Content is King!

During a recent association event I got talking to an old acquaintance who happens to be the CFO of a local junior resource company. We discussed career issues, hiring practices and resume writing, specifically, writing your own resume.

Having worked closely with this professional in my previous life as an executive recruiter, I had been responsible for re-writing his resume, providing interview coaching and actually placing him in a position he still holds.

During our discussion he gave me insight into the way some people in his network go about preparing themselves for career advancement and how some of them didn't see the value in working with a professional to help them with this process.

He wasn't complaining, as although his peers shared similar professional and experiential characteristics, he knew that he stood head and shoulders above his executive level competition on account of his superior personal branding strategy and portfolio of professionally crafted documents.

Apparently, some of his peers had scoured the internet for "templates" and inserted choice words and phrases into the slots in a bid to produce a document that at least looked like it had been formatted appropriately!

Further, how often have you been asked to tell someone what you do day to day and can only muster 3 or 4 sentences? Try it now. What do you do on a day to day basis? Do the sentences you have just articulated do you justice? Would you rely upon them to accurately convey the extent of your current level of responsibility? Are you confident they will set you apart from your peers and every other job competitor?

Such folly fails to appreciate that a significant part of the job of a resume writer is to extract minute detail and construct a narrative that incorporates the needs and wants of the hiring manager or executive designated to make a determination as to who gets selected for interview...and who does not. Templates are for the masses. Let everyone else use them!

By working with a consultant who has an extensive background in recruiting, placement, resume writing and interview techniques, we can uncover the detail you need to do you justice in front of the hardest task master of all - the hiring manager!

It's not just the way the resume looks - it's the content that counts. As the saying goes...Content is King!