September / October 2004, Issue 3

Dear Friends,

Can you believe the summer is over? Labor Day has come and gone, the kids are back to school, and we’re readjusting from our vacations. It’s time to gear our businesses up for a strong finish going into the New Year.

Consider the business professionals you know that are dissatisfied with their jobs or worse – unemployed wishing they had dissatisfying jobs. Although this newsletter reaches many small business and corporate types, we all know someone who might benefit from tips on career development and job search. I’ve included a few in this issue.

I have also provided information about upcoming public seminars on resume writing and career search strategies offered at little or no cost. Please feel free to contact me for more information.

I hope this issue can benefit you or someone you know get back on track and transition successfully.

-Michael

If you have any ideas or suggestions, drop us a line at info@building-blocks.net.

If Your Resume Doesn’t Work, Neither Will You
By Michael Goldberg

Resumes have changed over the last several years. They used to reflect a biographical overview of all your work experience, as well as your education and personal interests. Remember the section on hobbies? Also, the resume was never to be more than one page. Today, resumes are typically 2 pages with the focus on the most recent 20 years of professional experience. Personal interests are rarely included. The following guidelines can help you keep the focus of your resume on your accomplishments, education, and related skills. This is what will get you interviewed and ultimately hired.

• Insure your contact information is on the top of both pages of your resume. If your e-mail address is unprofessional, change it. Many email programs allow you to create a host name.
  
• If you know precisely what you want to do specific to your profession and industry, start your resume with "Professional Objective." If you don’t know, leave it out.
• There should be a brief paragraph on the top of the resume called a Summary. It outlines your entire resume highlighting your profession, expertise, background, and skills. This insures prospective employers need not read the entire resume to capture what you have to offer. It also makes it easier for keyword searches to pick up important aspects of your background. The Summary may be the most important part of the resume upon first glance of a prospective employer or recruiter.
• Summarize all job titles with a Responsibility Statement. Responsibility Statements are micro job descriptions that outline in broad terms the nature of your role. These statements are followed by Accomplishment Statements, written in a bullet point format. Accomplishment Statements explain specific tasks and their results.
• Write all aspects of the resume in Active Voice. Good practices around writing in Active Voice include omitting pronouns such as I, you, us, them, we, they, and me. Better to begin sentences using action words such as managed, implemented, created, and designed. Also, limit the use of the words a, an, and the on the resume (it’s alright to use these words on your Cover Letter). These are words you almost never need in the copy of your resume. Exceptions include the formal name of a company like The Wall Street Journal, or a publication, process, or type of software or hardware.
• Avoid the use of abbreviations (except for states), industry related jargon, and acronyms when possible. If you need to use acronyms, write out the whole term and then display the acronym afterward in parenthesis (only when written the first time).
• Proofread, proofread, and then proofread. Correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar are vital to the impression your resume will make. Also, proofread for typographical errors and insure accuracy with all biographical and accomplishment based information. Then have someone else with an eye for detail proofread your resume.
• Realize that the first draft of your resume will need revisions. It normally takes 3 or 4 drafts before the perfect resume is complete.
• There is no need to include references with your resume or make mention of them. And there is no need to include the phrase references furnished upon request.
• Do not include personal information on your resume including age, marital status, number of children, or anything that may cause doubt or screen you out of the hiring process.
• Numbers one through nine can be written out. Numbers 10 and up can be written numerically.
• Avoid leaving gaps between employment dates. Best to list jobs by year rather than by month.
• Use key words reflecting the industry and profession you are targeting rather than from previous experience.

Remember, your resume is the first impression a future employer may have of you. It serves as your sales kit, business card, and as a friendly reminder of how you present yourself and go about your work. Always keep your resume updated and within reach. You never know where your next opportunity may come from!

Michael Goldberg is a speaker, seminar leader, coach, and the President of Building Blocks Consulting. He helps organizations achieve measurable growth in sales, service, and leadership. Michael delivers keynote addresses, runs sales meetings, and conducts training programs on networking, leadership, public speaking, customer service, and job search. He can be reached at 732-446-2233 or via e-mail at megoldberg@building-blocks.net.

If you have questions, we have answers. Just Ask!

Michael,
What should I be prepared with when working a booth at a trade show? Do I need a lot of brochures, marketing collateral, and freebies to promote my business?

Keith Lee
Operations Manager
Maintenance King
Commercial, Industrial, Residential Cleaning

Hello Keith!
Have you ever been to a trade show, chamber event, or conference? You walk in empty handed and leave with a bag full of brochures, flyers, coffee mugs, pens, pads, and more do-da’s than you know what to do with. It’s overwhelming! Marketing collateral and ad specialties are great but often they just get mixed up with everybody else’s stuff. The last thing you want to do is dilute your message. It’s all about what you can offer to solve their problems, not the stuff you give them.

In your case, you’re looking to promote a service rather than a product. The most effective trade show exhibitors I know keep it really simple. They have a tri-fold brochure or a professionally prepared one page flyer available bullet pointing their services along with their business cards. There may be a few testimonials included, as well as contact information. The key is to come out from behind your table and greet people with a smile - not push your stuff. Allow people the comfort to ask questions and create instant credibility with your answers. Never try to sell the crowd, allow them to buy. Have fun! The more comfortable they are with you, the better they will feel about your services (or products). If it’s a good conversation, ask for a business card and permission to follow up to answer more questions. Be nice, smile, and always say thank you. The word gets around!

Regards,
Michael

Building Blocks to Success is a newsletter published by Building Blocks Consulting. Feel free to visit our website at www.building-blocks.net. If you do not wish to receive our newsletter, click here to unsubscribe.

A guest column by…
Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts

Strategic Business Writing for Higher Profits

According to the National Center on the Evaluation of Quality in the Workplace, employers list communications skills as one of the two leading job skills employees must have. (Attitude is the other.) No matter what you write—letters, memos, e-mail messages, reports, proposals, presentations, handbooks, or anything else—you can write with confidence and competence and actually enjoy the process! Create strategic documents your readers read first… documents that drive action…documents that affect your reader as you wish. Following are eight steps for doing just that:

1. Understand Your Audience
You must see your target so you know where to aim. Ask yourself these questions. Then answer them.

• What does my reader need to know about the subject?
• What’s the benefit to the reader?
• What will my reader’s reaction be to the message?

2. Identify Your Key Issue
If your reader forgets just about everything you write, what’s the one key point you want him or her to remember? Distill this key point into one sentence. This step is critical to delivering a clear and targeted message.

3. Write Dynamic Headlines that Shout "Read Me!"
Have you ever noticed how newspaper headlines jump out to tell a story? All your business documents—letters, e-mail messages, reports, handbooks, and anything you write—should tell your story. Remember that people don’t read, they skim. You want your readers to see your key issues at a glance.

4. Design for Visual Impact
When your document has a strong visual impact, it’s very readable. Use lots of white space; prepare bulleted and numbered lists when they’re appropriate; limit paragraphs to eight lines; and use charts, tables, and figures so readers can view information at a glance. This applies to every document you write—even letters and e-mail messages.

5. Simplify the Wording
You can write as though you’re talking and still maintain a professional tone. Don’t pepper your writing with big words; simplify your sentences. For example, instead of writing "give consideration to," write "consider." Then go through your text and delete every word and thought that doesn’t add value. Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!

Unwieldy: Because we have a small shop with limited personnel whose primary purpose (in my opinion) is to support the reactor operations and experiments, I recommend we send all major projects to outside shops who have better machines and capabilities so as not to tie up our machinists for extended periods of time which can be a problem when an emergency job is required where they are interrupted. (67 words)

Simplified: We must outsource all jobs we can’t handle. (8 words)

6. Use Positive Words
When you use positive words, you present yourself as a winner. It sounds so much better to write "Please remember to…," rather than "Don’t forget to…"

7. Write in the Active Voice
When you use the active voice, your sentence is alive because you start with the doer. For example, write "Bob sent the contract last week," rather than "The contract was sent last week by Bob."

8. Proofread Until Your Eyes Hurt
You want people to remember you for the right reasons, not for your faux pas. Although spelling and grammar checkers are helpful, don’t turn on your computer and turn off your brain.

Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts & Associates is an award-winning business writing and marketing communications firm. Sheryl and her team have written brochures, web text, and proposals that have helped companies to close multi-million contracts. Sheryl has written 18 books for the professional market, including Business Writing for Dummies, and she conducts business writing workshops that clients such as EMC, Tufts University, IDG, the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, and others rave about. For more information check out www.sherylwrites.com.

Interested in being a Guest Columnist? Contact us at info@building-blocks.net

Michael’s Public Seminars

Wednesday, September 8, 2004
How to Supercharge Your Resume

11:00am – 12:45pm
1:00pm – 2:45 pm
7:00pm – 8:45pm

Hosted by: Monmouth County Library Headquarters, Manalapan, NJ

Monday, September 13, 2004
"You're Hired!" The Building Blocks for Job Hunting

9:00am – 5:00pm

Hosted by: JJ Elek Realty, Woodbridge, NJ

Please visit www.building-blocks.net for more information and to register.