Powerful Personally-Branded Resumes & Cover Letters

6 Writing Strategies to Secure that Interview!

Would your resume…

Pass the 20 second rule?

‘Before’ Resume

Jane Brown

17 Broadacres Court Narre Warren 3987 Ph: 03 9000 0000

Career Objective:

To pursue a career as a Senior Accountant/Financial Controller with a progressive, innovative company while further contribute my knowledge and expertise to the advancement and profitability of

the organisation.

Education:

Bachelor of Business (Date)

Summary of experience- 25+ years in senior level accounting roles for multi-million dollar organisations- Extensive taxation knowledge and experience including FBT- Familiar with FX currencies, reconciliations and intercompany accounts

- CPA Qualified

Technologies:

ERP | MS Office Suite

‘Before’ Resume

Employment History:

2005-Current: CHISHOLM INSTITUTE – Accountant

- Enter and reconcile financial data

- Calculate and pay commissions

- Prepare and reconcile daily online banking transactions

2000-2004: ENTREPRENEUR COMPANY – Administrative Clerk (Volunteer)

- Data Entry

- Bank Reconciliations

- Prepare profit and loss statements

+ A resume is NOT: a chronological (or reverse chronological) history of your

qualifications and employment experience.

+ This type of document does little to showcase your personal brand, your

professionalism, and the value you offer an organisation.

Common resume blunders

+ Too broad; not focused on the job target

+ Written in a boring and uninspiring way

+ Uses a one-style-fits-all template

+ Includes irrelevant information that does little to strengthen the application

+ Incorrect resume format

+ Contains grammatical errors and typos

A Resume is…

+ A marketing / promotion tool+ Should aim to capture and maintain the reader’s interest from start to

finish+ Should promote your skill and strengths in relation to the position and

organisation’s needs

Remember:

The product is ‘you’

The buy is the ‘employer

Sell it – Don’t Tell it

Focus, Focus, Focus

To market a ‘product’ effectively you must:

+ Understand the product’s unique qualities and benefits+Understand the buyer’s needs

+ Portray the product’s unique qualities as benefits to the potential buyer’s needs

To market ‘yourself’ effectively you must:

+ Understand your unique qualities and benefits+ Understand the company’s needs+ Portray your unique qualities as benefits to the potential employer’s needs in a

results-driven approach

Resume Success Stories…

+ Peter: Had sent out 70-80 applications – no interviews• With his new resume he reconnected with an organisation and was invited to

interview with key decision makers

+ Karl: highly experienced – no responses• With his new resume was flown to Dubai and offered a role twice his seniority

+ Belinda: • With her new resume she secured an interview for her dream role and

secured $20,000 more in salary

+ Their resumes were transformed into an effective personal marketing document

that stood out from the crowd + Used pivotal building blocks in the design and development of a powerful resume+ Used results-driven achievement statements that got them noticed!

6 Crucial Writing Strategies

Step One: Research

+ Research the job and the organisation • Advertisement | Job Description

– What terminologies / jargon do they use?

• Company Website – What are their organisational values?– What is their mission statement?– Do they have a dedicated ‘Our Staff’ web page? How do they describe their staff

and what they are looking for?

• Professional Associations• Other Job Sites / Boards

Locate relevant information that will help you tailor your resume to fit the needs and objectives of the company / industry / position.

Step One: Research

+ Research ‘YOU”• Work Experience:

– What was your main reason for hire?– List some of your main accountabilities / tasks– Did you receive any awards/recognition?

• Special Projects• Education / Qualifications / Professional Development• Professional Memberships & Associations• It / Technical Skills• Extra Curricular Activities• Any other relevant details specific to the role

Step Two: Expand

+ Review the information you have listed in step one – Research stage, particularly the work experience and identify:

– What were some of the challenges you were faced with?• How were they impacting the company?• What steps did you take to address this?• What were the results?

– Did you make any improvements within your role?• What was happening prior to the improvements?• What steps did you take/suggestions did you make?• What was the impact this had on the company?

Step Two: Expand

Example:

Challenge: Had to setup all bookkeeping functions for a new commercial cleaning business. This is an industry that is known for bad debts and late paying debtors so quite challenging.Action: Developed a strict payment plan/debtor process and followed up regularly with debtors.Result: Had no bad debts, 96% of debtors were paying on time and the balance were put on payment plans. Company received A-Rating.

Example Re-Written:+ Setup entire bookkeeping functions from the ground up for a start-up commercial

cleaning business.• Business soon operated with a positive cash flow due to 96% of debtors paying

within 30 days, 4% being on special payment agreements and no overduebalances over 60 days. Company received an A-Rating last financial year.

Step Three: Script

The recipe for creating a powerful resume = resume speak

+ 2 parts advertisement

+ 1 part business communication

+ Add a dash of creative writing

+ Marinate in professionalism

S. Britton Whitcomb

Step Three: Script

+ Translate information into written word to capture and maintain the reader’s interest• Identify key information that is relevant to your career goals and the needs

of the organisation/job description• Incorporate industry-related key words and relevant phrases• Write your resume in First Person, not third person

– No: Jenny offers 6 years’ experience in senior-level accounting and finance roles

– Yes: 6 years’ experience in senior-level accounting and finance roles• Don’t use the personal pronoun ‘I’ in your resume

– No: I offer 6 years’ experience in senior-level accounting and finance roles

– Yes: 6 years’ experience in senior-level finance roles• Include attention-grabbing words

– Slashed advertising expenses by 45% after….– Overhauled ineffective processes with end-of-month procedures now

taking only half the time to complete

Powerful Verbs:

- Performed- Saved- Reduced- Analysed- Evaluated- Overhauled- Redesigned

Step Three: Script

• Write a strong opening profile at the beginning of your resume (not a career objective) as an introduction and state the overall value you offer

Commercially astute, results-focused accountant with over 16 years’experience and achievements in key management accounting and financedemonstrating comprehensive understanding of complete accountingprinciples and taxation law.

Track record for minimizing system inefficiencies and strengthen overallbottom-line profitability. Able to balance a hectic, accuracy-driven workload tosuccessful completion to ensure all corporate profitability goals are achieved.Adept with major accounting software including ERP systems.

Step Three: Script

• Write a job scope statement for each employer to tell the reader why you were hired and the challenges you faced.

RIGHT COMPANY 2008-2009

Accountant & Project Manager

Challenged to curb excessive costs and streamline the workflow of 40

consultants working on major projects nationwide. Projects were running

drastically behind schedule and over budget with crippling financial losses

putting the company’s future operation and viability in serious doubt.

Key Achievements:

- Eliminated previous 10-15% budget blowouts on projects valued from $10K to $2M with all projects now being delivered to budget.

Step Four: Underpin

+ Create succinct bulleted statements from the information you identified in step two: Expand stage

Recap:

– What were some of the challenges you were faced with?• How were they impacting the company?• What steps did you take to address this?• What were the results?

– Did you make any improvements within your role?• What was happening prior to the improvements?• What steps did you take/suggestions did you make?• What was the impact this had on the company?

Step Four: Underpin

Example:

Key Achievements:

- Eliminated previous 10-15% budget blowouts on projects valued from $10Kto $2M with all projects now being delivered to budget.

Key Achievements:- Eliminated previous 10-15% budget blowouts on projects valued from $10K to $2M with

all projects being delivered to budget. Achieved by developing a spreadsheet that:

- Provided consultants with an accurate overview of booked work and free time slots

that could accommodate additional project work.

- Reflected up-to-date costs, which also saved company thousands of dollars in

labour costs through linking resources across projects. This also enabled projects

to finish within budget, previously a challenge.

- Grouped consultants by capability, which improved skills across variousprojects on a week-to-week basis.

Step Five: Materialise

+ Select the appropriate format to enhance your experience so that you are positioned as a ‘must-have’ candidate

– Use a carefully structured, concise and visually sharp document – no boring templates• Graduate: highlight your educational pursuits, special projects, internships • Have several years experience: concentrate on relevant and recent successes

along with your leadership skills to position yourself for a higher level role• Seasoned professional: don’t be tempted to include your 30+ years of experience.

Show the last 10-15 years and summarise the rest of your information.• Incorporate a “Selected Career Highlights’ section

– Length of a resume? • A resume is as long as it needs to be. What’s crucial is that it captures and

maintains the readers interest

– Keep formatting consistent• If bolding a heading – bold all headings

– Incorporate a graph/visual elements if appropriate– Include contact information at the front of the document

Step Five: Materialise

Don’t:

Add your date of birth, age, gender, marital status on your document. This is personal and shouldn’t impact your ability to perform the role

Bury relevant information at the end of your document

Include irrelevant information

List boring unsubstantiated skills/strengths statements

Step Six: Edit

Look at what has slipped through unedited documents:

I have completed professional curses in Bank Reconciliations and MYOB

Compiled monthly, bi-monthly and anal financial reports

Proficient at developing writen financial reports for senior staff and demonstrate high level of attention to detail

The Steps: Recap

Research information about you and the company

Expand to identify challenges overcome/achievements

Script your document

Underpin your expertise with carefully structured/worded sections

Materialise by putting together using a format that highlights your experience in the best possible way

Edit to ensure your document is error free

Cover Letters

What is a cover letter?

- A document that accompanies your resume

- Its purpose is to introduce you, while provide a brief overview of you and why you are a suitable applicant for the role

- It should generate interest and compel the reader to look more closely at your resume. Think of the AIDA marketing approach:

- Capture the reader’s ATTENTION

- Create INTEREST

- Create DESIRE

- Compel the reader to ACTION

Cover Letters

Tips:

- Each cover letter should be tailored specifically to the role

- Aim for one page

- Keep the formatting the same as your resume

- Letter head

- Font

- Remember, this is a business letter so be mindful of communication etiquette, job titles, grammar, spelling etc. NO abbreviations and no jargon (unless you are using terminologies relevant to your industry).

- Do NOT repeat your entire resume contents in the letter – rather include relevant achievements and experience [see example handout]

Cover Letters

Review and discuss example handout

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Now – over to your Questions: