Most resumes are a laundry list of skills and jobs with no focus or message. Most are boring, a high percentage are downright terrible. They are full of jargon and clichés, and look downright ugly or forbidding in terms of layout and display of the content. It is no surprise that many are deposited into the discard bin with just a quick glance. Your goal is to get your resume into the “Review further” category.

Resumes are Ads for the Brand, You.

The good news is, a resume can a powerful way to position and sell yourself and create a powerful personal brand identity. So how do you do it? You begin by adopting a self brand mindset. You begin as a marketer of any product would, by looking at yourself as a brand looking for a buyer or market, a brand that is a solution to a problem.

• The first shift is from resume as job history to resume as an advertisement for the brand, You.

• The second shift you need to make is to a market orientation, don’t think of what you want to tell the potential employer or client, but, think of what reaction you want from them, and how best to present your resume to accomplish that response.

• The third shift is to focus your message. Rather than resume as laundry list, develop a single minded positioning for yourself that differentiates you from others and is relevant to your target market. The resume should tell the story of that positioning and link the various aspects of your career in a coherent whole.

• The final shift is to be memorable visually and verbally. The layout should look inviting and the copy should capture the reader’s attention and compel them to read more.

What You Should Have in Your Resume Arsenal

• Resume template that is a maximum of 3 pages. This is your working document to be customized based on whom you are meeting with, and updated as your career or business expands.

• Narrative resume that is tells a focused story: maximum one page in length and tells your brand story in an engaging way.

• 30 second elevator speech This should come off the tongue easily and be rather colloquial, weaving who you are and why you are different from others.

How to Develop a Great Executive Resume

In looking at your resume as an “advertisement,” begin with a personal brand profile, which is like the headline and strong lead paragraph in an ad.

Personal Brand Profile

Your self brand profile at the top of your resume is like he headline in an ad. The profile should identify who you are, what sets you apart from others, and the value added your bring to a job. A profile should not only differentiate you, it should sell with a compelling reason to choose you and not the other people you are competing against.

A resume profile can cover the following areas:
• Key leadership and business accomplishments (tangible and intangible)
• Industry or functional experience
• Current title or level
• Quantifiable achievements: revenue generated, budgets, new business
• Sense of personality and leadership philosophy
• Years of experience (never list over 20)
• Companies or clients

Here’s an actual example of a “Before” profile for a Sales Executive

Summary
• Proven sales professional with over 20 years experience
• Team player with good interpersonal skills
• Extensive experience in financial, especially brokerage industry
• Successfully managed 150 person regional sales force
• Excellent presentation and sales skills
There are two key problems with this profile: One, it is too generic and uses generalities and clichés we’ve seen before in hundreds of resumes. Secondly, it does not differentiate this senior sales executive from other people with similar experience.

New Profile

REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR
CORE MANAGEMENT TEAM EXECUTIVE

SALES LEADER * STRATEGIST * MOTIVATOR
Over 20 years of consistent senior-level sales success working within Fortune 100 and mid-sized companies

Key member of corporate management teams, bringing sales focus, creativity and knowledge of sales force to high level strategic planning and decision making. Sales leadership is enhanced by operations experience and a strong marketing orientation. Driven by challenge and the desire to add value. Capture business opportunities by understanding target, marketing brand strength, and motivating the sales force. Expertise in financial services and high-tech sectors.

Review of key changes to new profile:

• Headline of personal branding statement immediately grabs attention and points out candidate’s expertise and self brand positioning:
o Sales Leader * Strategist * Motivator
o Over 20 years of consistent senior level sales success at Fortune 100 and mid-sized companies

• The self brand positioning statement makes three key points:
o Key member of corporate management and strategy decision making
o Points out operations and marketing experience as important value adds and ingredients for sales success
o Is motivated and a motivator
Other Resume Enhancers That Can Make a Big Difference

1. Take a page from advertising and use a Celebrity Endorsement

• “Celebrity” in this case is the CEO or President or senior officer of a company that you worked at who has agreed to provide a third part endorsement.

• Place the Senior executive endorsement statement right after the personal brand profile.

Here’s an example.

CEO’s Comments:
John is exceptional at team building and sales leadership, guiding team members and executives in reaching or exceeding goals. His charisma and ability to motivate a wide range of sales professionals helped the company achieve and often exceed budget goals.

2. Use action words and specifics to tell a “story” about your job accomplishments.

Here are some examples:

• Instrumental in start-up’s rise to become the biotech leader in X. To create market demand, convinced company’s management team to create a variation of an existing product which we sold to companies wishing to gain X experience.

• Repositioned non-competitive product line and developed $20 million + revenue stream by focusing on a new niche market.

• Directly responsible for increasing business revenue 50% year on year by leveraging client contacts to gain access to new decision-making areas.

• Challenged to fuel growth despite fading product set, poor internal morale and declining revenue. Refocused business areas resonated with clients, the media, consultants and employees, and led to exceeding $50 million budget goal.

3. Include a compelling Achievements Page

An Achievements page as an addendum is a relatively new device used by senior executives to set their accomplishments apart and serve as the “clincher” in the sale. A resume can do a lot in selling you, but an Achievement Addendum is the something more than often makes the critical difference is choosing you, and not the other guy.

Putting together an Achievement Addendum demands some intense work on your part, in identifying career defining achievements, things you have done that meant a lot to you, help define your brand, and are compelling to your target audience.

How do I put one together an Achievement Addendum?

• Headline the top of the page with something like : “Resume Addendum * Critical Leadership Initiatives “ or other title that best suits your situation, such as “Key Campaigns” or “Major Engagements” or “Important Design Projects”

• The Achievement Addendum should be an interesting read and tell the story of your brand. Because it doesn’t have all the usual resume trappings, it is a great networking and discussion piece.

• The key goal is using this section to tell a story of how you as an executive or a professional solved problems and saved the day (made money or saved money, etc.)

• Formats that work well are a small story set up, followed by a “Results” paragraph and a “Strengths” paragraph, or a “Challenge”, followed by “Action” and “Results.”

Here is an example:

Increased revenue 25% through opening up new business segment.

As Director of Sales for ABC, challenged to dramatically increase revenue in the X marketplace. Pursued a new contract with XYZ Company to make ABC’s new software part of their product offering. Worked closely with engineering and technology departments to design and cost out.

Results: $50 million contract was the second largest in the company’s history, and led to a profitable on-going relationship. Contract generated considerable publicity and enhanced credibility with Wall Street and investors.

Strengths: “I am the salesperson’s salesperson. I love the challenge of breaking new ground in sales and negotiating the impossible contractl.

4. Develop a one-page narrative bio.

I believe that it is important to have a one-page narrative resume or bio in your arsenal as well. Narrative bios are used in pitch books, in marketing pieces, for speaking engagements, or at any time when you need to promote yourself. They are perfect for situations where a formal resume or CV would be too long or ponderous, and you want people to understand quickly what the heart and soul of your brand is about.

A narrative resume should tell a story, your personal brand story. So like any narrative, there should be a focused theme to the narrative bio, and links between the various things that you have done. There is a narrative bio attached at the end to help you in putting yours together.

5. Always have a :30 second Elevator Speech: the oral version of your narrative bio.

The elevator speech is a must that most people overlook, hence they stumble through explaining who they are and why that is important. The :30 second elevator speech should be colloquial and conversational, but like the narrative bio and Achievement Addendum, it should be both powerful, focused on what’s most important, and be tied together in a thematic story. In essence, it should convey the key highlights of what you have done, how you did it, and imply, there’s more that you can do for them.

Catherine Kaputa is President of SelfBrand LLC and a personal branding coach and strategiest. Catherine works with executives and entrepreneurs who are good at what they do, but not good at branding themselves effectively. For more information, visit www.selfbrand.com or email Catherine@selfbrand.com or call 212 662 4734.