The Value-based Résumé

MyFox Job Shop - In a troubled economy plagued with high unemployment and employee dissatisfaction in the workplace, look-alike, assembly line résumés won’t get the attention of hiring authorities. Hiring authorities, including human resource professionals, executive recruiters and hiring managers, don’t have time to read stacks of boring biographies from strangers. They want to know quickly what specific contributions you can make and results you can produce. So, by definition, a value-based résumé is a marketing document that communicates your ability to produce significant results better than other qualified candidates.

You have 100% control over the information you include in your résumé and how you present your marketing document. Unfortunately, most job seekers don’t take advantage of their power to control the information hiring authorities need to see on their résumés. When you effectively control the information on your résumé, you will elicit attention and enthusiasm from prospective employers and win an interview. More than 98% of the résumés being circulated today are nothing more than chronological obituaries; biographies prepared on white paper with black ink formatted like millions of others. Not only do they all look alike; they don’t communicate enough to differentiate themselves from other competing candidates. Most résumés don’t address prospective employers’ needs, problems or organizational objectives. They don’t shout out why they are the best candidate for the job. During tough economic times, there are way too many competing résumés in circulation for you to submit a blend-in-with-everyone-else résumé.

Your résumé must STAND OUT if you have any chance of attracting outstanding job opportunities. Your résumé must be reader-friendly yet, powerful in its messages. Your résumé must be exciting, professional and a document which you are proud of. In the end, your résumé must effectively promote and sell you to prospective employers. And you must promote and sell yourself better than other candidates who are going after the same jobs that you want!

The 5 Benefits to Creating a Value-Based Résumé ( how to write one, click here)

1) Market Value:

The process of creating a value-based résumé will result in you being able to effectively identify and communicate your value to prospective employers. Your résumé will clearly communicate bottom line results and organizational objectives you can produce that position you as a highly qualified and valuable candidate.

2) Differential Factor

When you strategically develop your résumé, you will define the differential factor. The differential factor represents highly valuable skills, qualifications and other employment assets that set you apart from other qualified candidates; that make you STAND OUT. Often times, the differential factor is what tips the hiring scale in your favor! For instance, if you have an industry-wide reputation, your reputation might be the differential factor. If you are a Black Belt in Six Sigma, that may constitute the differential factor. A number of years ago, I coached a Chief Financial Officer who worked for a legendary golf professional. Having worked for a famous golf professional was the differential factor because many hiring managers found it unique and intriguing to interview (and hire) someone who worked for a celebrity. When you identify the differential factor, you’ll provide your job campaign with a distinct advantage in landing a job quickly in the toughest of job markets.

3) Confidence Builder

When you design and create a value-based résumé that communicates your value and those attributes that set you apart from your competition, you gain a whole new level of confidence in yourself, your ability to promote yourself and your ability to remain upbeat throughout the entire job campaign. You will be proud of what you are marketing; namely you! You will approach each day with a renewed sense of self-worth knowing that you truly STAND OUT from others seeking the same jobs you want.

4) Résumés Open the Right Doors

Exciting, well-presented value-based résumés open doors of opportunity that otherwise would not open for you. Your résumé will race to the top of the pile because it bellows out to employers, “This is what I can do for you, why I am a good fit for your company and the best candidate for the job.”

5) You Will Become a Stronger, More Effective Interviewer

Résumés lead to interviews and interviews lead to job offers. When you write your résumé thinking about the interview, you begin developing the key messages you’ll eventually want to communicate in an interview to win the job. In other words, when you take the time to properly prepare your résumé thinking about the key messages that will win job offers; you’ll then showcase those messages on your résumé to win interviews!

Jay Block is an industry pioneer and one of the nation's leading career and empowerment authorities. He is the author of 15 career and motivational books. Visit Jay at: www.jayblock.com