TheLadders.

com Executive Coach Page 1 of 8

John Susko

From: TheLadders.com [jobs@SalesLadder.com]

Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 1:03 AM
To: jms@akualani.com
Subject: Pass the Hiring Manager's Test!

Welcome to our new Weekly Executive Coach! Every Wednesday, we'll send you expert career advice to boost your job hunt. If you'd no
longer like to receive this email, just unsubscribe.

Major Account Executive, Detroit, MI Weekly Executive Coach

Account Executive, Detroit, MI April 4th, 2007
Senior Account Executive, Detroit, MI
More Jobs You Might Like...

Articles for April. 4th, 2007

How to Pass the Hiring Managers 30-Second Test:
Personal Marketing Strategies for Powerful Qualifications Get More From SalesLadder
Summaries
Freetime 2,118 New Sales Jobs This Week
Jobs within 10 miles of 48066
Jobs within 25 miles of 48066
Jobs within 50 miles of 48066

Find Jobs Now!

Update Your Bio

Save a Search
Get Resume Help
Manage Your Account Settings
How to Pass the Hiring Managers 30-Second Test:
Personal Marketing Strategies for Powerful Qualifications
Questions? Get Help
Summaries
By Barbara Safani

The average hiring manager spends less than 30 seconds

reviewing a resume. Hiring managers scan resumes to quickly see
Exclusive Content from
what piques their interest in a candidate. Their first glance at the
CareerJournal:
document often focuses on the text within the top third of the page. Theory & Practice
This makes it imperative for candidates to create a career summary How Understanding the 'Why' Behind
at the top of the document to quickly communicate competency, Bosses' Decisions Matters
scope, fit, and value-add. With so little time and so much at stake, By Phred Dvorak
applicants must strive to create a self-marketing tool that passes
the hiring manager's initial screening test.
Employees are more likely to embrace
changes when they're fully informed.
Below is an overview of the three "tests" hiring managers use to
screen candidates and recommended writing strategies to pass
each test to score high grades with the hiring manager.
read more

4/4/2007
TheLadders.com Executive Coach Page 2 of 8

THE COMPETENCY TEST: Strategies for Showcasing Your

Skills

First, the hiring manager looks for your competencies to determine

if you have the experience and scope necessary to perform the job.
When writing a resume, make sure that your areas of knowledge
and expertise are communicated clearly within the top third of the
first page of your resume. Don't hide your competencies within your
profile summary; instead create a separate section in the resume
called Core Competencies, Areas of Expertise, or Areas of
Knowledge to call direct attention to your qualifications.

Make sure your competencies section discusses specific rather

than general job expertise. Try to match your competencies to the
words and phrases that are most commonly used in your industry.
Review job postings and job descriptions for positions in your field
that are similar to the ones you will be targeting in your search.
From here, create a clear match between your competencies and
those necessary for the position.

Example:

CORE COMPETENCIES

Management

Organizational Redesign and Restructuring • Information

Systems and Technologies • Cost Reduction and Avoidance •
Market and Operations Risk Assessment • Client Relationship
Management
RFP Development • Recruitment and Retention • Training and
Development

Operations

Global and Domestic Custody • Clearance • Mortgage Backed

Securities (MBS) • Securities Lending Offshore Fund
Administration • Corporate Trust • Transfer Agent • Risk
Management Cash Management • Funds Transfer • Money
Markets • Letters of Credit • Loans

Compliance

AML • BSA • OFAC • SAR • FINCEN • USA Patriot Act • SOX •

Graham-Leach-Bliley • SEC Rule 17
W-1099 and W-1042 Reporting • Double Taxation Treaties •
Balance Sheet & P/L Reporting

4/4/2007
TheLadders.com Executive Coach Page 3 of 8

THE CREATIVE WRITING TEST: Strategies for Showcasing

Your Personal Brand

Create a professional identity. Your professional identity is not

the same as your job title. The professional identify conveys your
personal brand and the scope of your responsibilities through a few
targeted words. When placed in bold near the top of your resume,
your identity calls attention to your candidacy much the same way
that a catchy headline on the front page of a newspaper grabs the
attention of the reader.

Example:

EXECUTIVE STRATEGIST AND CHANGE AGENT

CEO / President / Principal / Founder

EXECUTIVE PROGRAM DIRECTOR

NOT-FOR PROFITS • SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE CAUSES •
GRASSROOTS EFFORTS MASS DEFENSE • AIDS
AWARENESS • YOUTH PROGRAMS
ACTIVIST • AUTHOR • RADIO TALK SHOW HOST

Offer a mission statement or personal quote. What are your

goals and dreams and how successful have you been at attaining
these objectives in different business environments? Share your
value proposition with your reader to build rapport and establish a
connection between your successes and the goals of the company.

Example:

RECORDING INDUSTRY EXECUTUVE

SIX-TIME GRAMMY NOMINEE • GRAMMY NOMINATED
PRODUCER
Building multimillion-dollar record labels by promoting
authentic niche talent and executing strategic crossover
marketing campaigns to create breakthrough hits that
increase artist recognition and capture new market share.

Discuss business environments. Have you worked in particular

business environments that have helped shape your brand? Were
your achievements focused in a turnaround, high-growth, or
international environment? Have you worked across several
businesses or across multiple industries? This may very well be
part of your value-add and it is certainly information that will gain

4/4/2007
TheLadders.com Executive Coach Page 4 of 8

your reader's attention and encourage them to read on.

Example:

SENIOR MARKETING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

EXECUTIVE
Start-Up, Turnaround, Fast-Track Growth & Multinational
Corporations
Global Business Ventures / Multi-Site Operations

Name drop. As a hiring manager scans your resume, s/he will be

quickly looking at the companies you have worked for. If you've
held positions at several Fortune 1,000 or fast-growing start-ups
and your association with these firms is part of your brand, add the
company names to your headline to build credibility and interest in
your candidacy. If you have worked for lesser known companies,
but held account responsibilities for well-known firms, showcase the
names of your clients, provided this is not considered proprietary
information.

Example:

STRATEGY CONSULTANT Booz Allen Hamilton •

Accenture • Deloitte Consulting
Turn-arounds • Spin Offs • Post Merger Integration •
Outsourcing • IT Enterprise Integrations

MARKETING EXECUTIVE

Key clients include Radio Shack, Circuit City, CompUSA,

Brandmart USA, General Electric, Staples, Home Depot,
and Winn Dixie

Add a testimonial. One great way to build authenticity into your

profile is to showcase a quote from a senior executive or customer.
Content for these testimonials can be found through a variety of
sources including performance reviews, 360 assessments, and
customer satisfaction surveys.

Example:

"Jonathan was asked to take responsibility for a piece of a

mission-critical e-business application project that was behind

4/4/2007
TheLadders.com Executive Coach Page 5 of 8

schedule due to an unresponsive software vendor. Several

others had tried to remedy the situation, including a senior vice
president at Ernst & Young, but no one was able to make any
progress. However, Jonathan was able to build rapport with the
vendor, negotiate a workable relationship, and marshal internal
resources to deliver the solution."
Andrew Finn, Management Consultant, Ernst & Young

THE MATH TEST: Strategies for building your portfolio of

accomplishments

Problem-Action-Result Statements

Hiring managers believe that proof of past successes helps to

determine how successful you will be in their organization. The best
way for you to prove your success is to discuss accomplishments
thoroughly, rather than focusing heavily on job tasks.

To create accomplishment statements, examine a problem you

have faced in the past, the actions you took to fix the problem, and
the associated results of your actions. Think of the before and after
picture and try to assign a number, dollar value, or percent change
to your results.

Accomplishment statements must be present throughout the profile

section of your resume. You should include overall
accomplishments that help set the tone for and frame your
candidacy throughout your resume.

Example:

Year-over-year success building businesses that yield as

much a $250M in new revenue; couple innovative marketing
concepts with solid merchandise planning and program
development skills.

Accelerated purchases as much as 300% by successfully
leveraging concept development to create connections
between intrinsic brand elements and consumers.

Accomplishment Hooks

Hiring managers are looking for examples of how you have helped
the companies you supported make money, save money, save
time, improve a process, reverse an existing problem, be first to
market, build relationships/brand identity, grow the business, attract
new business, or maintain existing business.

Accomplishment hooks should be woven throughout the document.

4/4/2007
TheLadders.com Executive Coach Page 6 of 8

Incorporate the strongest hooks into the profile or career highlights

section. Statements should be front-loaded, which means that the
key metric driving the accomplishment should be at the beginning of
the statement.

Example:

Make Money
 Accelerated profit margins by 30% with projected
sales of $400M by launching seven innovative
insurance and POS products in just three years.
Save Money
 Cut expenses incurred by temporary staffing
agencies by $5M; consolidated vendor list by 60%.
Save Time
 Eliminated over 30 administrative hours weekly by
authoring and designing 50-page web-application
interface that standardized and automated
responses to general support desk inquiries
regarding the group's flagship product.
Improve a Process
 Streamlined 10,000-user email list to improve
distribution and accuracy of mailings significantly.
Reverse an Existing Problem
 Reduced product imperfections by 500% by
implementing more stringent controls to improve
fabric and product quality; achieved ISO 9002
status.
Be First to Market
 Pioneered CarpetSafe® exclusive insurance product
for ABC Carpets offering replacement carpet if
original is damaged through general wear and tear
or staining.
Build Relationships/Brand Identity
 Garnered $13,000 in grant and donation money and
free publicity for Furnish a Future by forging
partnership with Corcoran Realtors.
 Successfully launched $50 million gourmet sales
market despite president's skepticism of products'
earning potential.
Grow the Business
 Boosted revenues for Virtual Auction from
underperforming $12M to over $30M, with average
markup of 18% vs. previous 3%, well above
comparative auction margins.
Attract New Business
 Grew female customer base from 15% to 60% by
repositioning merchandising strategy and offering
high margin apparel, home, health, and beauty
products.

4/4/2007
TheLadders.com Executive Coach Page 7 of 8

Maintain Existing Business

 Reversed strained relationship with $22B
supranational client; renewed three-year contract
despite internal and external expectations that
account was unsalvageable and secured an
additional $4B in business.

Add charts and graphs

By adding a visual component to your profile section, you

can quickly communicate dramatic results to your audience
without taking up too much space on the document. Charts
can chronicle success over time, across products, or across
businesses.

Example:

NY Branch 2002 2003 2004 2005

Revenue $15MM $20MM $27MM $30MM

Market Share 15% 22% 35% 46%

Client Retention 82% 89% 93% 97%

Referral Business 10% 21% 45% 72%

Remember, great qualification summaries tell an authentic

and compelling story. Content, format, and design all play a
role in your story and each component should be
considered when crafting your unique message.

Hiring managers need to read the "book jackets" of a lot of

stories and quickly decide which ones to read in greater
detail. Try some of these strategies to improve your chances
of getting on the "must read" and "must interview" list of
candidates.

Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers, has over ten

years of experience in career management, recruiting,
executive coaching, and organizational development. She is
a triple certified resume writer and frequent contributor to
numerous career-related publications.

Freetime

Finger painting in the office might garner a few stares. So

summon your inner Picasso online instead.

Not all of us have the opportunity to visit Bora Bora or

Santorini, Greece. Luckily, a few talented photographers

4/4/2007
TheLadders.com Executive Coach Page 8 of 8

documented their trips for us!

Think you're spending a bit too much time with Fido? Rest
assured you're not as canine crazy as these pooch owners.

If staring at a computer screen all day doesn't make your

eyes blur, these optical illusions will certainly do the trick!

©2007 TheLadders | Privacy | Terms of Use | Contact | Employers | Site Map

TheLadders.com, Inc. | 137 Varick St., 8th Floor | New York, NY 10013

To make sure this email is not sent to your "junk/bulk" folder, select "Add/save to Address Book" in your email browser and
follow the appropriate instructions.

You are receiving this email because you signed up for SalesLadder Premium on 2004-10-12 with IP address 69.47.69.239
from jms@akualani.com.

To no longer receive the Weekly Executive Coach, unsubscribe.

To manage any of the emails you receive from us, edit your email preferences.

4/4/2007