About: Who Are You? vs. Who Am I? – Part I

Yesterday I -finally – wrote the About section for this blog which basically features my resume info.

I didn’t think I would ever write this post – a post about how and why I did it – but here we are.

The first part of this post focuses on “Who Are You?”

The Mistakes We Make

The story unfolds: My bestie sent me this link earlier today via Hacker News on selling yourself and your work that “he should read but still hasn’t” which somehow translated into “I should read it too.”

And you know what? It’s a good thing I did.

Here’s the post in a nutshell:

But the word “sell” doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it means. (…) … “you can either do it in such a fashion that people can indeed build on what you’ve done, or you can do it in such a fashion that the next person has to essentially duplicate again what you’ve done” … – Colin Wright on “You and Your Research” by Richard W Hamming

For whatever reason, we, myself included, seem to be more focused on what we’ve done than what we were doing at the time we were doing it. The results outweigh the process. But is that really the case?

The results are nice, but in most cases, it’s the process where the real value lies, because it’s the process that equips us for whatever the future may bring, either in terms of appropriate knowledge, experience, or skills.

That said, I hope this post about About helps!

(My) History of CV and/or Resume Writing

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I had to whip up a CV in less than 20 minutes. So I did what every other person would do – I took one of the premade templates and just copied/pasted a bunch of data in it. (More about how and why I found myself in this situation in another post.)

Obviously, this document broke all the rules of proper CV writing but nevertheless completed its mission. (That said – wtf, HR people?)

Now, this whole “CV-ncident” wouldn’t be as shocking as it was if I weren’t a person who spent many years writing CVs and resumes (technically – résumés – but I’ll stick to the simplified spelling version) as one of my standard professional services.

Even more appalling – I had over a 90% success rate. Meaning, over 90% of people got called for interviews. Obviously, the rest was up to them after that, but I did my job.

Actually, to be more precise, the largest part of the “bounce rate” consisted of those who didn’t show up for interviews for whatever reasons, including “I changed my mind,” “My kid didn’t want to go to kindergarten, so I stayed home,” or “I didn’t like their attitude.”

These are my top three favorite CVs that landed the job, among others.

The first one was written for a lady who had years of experience working in a managing position in a supermarket chain, that she climbed to from the lowest entry level, but didn’t have formal qualifications for the same position in a larger chain she wanted to apply to, which was listed as a prerequisite for the new post. She told me, “I do this every day, and I am great at it. All I need is an opportunity to actually speak to people.” The CV we made together got her that opportunity, and – she got the job!

The second one was for a former beauty pageant winner whose CV was done by a “professional” CV-writer that featured her winning the title as the centerpiece of her career. It turned out that she was an amazing and competent young woman worth admiration, who just happens to be extraordinarily beautiful, with a powerful set of skills that could land her any job she wanted. So we rewrote what she had and did exactly that.

And the third was, or – were – four different versions of a CV for a person who had done a bit of everything, but formally nothing, for the past 20 years. All of them secured him a chance to present himself in person at an interview.

How did I manage to do all that? Well, even though one of my friends called me a “resume-whisperer”, the truth was much simpler than that. I simply – listened.

At that time, most people were keen on Europass CV as it was a “thing” to have, given the fact that we were still newcomers to the EU. Sure, that was great if you were applying for a job in the European institution, but if you were looking for a job in a private company, my logic was the following: If you wanted to land a job among a myriad of other people, why on earth would you want to look exactly the same as everyone else? You should not only stand out, but freakin’ scream among the crowd.

Governed by that logic, I always created a blend of a CV and a resume – a document that included the most important info, depending on each person in question, strategically placed across the corresponding layout.

It only takes a few seconds for an HR professional to get their impression and form their opinion of you based on a single document – essentials are key!

I created each document by asking the following questions.

First, I’d ask the person about the job and the industry they were applying for. And second, I’d ask myself which skills, knowledge, and strengths would matter to me if I were to employ this person.

Based on both answers, I’d created the layout draft.

After that, I’d check the info in the client’s old CV and then ask them questions to fill in the missing information.

I would always point out that collaboration is the key to successful CV/resume writing. Unfortunately, not everyone understood that, and I would often get feedback such as “you know, (skills/tasks/activities/duties) you usually do at this position.”

The thing is – I didn’t know. I know my job but (in most cases) knew nothing of yours, and what you do at your job in Company A never translates to exactly the same position in Company B. Also, our personality and character are the ones that define how we complete a certain role, and sometimes, it’s exactly those tiniest details that make the hugest difference.

Bottom line, all those who approached this activity seriously and were willing to invest their time and effort are the ones who reaped the greatest benefits.

Another thing that some people didn’t understand is the fact that, to make a winning CV/resume, I needed to hear/read everything “in your own words.” I can make a perfect document, but if it’s not written in your own words, chances are you are not going to get that job because people will see that the person behind the words is not the person sitting across. It’s as simple as that.

This is why listening is the key skill in anything. And it also proves my point – people will tell you anything, if you just listen.

It’s also worth noting that I based my CV/resume on three key segments – profile, achievements, and skills. I always approached each person as a puzzle and tried to fill in the right details to get the perfect big picture.

With the advent of fancy CV templates that flooded the internet several years ago, it became pretty difficult to explain that fancy does not necessarily equal quality, and that in most of these situations, it was the design that dictated the content, not the other way around.

A posh design is a plus, but it’s your personal content that mandates its layout. Otherwise, you might as well send a random template and just write your name on it – the effect it will produce on the reader (= scanner) will be exactly the same.

This went on for several years, until eventually, I decided to wind down the CV/resume writing service because it started taking up too much of my time, it was anything but cost-effective, and I simply lost interest in asking the same questions over and over again.

 

— To Be Continued —