Writing a Resume: First Important Step

Writing a resume is more than just articulating your skills and accomplishments. Perhaps the most important part of the resume writing process is to start by defining your brand or positioning statement often called the “elevator pitch”. (An “elevator pitch” is what you would say to Bill Gates if he got on an elevator with you and you had 20 seconds to tell him why he should hire you before the elevator doors open at the lobby). And in the process of defining your positioning statement, you need to give some thought to your overall search strategy.

For example, let’s say you’ve gained most of your experience in small firms where you had to do a lot of everything. Perhaps you had your own company and successfully grew it to a reasonable size. You have demonstrable skills in sales, business development and P&L management. So how do you position yourself? The answer depends on what kinds of companies you are targeting.

If you are sending your resume to Fortune 500 firms, you’ll need to pick your strongest and dearest area and tailor a resume towards that. Conversely, if you target small and medium sized firms, then your “jack of all trades” skills are in demand. One resume will not work for both kinds of firms.

Remember that there are 3 steps to getting a job: having a great resume, getting it read by the right people, and acing the interview. The first 2 must be considered together to develop a winning resume.