelling email and you’ll have a surefire way to dramatically stand out from everyone else who answers an ad. The bottom line is that if you’re in the market today... and don’t have a “Personal Marketing Website”... you will be searching with an unnecessary competitive disadvantage.

For more information be sure to check out SET Personal Marketing's Twitter, follow SET Personal Marketing's Facebook, watch SET Personal Marketing's videos on YouTube or visit SET Personal Marketing's website.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Equipping You With Superior Resumes and Letters Pt. 3

Optional resumes we can create

An “interview” resume. An interview resume is 2 to 3 pages. It is for presentation during or after interviews and reveals more about you when employers want to know more. If you used this too early... to develop interviews, it might not work well since it would reveal many more details about your industry background. (If you have an executive biography, you would not need this resume.)

An executive biography. This is a 3 to 5 page narrative document, written in a third-person style. It uses interesting stories, rich in detail, and is favored by top recruiters and senior executives. Today, these are the “Mercedes of presentations.” Those seeking $150,000 to 1 million dollars+ should have one. Decision makers often forward resumes to others to get consensus. And sometimes, you never meet the top people, but nevertheless they will often review your resume. The offer depends on a “thumbs up” from the resume presentation.

Executive biographies are also invaluable during negotiations. They convey the best possible solutions you can bring... creating a unique “sense-of-worth.” They are also ideal for high-level networking...because it is such a distinguished and high-level presentation.

The marketing letters we create for you

Certain people who must avoid revealing liabilities should use personalized letters, but they need to be focused and motivating. Custom benefit letters, tailored to the needs of organizations, can be highly effective. We typically create the following 12 letters for different occasions:

For responding to openings

For contacting recruiters

For contacting venture capitalists

For responding to emerging jobs

For direct contact with employers

For third-party letters to employers

For contacting directors of associations

For networking associates and friends

For networking alumni

For networking influential people

For setting up potential references

For following up your interviews

For more information be sure to check out SET Personal Marketing's Twitter, follow SET Personal Marketing's Facebook, watch SET Personal Marketing's videos on YouTube or visit SET Personal Marketing's website.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Equipping You With Superior Resumes and Letters Pt. 2

The resume styles we will create for you

A universal resume. The most essential is a universal resume—a one-page document that will be your introductory resume. Most people mistakenly believe that they need to tell their whole story in their initial resume. The reality is that you get better results when your initial resume is interesting, with a feeling of action—but short. This resume must be suitable for key word scanning, have short paragraphs, and be compelling. It must be headlined by a job title listing (e.g., Director of Marketing) that an employer might have available. Remember, your resume is an ad... not an epitaph.

An “Internet (or electronic)” resume. This second resume needs to be a narrative... usually no more than two-thirds of one page. It is surprising how few devote any thought to the way their resumes appear at the receiving end of an email transmission. When you are online, less is more. All you want is a positive response.

A “quick-response” resume. This third resume makes it easy for you to respond quickly to emerging situations you read about. It positions the text on the right-hand side of the page so you can write handwritten notes and dispatch a resume without a cover letter. Clients consistently tell us that executives respond well to their notes, which cited events that were signals of emerging jobs.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Equipping You With Superior Resumes and Letters Pt. 1

To appreciate the importance of superior resumes, let’s first talk a little bit about the competition, and why it has devastated so many talented people. And keep in mind that when you look for a new job, you are reduced to how you look on paper.

Today, the number of resumes in circulation exceeds the imagination. GE receives 800,000 resumes a year... but they only hire about 4,000 people. That’s 1 out of every 200. Other well-known firms say they get over 1,000 resumes for every opening. And, when it comes to submitting your resume to an attractive ad... you should know that employers are now getting hundreds of candidates. Leading recruiters, like Korn Ferry and Heidrick and Struggles, now claim to receive more than 1,500 resumes a work day... 30,000 each month.

Despite the enormous competition, many people create a resume, show it to some friends or family members and then assume it’s fine. Ann Landers is famous for many quotes, but one applies here. “Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”

While many professionals still use traditional resumes, with this amount of competition, the fact is they don’t work very well anymore. The reason is that most of these resumes have common weaknesses that can restrict job hunting success.

Image. Your resume must start by projecting an outstanding image... one that sets you apart. It must be eye-catching... not ordinary, plain vanilla and flat.

Liabilities. Even top executives can find themselves continually derailed... because of the negative information they made available... without realizing it.

Transferable skills. Does it just sell your history and experience? Selling skills is an absolute necessity if you want to expand your market... change industries... join a growth firm... appeal to venture capitalists... or impress CEOs and other key decision makers.

How you will contribute. You can’t have a resume that forces the reader to try to figure out how to use you. If so, you won’t get many calls. Why? Because people simply won’t take the time to study resumes. They’ll put it in the “no pile”... or toss it. Your resume has just 20 seconds to make your case... and get people to read further... or better yet... call you. If it doesn’t do this, you won’t even get in the game.

Being scanning ready. Scanning software has forever changed the selection process. Most organizations only keep the best 5% of resumes they receive... and scan just the first page into their databases. When employers are looking for someone, they simply input key words... bring up matching resumes... and review them. That determines who gets interviewed.

Dynamic. In today’s market, you must inspire the reader... being boring doesn’t work. The words you select need to have some reasonable punch, substance and sparkle. Your resume needs to be interesting and compelling. There are a lot of excellent competitors out there... and the worst thing you can do is undersell yourself.