I recently became acquainted with Abby Locke, a resume writer and personal branding expert here in Washington DC.  I am impressed with her approach to the resume as a personal marketing document.  Particularly the way she utilizes the resume in different contexts by creating documents to support meetings of various kinds.  In addition to the resume tailored to a specific job opportunity she’ll prepare Networking Resumes, Career Biographies, and Job Proposals.

This makes so much sense to me!  Anyone making a significant career change will spend much of his or her networking time in exploration mode — feeling out an industry, trying on the vocabulary, sussing out hidden opportunities and inventing their own opportunities.  This requires a different kind of document from the typical resume.  For these conversations, design a document that helps others to understand what you are looking for in your next steps without prematurely shutting doors.  Leave room for creative brainstorms — you never know what ideas someone might have for you!  And make it easy for your contacts to refer you to others.

For example, your Networking Resume might include a description of job targets including position level, focus areas and industries desired.  This would not be sufficiently tailored to apply for a single position, BUT is great when you are having exploratory conversations.

Check out Abby’s sample documents for inspiration.  She also has a good list of career resources on her website.

Below is a recent article with some useful resume tips from Abby Locke.  No matter what kind of resume you are working on you will find wisdom here:

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Makeover Techniques for a Distinctive Resume
By Abby Locke

You have less than 60 seconds to make a great impression on potential employers and recruiters, so you must be prepared with a concise, attention-getting executive resume. If you have been sending out tons of resumes and getting little or no response, try implementing the following techniques to upgrade and transform your resume.

1. Use a branding statement.

Think about your professional reputation, the attributes that make you unique, and the consistent trend of accomplishments in your career. Use this information to write a strong, memorable branding statement. Then, draw from this branding statement to create the title header of your executive resume.

For example, a Director of Risk Management may have a branding statement like this:

Director of Risk Management / Vice President of Risk Management

Merging insurance and risk management expertise with Six Sigma principles to deliver effective loss reduction initiatives in large, corporate environments.

An IT executive would emphasize his technology management capabilities in a branding statement like the following:

Chief Technology Officer / Vice President of Software Development

Creating competitive business advantages through cutting-edge technologies, innovative software engineering, and effective IT management.

2. Prepare a powerful executive summary/profile.

The executive profile section of your resume should be more than just a collection of personal traits and characteristics — make sure that you include evidence of valuable contributions from your career and highlight your top qualifications. Avoid superfluous, overused statements like “Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.”

The following example of a great executive profile was taken from a resume for a COO:

Performance-driven executive with notable success in delivering impressive turnaround results at large corporations. Strengths in formulating long-term strategic policies and technological initiatives that have supported organizational growth, improved staff productivity, and increased profit margins. Demonstrated ability to influence diverse, cross-functional teams to achieve objectives and meet critical deadlines in fast-paced environments.

Here’s an executive summary for a VP of Human Resources:

Versatile, accomplished executive offering 20-plus years experience leading organizational development and human resources initiatives that support strategic business results and link human assets to business outcomes. Adept at identifying, advocating, and executing cost control initiatives and efficiencies. Designs best practice compensation, benefits, succession, recruiting, training and development programs.

3. Minimize length of job descriptions.

Avoid weighing down your resume with a laundry list of duties (unless you have a unique career that needs an extensive explanation). Limit the length of your job descriptions to about five or six lines, and only focus on the overall scope of your management responsibilities. Make sure to include staff size, budgets managed, sales/revenue goals and corporate objectives.

Over-bulleting is often not a great idea, as shown in the example below.

Before:

• Deliver assigned small business goals for deposits, loans, fees, referrals and other small business-related products.
• Design and implement a loan and deposit acquisition strategy within the Greater Washington market
• Support existing branch portfolio of loan and deposit business customers
• Provide advice and coaching to branch personnel on commercial sales activities
• Participate in civic and community activities to enhance the company’s image and develop business

It’s best to mold your points into a short paragraph of fluid sentences for better continuity in reading.

After:

Develop innovative sales and marketing strategies to penetrate new customer segments in Greater Washington area. Train 25 branch managers on marketing additional banking products and services to current and prospective clients. Create and conduct seminars demonstrating techniques in prospects, cold calls, lead generation, and consultative sales. Design instructional materials, integrate role-plays, facilitate group discussions, and incorporate hands-on exercises to ensure training effectiveness.

4. Pull out a high-impact accomplishment for each position

For each job listed on your resume, select and highlight a powerful accomplishment. Choose a quantifiable success that demonstrates your problem-solving and leadership capabilities. Try using a format that catches the reader’s eye.

In both examples below, you would place the statement before the actual job description.

Developed a healthcare consulting services company from startup to fully operational in just nine months; grew annual revenues from zero to $5 million in first year.

OR

Performance Impact: Introduced innovative process improvement initiatives that automated 45 processes, shrunk operating costs by $500,000 and eliminated 100% of manual, time-consuming tasks.

5. Always use your career-defining achievements.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a wide selection of achievements for each position, select those achievements of which you are most proud. The purpose for placing achievements on your resume is to market your abilities and to show employers the best of what you have to offer.

The following examples show how hard-hitting, powerful achievement statements are really impressive.

Delivered $13.5 million savings in general and administrative expenses by conducting extensive review of corporate and field human resources operations.
Reduced annual HR expenditures 50% by eliminating duplicate costs, creating benefit efficiencies, and reducing employee training costs.
Decreased staff turnover 20% and boosted employee satisfaction by implementing targeted recruiting, retention and human resources enhancement programs.
Lowered annual benefit costs for two consecutive years by introducing managed care approach to employee health care plans.

Abby M. Locke is a Certified Executive Resume-Writer and Personal Brand Coach who supports senior-level finance, accounting and technology professionals in career transition. Her resume samples have been published in Nail the Resume! Great Tips for Creating Dynamic Resumes, and Same-Day Resumes.