Powerful Personally-Branded Resumes & Cover Letters

1. Powerful Personally-Branded Resumes & Cover Letters • 6 Writing Strategies to Secure that Interview!

2. Would your resume… Pass the 20 second rule?

3. ‘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

4. ‘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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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!

9. 6 Crucial Writing Strategies

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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?

13. 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 overdue • balances over 60 days. Company received an A-Rating last financial year.

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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 finance • demonstrating comprehensive understanding of complete accounting • principles and taxation law. • Track record for minimizing system inefficiencies and strengthen overall • bottom-line profitability. Able to balance a hectic, accuracy-driven workload to • successful completion to ensure all corporate profitability goals are achieved. • Adept with major accounting software including ERP systems.

17. 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.

18. 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?

19. 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.

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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]

26. Cover Letters • Review and discuss example handout

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