Are you looking for a job?

Bird Dog links to an article by Chris Southern on managing your job strengths.

Not only is “who you are” what you are selling, but (a) this is sometimes the root of why you lost your job and (b) something you need to know for your integrity and success in life.

What are you good at? What are you bad at? Do not underestimate what this means. Can you be thrown into situations requiring resolution of conflict? Can you write great software? Are you good with people and make them feel good about themselves? Will people follow your vision? Do you even have a vision or are you better at hearing an objective and getting it done? Are you a reliable performer? Do you get into negative spats with other people? And so on.

This will sound harsh, but in my experience what brings you to a job search has something subtle to do with what you are good at and not good at. In some subliminal way, your last job may have called for more from your weak spots than you were able to give. You need to ask yourself, very honestly, if your skills and weaknesses had anything to do with where you are now, and how should they influence what you would be successful doing next.

...Play to your strengths No one is good at everything, but you are good at some things. Don’t take a job that is about what you’re not good at. Do stuff you are good at.

...What do you want to do & Why? Sometimes you want to do what you used to do. But not always. People you meet will ask you this, not because they’re trying to expose you, but because they need to know. I was the head of IT. Maybe I still wanted to be the head of IT. Or maybe I wanted to advise clients. Or maybe I wanted to teach high school. Stop for a moment and see your life as a book. It will have several chapters. No matter what, you are about to write a new chapter. What will it be about?

...When asked about what you want to do, you need a crisp answer. It’s called the elevator speech. You have just moments to convey your goal and your contribution. I’m not kidding when I say to practice this in private. You will f* it up more times than you imagine. Practice it and get it right. In today’s world, you have 15 seconds to get anyone’s attention.

...You need to bring something to the party and have something obvious to contribute. And by nature, you should be a contributor, not a taker. The further you go in your career the more obvious it should be that you have broader, deeper knowledge and experience than others. It’s not easy to keep up to date, but there’s not much to be gained by not learning. I’ve often been happily amused by the advice “Knowledge comes at a price. Pay it.”

...A good resume takes intense editing but it gets noticed and stands out. Some principles are:

1. Quantifiable results are a must. Employers are not interested in a grocery list of duties. They’re drawn to significant accomplishments that are quantified with numbers, dollars, and percentages.

2. Please no clichés or unsubstantiated adaptive skills. The rule is to prove it. If you’re innovative, what would be evidence? Did you develop a program for inner-city youth that promoted a cooperative environment, reducing violent crime by 50%? If so, say it.

3. Tailor your resume to each job, when possible. Employers don’t want a one-fits-all resume that doesn’t address their needs or follow the job description.

4. Your resume needs to show relevance. Employers are interested in the past 10 or 15 years of your work history; in some cases less. Keep it to 2 pages and cut older stuff if you have to.

5. Keywords are essential for certain occupations that are technical in nature. They’re the difference between being found at the top of the list or not at all.

6. Size matters. Some employers are reading hundreds of resumés for one job, so do them a favor and don’t submit a resume that doesn’t warrant its length. The general rule is two pages are appropriate providing you have the experience and accomplishments to back it up. More than two pages requires extensive experience. In some cases a one-page resume will do the job.

7. No employer cares what you want. That’s right. Employers care about what they want and need. If you happen to be able to solve their problems, get along and make them look good, they’ll love you.

8. Start your CV with a punch. Below your name and contact information is your brand. Within 130 characters or so, you can capture the attention of the employer by stating what you do and in what capacity.

9. Make it easy to read. Your resume should not only be visually appealing, it should be visually readable.

• Accomplishments. These are bulleted under the company headers. They are one line each. One line. Not two. If it takes two, make it two bullets. Each line starts with a verb. You led, developed, built, facilitated, designed, produced, achieved, transformed, maintained, ruined, produced, sold, …

• Hobbies. No. Other interests. No. This is not a popularity contest. It’s business.

• Education. Sure, but it comes last. Because your resume reads newest downward to oldest. There is a debate if you want to include the years of your degrees. You must include it on your jobs, but if you put it on your degree, people will reverse engineer your age. Me, I say show the year of your degrees. It is what it is, and the older you are, the more guts it takes to put it out there.

Read much more here.