Marketing Technique

John Melchinger--The Marketing Coach™

Your Resume

There are three "R's" to self-promotion; resume, reputation and reality.

People expect your resume to be glowing, factual and perfect in appearance because it comes from the person being touted -- you. It should be succinct (written on one page or less, unless more information is requested or required) and stress facts and accomplishments. Avoid the phrase "responsible for" and do state what you did and accomplished.

Reputation, on the other hand, is expected to be less biased, and come from other people's remarks about you. In this regard, it is often wise to keep a collection of letters and comments written about you, to show to people you want to impress. Equally important is keeping a list of satisfied clients and centers of influence you can offer to those who want to check you out, making it easy for them to track down your testimonial-giving supporters and general references. Be aware that any smart approach to investigating someone's reputation will get beyond just the people offered as references, so the more you offer up front, the more control you actually have.

Reality is how you actually perform at any given time, so that's not something you can do before you get on the job somewhere. The one exception to this is to show actual samples of your work, if you can do this. The more you can demonstrate the results you have made happen in the past, the stronger the impression will be of your ability to do a specific task or lead a particular effort in the future.