The vOIce

10 Résumé Writing Tips

admin — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

It is important that you always have an updated résumé. You may never know when you’ll need it. But also, it can provide an opportunity to review your progress and create an occasion to think about the way you work.

However, professional service firms and corporations are inundated with hundreds of résumés on a regular basis. Therefore it is important that a résumé create a strong, clear impression at first glance. It has been estimated that each résumé receives only 20 to 30 seconds of scrutiny when received! Your value as a potential candidate must be very clear from a cursory glance.

Here are 10 tips for creating a standout résumé:

1. There are two common types of résumés: the chronological and the functional. I strongly advise career transition coaching candidates to follow the chronological format, as it offers professionals the clearest opportunity to present their experience and accomplishments. Quite frankly, the functional format may be viewed somewhat suspiciously by human resources and hiring partners, as it is often used to bridge prior gaps in employment.

2. A well-conceived and well-written résumé represents a truthful setting forth of your accomplishments and your professional value proposition. The key word here is truthful. No fiction, just the verifiable facts.

3. Given the 30-second rule, I strongly suggest that every résumé contain a brief (three- or four-sentence) overview at the top. Think of it as a thumbnail positioning or branding statement. This “qualification statement” will quickly position your accomplishments and expertise, which will enhance your chances of surviving the 30-second scan.

4. Accomplishments are much more important than your responsibilities. For example, which sounds more impressive: enumerating the fact that one “…was responsible for drafting a discovery motion…” or that you “…successfully argued a discovery motion… that convinced the DOJ to abandon…”?

5. Using action verbs will vitalize the active voice and give more energy to one’s accomplishments. It also helps define your core value.Remember that the purpose of the résumé is to survive initial scrutiny and get you invited to a face-to-face interview.

6. I strongly urge that articles (a, an, the…) and speaking in the first-person (I, me, my…) be avoided. Doing so sharpens the focus of the document and argues more powerfully on your behalf as an accomplished professional.

7. When we write a résumé for career transition clients, we utilize the formula “S”, “A”, “R”, which is an acronym for Situation, Actions and Results. Virtually every accomplishment can be expressed using this approach and helps to better express outcomes.

8. Along those same lines, quantify results as much as possible. For example, include accomplishment statements like:

Saved clients more than $10 million in legal fees and minimized the probability of fee write offs for the firm.

The language is spare and focused and the “$” sign will capture the eye of any reader who quickly scans the résumé.

9. Do not neglect to scan all of your social networking sites (LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, and Twitter) to ensure that they do not contain any potentially embarrassing material and that they are harmonized with your résumé. Employers increasingly search the Internet to locate information about potential candidates.

10. Proofread – Proofread – Proofread. Check both your résumé as well as your transmittal letters. Always look over your work before sending it out.

Remember that the résumé is not the sole key component of a successful job search. You must also master solid networking, interviewing and campaign management skills to underpin a successful search. The great résumé will only make you a candidate for an interview – the rest is up to you!

5 Things to Begin Doing to be Invited to a Corporate Board

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:03:12 GMT

It’s not easy to be recognized for your experience and invited to join your first company Board. However, by understanding your value to a board, what Boards are seeking, building a great network, and using all the resources available to you, you can be successful.

by Stephen C Ford, Chairman, OI Partners

and Managing Partner, Massachusetts (sford@oipartners.net)

Being invited to join a private company, family business, public company or even a major non-profit board is the result of research, planning, networking, and, of course, interviewing. At OI Partners, Managing Partners and Senior Consultants work with senior executives in our leadership/executive coaching, leadership consulting and executive transition programs to support executives in seeking Directorships. Here is a review the key steps in being identified as a viable candidate and invited to interview for a directorship:

1. Review and evaluate your experience against the challenges facing boards today. Have you held full profit and loss responsibility with a company of equivalent size or larger? If your expertise is in a functional area like finance, marketing, or sales, have you led substantial growth into new market segments or global expansion? Have you identified new products or markets which provided significant growth? What phase of maturity were the companies: start-up; rapid growth; industry leader; turnaround? Have you managed, and are you knowledgeable about, the many types of risk companies face today? Have you worked in a regulated industry?

2. Most Boards today, formally or informally, have developed a matrix of skills they need on the Board and that they will be recruiting against. The matrix may be based upon the company’s challenges and opportunities, phase of maturity, functional expertise, and the needs of Board committees. With some research, you can identify the key skills that the type and size companies you are interested in are seeking. Match these skills with your experience from Step 1.

3. Build your Directorship presentations – resume, LinkedIn profile, elevator speech. If you are a recently retired executive, or in transition, the same resume you have used in seeking a job is not appropriate in seeking a directorship. It does not immediately identify past directorships including those on non-profit boards and Advisory Boards. It does not focus on meeting the key skills identified in Step 2. Any presentation, whether a resume or LinkedIn profile, must be targeted to the audience; in this case Nominating/Governance Committees and search firms seeking to fill a Board position. It has to quickly highlight your relevant Board experience and skills.

4. Network, network, network.Tell everyone you are seeking a Board position. Do not assume they will figure it out. Identify current directors and key influencers, i.e., those who work with and consult to Boards. Seek introductions to local and national search firm consultants who fill directorships.

5. Get to know, and be known by, the many resources available. The National Association of Corporate Directors (www.nacdonline.org) has a national Directors Registry as well as some of the best educational programs available. However, you must be or have recently been a director on a Board to join. There are a number of other director registries, both national and local. Governance and directorships is a substantial topic on Twitter. Talk to sitting directors and find out how they landed their directorships and what resources they recommend.

5 Ways to Build, Strengthen and Retain Customer Relationships

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:43:52 GMT

By Shawna Williams

Is your organization hemorrhaging employees? OI Partners recent survey reported that 90% of companies are worried about losing key employees. In 2009, it was reported that employee turnover cost U.S. businesses an estimated $300 billion. This includes, but not limited to, the intangible costs associated with damaged customer relationships.

What is the cost to your business when you lose a customer because your key sales person or key engineer walked out the door? I’ll go out on a ledge and propose that these two concepts go hand and hand.

Happy Employees + Satisfied Customers = Profitability

Here are five ways to build, strengthen and retain your customer relationships.

1. Take Care of Your Employees and They Will Take Care of Your Customers. Treat your employees with respect and integrity. There are numerous ways to show your employees appreciation without raising their annual salary such as leadership coaching and development. If you can find a way to show your employees gratitude and respect, they will find a way to make your business successful.

2. Embrace Social Media and Listen to Your Employees and Customers. Marketing is no longer a one-way street. Social media keeps relationships strong – it is a two way street. Use it to build your reputation and to listen to your employees and customers. When a problem erupts, you can nip it in the bud immediately.

3. Build the Employee/Customer Network – It’s Your Sales Lifeline. Have a conversation with your employees and customers and listen to what they need and/or want from your company and from you as a leader. Having open and honest conversations with your employees and customers will lead to loyalty and passionate people who believe in your products or services.

4. Live and Breathe Customer Focus: Without customers, your organization would cease to exist. Hire and develop employees that understand that customer focus should be the number 1 priority.

5. Create a “Mom-and-Pop” Familiarity. This may seem counter-intuitive to #2 listed above, so let me clarify. Listening and interacting with your customers and employees via social media channels should not mean that you abandon the intimacy that is found in face-to-face relationships. Customers and employees want to feel as if they are #1, so get out of your office or cubicle and interact with your team, employees and customers.

Has employee retention issues impacted how your organization builds, strengthens and retains customer relationships? In what other ways do you maintain key relationships with your customers?

8 Mistakes Bad Leaders Make

admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:31:20 GMT

By Shawna Williams

We talk so much about qualities of good leaders and how to identify potential leaders. We thought we’d share characteristics of a bad leader—things we often see when we begin a leadership executive coaching engagement.

Following are eight mistakes bad leaders make. Bad leaders:

1. Do not behave with integrity. Mismanaging funds, resources or even employees for personal gain not only is illegal, but is a near guarantee that the leader will destroy his or her personal brand and organization.

2. Insulate themselves from customers. We often see leaders who don’t get involved in social media, conferences or events where they can connect directly with – and especially, listen to – their customers. They’re forfeiting opportunities to understand their targets.

3. Fail to listen to employees—and take action where action is needed. If employees are asking for more development or better resources to do their jobs, and leaders don’t act as much as they are able to, they risk watching their strongest employees walk out the door.

4. Fail to nurture employees and show them their worth. Bad leaders refuse to provide employees with better tools and resources as well as educational and learning opportunities. We also see them fail to make strong employees part of their succession plan or do not offer executive development programs or even outplacement programs. Leaders mistakenly don’t take care of their surviving employee population after a layoff.

5. Do not admit downfalls or blind spots. Bad leaders don’t seek feedback on their own performance—either from employees or customers—and are reluctant to admit mistakes and change.

6. Do not hold employees accountable. Leaders who do not push employees to get results are not doing anyone—or their organization—a favor. By the same token, leaders who permit employees to run projects according to their own agendas are assuming too much risk.

7. Do not communicate, even when there is nothing to report, because they feel it’s better to leave employees (or even customers) in the dark. In other words, bad leaders assume that these key audiences can’t be trusted with or handle information. They assume that, even when there isn’t much to say, never sharing what is going on inside the company is the best policy. This is a fast track to creating distrust among employees.

8. Mind the competition—too much, that is. When leaders are too focused on “keeping up with the Joneses,” and not focused enough on organizational trends, market trends and innovation, then there is a problem. In fact, it can lead to the demise of an organization.

Fortunately, we are successful at helping a bad leader avoid these pitfalls following a coaching engagement. So executive coaching programs do work and should be used by your organization if one of your leaders exhibits these qualities.

But we’re curious to know: What additional qualities or mistakes of a bad leader would you add to this list?

5 Things Your Company Needs to Do Today in Order to Stay Competitive

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:34:57 GMT

by Patty Prosser, OI Partners - Career Consultants Indianapolis

When thinking about what organizations need to do to effectively compete in today’s challenging marketplace, I can’t help but turn to that sage advice offered by Jim Collins in his books “Built to Last” and “Good to Great.” Great companies really do know how to turn crisis into opportunity by focusing on two key things 1) staying committed to enduring values and 2) making certain they have the best talent.

And, although we are still operating in uncertain times, there is a silver lining called “opportunity.” There are many “opportunities” savvy companies can capitalize on to stay competitive and ensure their future success.

So, here are 5 things your company may want to consider now, to stay in the game:

1. Communicate often and be consistent about your company’s values. You must reinforce and be clear about your organization’s principles and core vales that explain why you do what you do.

2. Set a clear direction that your employees can get behind. You must be consistent in your messaging so employees are clear about where the organization is going and allow them to have a role in shaping the direction it will take.

3. Focus on your customers. Be a good student to your customers’ business by consistently staying up to date on where their business is going and what they need to succeed. Become that trusted advisor they can turn to for solutions to help them get there.

4. Make certain your key leaders are doing the right things right. Invest in growing the skills and competencies of your top leadership. Provide leadership executive coaching and leadership development initiatives that can equip your leaders to not only execute what they need to do today, but in the years to come- and set an expectation of continuous improvement.

5. Stay agile. Know that whatever you are doing today won’t be what you need to be doing tomorrow. Pay attention and be a student of your own business.

No one knows for certain what the weeks and months ahead will bring, but one thing is certain—having the right mix of strategic vision, processes and leadership talent will give you the advantage your company needs to successfully compete. So, I ask you:

- How well do you really know what’s going on in the businesses of your customers?

- Are the leaders you have in place today prepared to take advantage of the opportunities the market will bring?