The 5-Power-Play C-Suite Career Plan is designed to help you achieve career success in up or down markets:
- Become the CEO of company YOU
- Brand to land
- Get social
- Write tight
- New branded CareerCom
- Why-Buy-ROI
- Power Pitch Resume/Profile (below)
Your Next Power Play: Write Tight (Part 3): The Power Pitch Resume™
The three+ page executive resume is fast becoming a dinosaur, even for the C-suite. Most busy leaders now prefer to receive a precision one- or two-page impact-driven career snapshot (a power resume easily readable on a smart phone, laptop, or iPad). When an executive says, "bottom-line it for me" he's not kidding. If you can't, you're out.
In this environment, executives need not just a resume, but a precision suite of branded career communications documents (CareerComm), that say “I know what you need, I can do it, I can prove I can do it, I can show you how I do it, and I can do it again!”
CareerComm powers your messaging with an obvious return on investment "reason to care." It's the way to entice an employer's "tell me more" connection in a world of "So what? Make me care! Do it fast!"
The heartbeat of a CareerComm executive suite is the "Power Pitch Resume™" And the heartbeat of the Power Pitch Resume™ is branded value – the Why-Buy-ROI.
Famed theatrical producer David Belasco might have been speaking of a the Why-Buy-ROI, when he declared, nearly 100 years ago, "If you can’t write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don’t have a clear idea."
Of course an executive resume is bigger than a business card, but it's shrinking fast. And if its core - its Why-Buy-ROI - isn't business-card-ready, the resume's not ready to "bottom-line" the impact of a career in just 1 or 2 pages!
Here's How It Works
The Why-Buy-ROI's core message of branded value expands to become a six-point brand- and value-infused resume profile. The resume profile heads a concise collection of impact-driven job descriptions designed to support a single strategic message. That message is designed to meet what the target company and/or industry needs now (bleeding need) and into the future (aspiration wish-list).
Anything that is not essential to that message is ruthlessly edited out (write tight!) – a tough task, but necessary to meet the "So what? Make me care! Do it fast!" command of perennially distracted, multi-tasking decision-makers.
Just Six Steps to a Power Pitch Resume Profile
A Power Pitch Resume starts with a Power Pitch Resume Profile. Similar to Belasco's "idea on a calling card" The Power Pitch Resume Profile is a far cry from the cliché-ridden, key-word heavy, self-aggrandizing profiles still seen in most executive resumes.
Focused on the “meet a need or stop the bleed” value message, the Power Pitch Profile is written in six “micro-burst” power phrases that deliver essential impact, important proof points, a bit of brand, and a compelling Why-Buy-ROI call to action.
The Power Pitch Profile's message to employers is so strong that if the rest of the resume disappeared, the profile could capture enough interest to propel connection.
Here's an example for a regional director of a major pizza chain, based on the Twitter Job Search Guide's section on branded resumes (Whitcomb, Bryan, and Dib. JIST, 2010.) Note the exciting use of unabashedly authentic branding (the "Why-Buy" or "the who and the how") paired with compelling delivery of value (the ROI/ or "the what").
Delivering Pie-in-the-Sky Profits (#1 Heading/Tagline)
Deliver double-digit profit increases in a bad economy by infusing contagious energy across the region, engaging teams, and attracting evangelistic customers. (#2 Brand/Why-Buy-ROI)
Increase store sales of the eastern seaboard’s #2 specialty pizza chain 37% to 43% by creating an environment that gets customers excited about buying pizza. (#3 Impact)
Bring store operations, marketing, finance, and supply chains together to lift margins by more than 10 points in this traditionally tough margin business. (#4 Impact)
Learned the internals of the business, hands-on. Fast-tracked from counterman in high school, through store manager, to director in just 15 years. (#5 Career Snapshot/Differentiators)
Act as “listener-in-chief.” Encourage experimentation/new ideas that motivate teams, turnaround failing stores, and grow sales and profits. (#6 Soft Skills/Process)
Let's Break it Down
1. Heading
The heading is the compelling, intriguing, and differentiated “title” of the Power Pitch Resume Profile (and resume)—a value-infused tagline, brand statement, or on-brand action item.
2. The Why-Buy-ROI
This Why-Buy-ROI is the intersection of brand and value–it’s what anchors the resume and captures the reader’s interest because it meets bleeding need and/or the aspiration wish list.
3 & 4. Impact/Proof of Performance #1 & #2
The third and fourth bullets are accomplishments that prove the value proposition (Why-Buy-ROI) and propel further reading.
5. Career Snapshot and/or Differentiators
This is the “where I’ve been, why I’m different, and why you should care” bullet.
6. Personal Brand “Soft Skills” /Process
This is the “chemistry and fit” message that demonstrates the “who and how” of work—the process, passions, team skills, and so on.
The Power Pitch "Three-Yes-Test"
Power Pitch personal marketing is tough work. It's fairly simple to write a decent work history. But, as any marketing or advertising pro will tell, you it's a lot harder to strategically sort through numerous benefits and write compelling copy focused on only those that are of interest to a specific demographic or sector.
For job seekers and career managers, sorting, sifting, and shaping a career into a few inches of power copy that outshines the competition and resonates with the reader requires research, strategy, self-knowledge, tenacity, and ruthless editing.
You'll know you're there if your Power Pitch Profile answers these three questions with a "yes!"
- Is the profile targeted, value-driven, dollarized, branded, and succinct?
- Can the profile stand on its own without the resume?
- Is the profile likely to compel the decision-maker to say, "Tell me more!"
If so, congratulations! You're one of the enlightened executives who understand the new rules of personal marketing, and you've given yourself a real competitive edge.
Once you have your Power Pitch Resume Profile, you're ready to craft your job descriptions. Next in our series: Write Tight Part 4, More on Crafting Your Power Pitch Resume.
© Copyright, 2011, Deb Dib. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
------------------------------
About this author: Deb Dib, Job-Hunt's Executive Job Search Expert, has been a careers-industry professional since 1989. For the last few years, Deb has focused on coaching CEO's and other C-suite executives in finding their next opportunities. Deb is the founder of Executive Power Brand, and co-author of best-selling Twitter Job Search Guide, Find Your Ideal Job and Build Your Career in Just 15 Minutes a Day (March 2010, JIST). Connect with Deb at her website at www.executivepowerbrand.com, on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/debdib, on Twitter at @CEOcoach, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DebDib, and via email at info at executivepowerbrand.com, or at 631-475-8513.
