Differentiating Yourself - Answering the Question: “Why?”
Recently, I attended the NFL game between my Cleveland
Browns and the Buffalo Bills. There were
71,000+ people in attendance and the majority of those fans were wearing
something (hat, jacket, jersey) with the team’s colors (brown and orange). Let’s say that someone that knew me was also
at the game and decided to text to advise, “Hey, Mike…heard you were at the
game…I’m here too”. I would text them
back to ask, “Great, where are you?” If
they responded with something like, “I’m wearing a brown hat”, that does not
really help me find/see them…since probably 70% of the fans might also be
wearing brown hats. If they add, “Oh,
also…I’m standing up”, that bit of additional information does help, but I
still have little chance of finding my friend among the 40,000 or so people who are standing up
and wearing brown hats. If my friend
adds, “I’m eight rows up, on the 50-yard line, north side of the field, and next
to the Browns’ mascot, who is walking up the aisle”. Bang..!
There he is. Just a few more
words and I was able to quickly find him out of a crowd of 71,000 people (who,
in that setting, all basically looked pretty much the same).
The job seeker’s most daunting challenge is to stand out
from what could well be a relatively large pool of candidates. Today, it is still common for a posted
opening to receive up to a few hundred resumes/online applications. So, hundreds of resumes go into the candidate
pool, with possibly as few as 15 – 25 of those being perceived by the HR
screener or recruiter as attractive enough to be scheduled for a phone
screen. The task of the
screener/recruiter at this point is to select from that “first cut” group the 5
– 8 candidates who will earn the opportunity for an in-person interview.
Thus, the vast majority of applicants never make it even to
the phone screen step in the overall selection process. This is simply due to the fact that most
candidates do a poor job of positioning themselves in their resume as the
potential “game-changer” the employer is seeking to find. And, this is because they fail to answer one
very basic, yet tremendously critical question for those involved in the hiring
process:
“WHY (should you, the HR recruiter or hiring manager) consider/select
me from among all of the others in the pool of applicants?”
Of all of the many thousands of resumes I've read/reviewed
over the years, very few provide the HR staff or the hiring manager with the
answers to, “Why are the results I've produced better than the other
candidates?”, “Why am I a better fit for your company’s culture?”, “Why would I
be better able to make an immediate impact within your team/group/organization?”,
“Why would you feel, six months after I joined the firm, that you would
tell your boss that hiring me was the best decision you ever made?”, and, “Why
am I the best suited to come into your group/division/company and help to take
it from good to great?”.
People to whom I've provided job search coaching usually
tell me, when advised their resume lacks the “wow” factor, they felt including
such would be perceived by the reader as bragging.
It is not. Unless the
“facts” presented are actually embellishments of the truth without any
quantification. For example:
Embellishment –
Guy in the next cubicle tells his buddy, one of 10 sales people in the Widget
Division, “Dude, you rock”, which the candidate translates on his resume into,
“Recognized as one of the top salesmen in the entire Division.”
Truth with
Quantification – “Key Accomplishment” on candidate’s resume reads,
“Cultivated, over the course of one year, a strong relationship with the president
of Really Gigantic Machine Corporation using social media, on-site visitations,
and meetings with their key production team resulting in an initial purchase
order of the Super XL Widget for $5M. This was the largest single order ever
received by our firm from a Fortune 100 company and the largest order ever
written by any salesperson in our company’s 80-year history.”
OK…Which of these two examples is more believable? Which contains the “Why”…the “Wow” factor
along with quantification of such?
To catch the eye, and interest, of the HR screener,
recruiter or hiring manager reviewing incoming resumes, each of the Key
Accomplishment bullets needs to contain a quantified “why”. Otherwise, why would a hiring manager, whose
job might be hinging upon their ability to select a “game-changing” candidate, feel
that candidate was “the one”?
They wouldn't.
Remember that during the course of the selection process,
those involved are being asked, “why”.
“Why are these 15 candidates you (the HR Recruiter) selected for a phone
screen the best 15 out of the 245 resumes you received for this opening?” or
“Why are these the best five candidates, and the ones you want me (the hiring
manager) to interview, out of those you phone screened?”. The hiring manager normally is asked by his
boss, “Why did you pick “X” as your top candidate, the one to whom you wish to
make the offer?” Also remember that the
hiring manager’s reputation can be impacted, positively or negatively, by how
the selected candidate performs. I don’t
know of any hiring managers who desire to be associated with an employee who
turns out to be a disappointment.
Simply…if the candidate provides great, “why’s” in the
resume, they have a very good shot at being selected for a phone screen and/or
in-person interview. Provide “why’s”
also during interviews. The more reasons
provided to those involved in the hiring process regarding why you are a better
fit and a better overall candidate for the opening, the easier you make their
decision as to whom to make the offer.
Think of it this way…for virtually every
suggestion/recommendation we make in our work and personal lives, we are pretty
much always asked for some quantification of such:
· “I think we should close these two production facilities” “Why?”
· “We should buy that new Corvette” “Why?”
· “I want to promote Susan to VP of Operations” “Why?”
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