Assessing Your Skills and Crafting Your Story

Lydia O’NeilCareer ConsultantLee Hecht Harrison

2/6/19

The First Question In Any Job Search:Do You Know Where You Are Driving?

Some questions to ask yourself:

• What am I naturally good at?• What are my interests/passions/hobbies and why?• What are my top 3 professional and/or functional skills?• What transferrable skills do I bring to the table?• Would you recognize your ideal role if you saw it?

Let’s start with an example – Meet Jennifer

Jennifer would like to return to work after an 18 year gap

1. The Historical Approach - Start with what Jennifer used to do• ~25+ year old degree in finance• ~20 year old MBA• Banking experience that ended 18 years ago• More recent community and leadership experience

Two Ways To Look At Things:

2. The Forward Thinking Approach – Start with what Jennifer wants to do• Jennifer’s current interests and dream roles• Her key strengths and selling points for these roles• Her recent accomplishments• Key work history and education applicable to her new direction

The forward thinking approach is more effective and customer oriented!

Jennifer’s Forward Thinking Approach - Brainstorming

Things she is good at:• Networking• Event planning• Promotion

Things she is interested in:• Sales• Business development• Community outreach• Non-profit

Transferrable Skills:• Finance and business education• Professional experience and knowledge in banking• Non-profit experience from volunteer work

Recent Accomplishments:• Founding board member of NCL Round Rock Chapter• Vice President for 2 years on executive board

Network with friends, neighbors, family, former co-workers and others to continue to build out this approach. You don’t need to do this alone.

Possible organization or position ideas:• Community Impact or other similar organizations• Chamber of Commerce• RRISD Partners in Education• Non-profit business development

How Do I Communicate With Others?

What do I mean by a communications strategy – examples include:

• Casual conversations• Networking conversations• Resumes• LinkedIn profiles• Emails• Cover letters• Interviews• Thank you notes & emails

Focus here today

The Communication Challenge

Why this is important:• The application and/or interview process may be entirely automated

• It is not uncommon to have more than 100+ applicants for a position

• Most people will skim your resume and decide initially in ~7 seconds

What this means:• Your resume is a sales & marketing tool, not an autobiography• Net yourself out quickly in the summary – assume it’s all anyone reads

• Clearly call out key strengths and the impact you drive with them

• Give results oriented examples and quantify if at all possible

Don’t make your resume an eye test:• 1” margins all the way around

• No longer than 2 pages maximum

• Size 10-12 font with simple font style

• Consider bold only as a highlight tool, don’t over format Size 6 font example

The Resume Sections – The Header

Purpose - Helps people to know who you are and how to contact you

Key Information:• Name• City and State – full address is not needed• Phone number• Email address• LinkedIn URL

The Resume Sections – The SummaryTag Line – Concise, descriptive header – indicates direction you want to head

Suggested Paragraph Breakdown:

Sentence 1 – Who are you and what market(s) do you play in if applicable.

Sentence 2 & 3 – Expand on your key functional skills and professional strengths.

Sentence 4 & 5 – Round yourself out with leadership experience, special skills, etc.

Bullets – Emphasize key skills and strengths not already covered that are key to future roles

Key Guidelines• No sentences longer than two lines each.• No lists with commas containing more than 3 concepts• No more than 3-5 sentences tops• Written in third person.• If using bullets, no more than about 8.

The Resume Sections – Professional Experience

Purpose – Highlight key responsibilities and accomplishments for each position

Two parts to the each job summary:

The Responsibility Statement:

• 1-3 line sentences written in the third person

• Describe key responsibilities of the position

• Include key details that add context – size of team, area of responsibility, etc.

The Bullets:

• 3-5 bullets of 1-2 lines each, written in the third person

• Highlight key accomplishments in the role, quantified if possible

The Resume Continued – Professional Experience

If you took time off:

• Create a position with a title for Family Related Sabbatical or something similar.

• Include the date range, a brief statement, and accomplishment bullets

If you run out of room (run over 2 pages), options include:

• Eliminating older jobs entirely

• Streamlining write-ups for older positions

• Creating an Additional Relevant Experience section at end of Professional Experience• List companies and positions only as needed (not all since the beginning of time)

Some Final Things to Consider

Key Takeaway – We live in the age of social media.

If you don’t capture my attention immediately, I will have already moved on to some else. Don’t make me work for it!

This can be an exciting opportunity to learn and grow if you let it be:

• Focus on what you can control• Don’t make decisions until it is time to make them• Think about what is most relevant to the people you are talking to• Treat networking and interviews as opportunities to meet new people• This process can be fun, educational, and interesting

Back-up

Resume Section Samples

Header Sample

This is one possible format. You can modify this as needed provided you include the suggested information below in an easy to read format. It has to be clear and easy for your reader. If you make it too hard for them to understand, they will not be able to contact you.

LYDIA O’NEILRound Rock, TX Lydia.ONeil@LHH.com512 623-0244 linkin.com/in/lydiaoneil

Summary SampleEXECUTIVE LEADER AND CAREER COACH

Results-oriented services, operations, and quality executive with a proven record of success in the technology and aerospace industries. Excels at transforming ambiguous, fast-paced, environments into scalable, customer oriented, well-executing businesses. Ensures on-going alignment of people, process, and technology through effective communication supported with a foundation of key metrics. International experience includes managing and partnering with global resources, partners, and customers in the Americas, Asia, and South America. More recently, has successfully leveraged executive experience along with a passion for coaching and developing people into career consulting.

Key Reminders:• Catchy title focusing on your new direction• Forward thinking theme emphasizing key strengths that sell you• 3-5 sentences maximum, size 10-12 font, simple font style• Written in the 3rd person• No sentences longer then two lines each• No long lists with lots of commas

Professional Experience Sample

DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION, ROUND ROCK, TX 2000-2008Vice President of IT Workforce Planning, Global IT Process & Quality (2007-2008)Led the development, alignment, and preliminary implementation of IT Global Workforce Plan to reduce overall cost. Scope of project spanned over 6,000 employees in +70 unique cities worldwide. • Plan reduced high cost headcount from 56% to 22%, number of locations from 70 to <20.• Oversaw site execution initiatives at 5 centralized IT sites in Brazil, India, and EMEA. Developed basic site

management execution methods to streamline processes and reduce cost.• Deliverables included a vendor evaluation/review process, capacity planning process, and vendor working

process toward a statement of work approach to software development.

Key Points:• The overall date range for the company is on the far left on the top line• The date range for the position follows immediately on the same line as the job title• The responsibility statement is 1-2 line written in the 3rd person and includes key details about

the position.• The accomplishment bullets are 1-2 lines each and highlight key deliverables in the role,

quantified if possible.

Education Sample

Key points:• Key information – school, location, degree• Education should be listed most recent first• Relevant additional key training only can be listed separately

• Dates are not required on the resume or LinkedIn by may be for applications• All information must be correct and factual

Example:

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT, Storrs, Connecticut.Master of Science in Metallurgy.Bachelor of Science in Engineering – Double Major Mechanical Engineering & Materials.