* Use free resources first: Yellow Pages, Internet, and the library.* The more specific you can be about what you are looking for, the more relevant will be your results.* Use free government services-you have already paid for them.* Determine which companies are doing business in your field.* Narrow your choices geographically if appropriate-look locally first.* Read this year's annual report first and then compare it with last year's.* Start with the company web site.* Run a Google search.* Review appropriate blogs.* Google former employees.* Always weigh information with a critical eye.

Part II

Weapons That Make You a Guerrilla

Chapter 5.

Resume Writing and Cover Letter Boot Camp

How to Overhaul Your Personal Marketing Materials

Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.

-SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Despite advances in technology and the ever-increasing sophistication of employers, job hunters have predictable habits. Most look for a job the same way they always have. They write a resume. Ask their friends. Respond to newspaper ads. Click and apply through job boards. And wait. And wait. And wait ... ... for something-anything-to happen. Not too terribly twenty-first century of them. for something-anything-to happen. Not too terribly twenty-first century of them.

Guerrilla, your resume is a marketing tool. It must compel its reader to pick up the phone and call you. Job hunters who write conventional resumes can count on the compet.i.tion to be fierce. Let me show you a more successful approach.

WHY YOUR RESUME MAY BE OVERLOOKED

My wife will periodically call me at the office and ask me to pa.s.s by the supermarket on my way home to pick up bread and milk to tide us over until her next trip to the store (we have 4 growing children). Like most men, I enter the supermarket on autopilot with my list in hand and head straight for the items I need. The nice displays and weekly specials blur past me. The way I shop for groceries is not unlike how your resume gets screened when you apply for a job. Generally the people who do the first pa.s.s on a stack of resumes are working off a list someone handed them. Their instructions are, "just whittle down this pile by looking for these skills/competencies or technologies," so that's all they scan for.

There isn't really a lot of thinking beyond the exact list. If you have the right stuff, your resume goes into one pile if not ... ... well, you're out. If the checklist says "Oracle" or "project manager" and yours says "database" or "construction manager" you're out. There's no time, and generally little incentive, ability, or interest, from the people who do the initial scan to "read between the lines." well, you're out. If the checklist says "Oracle" or "project manager" and yours says "database" or "construction manager" you're out. There's no time, and generally little incentive, ability, or interest, from the people who do the initial scan to "read between the lines."

The one-size-fits-all mentality spills over into their cover letters, too. Many job hunters respond to the specifics of an ad in their cover letter and then cross their fingers and hope the reader connects the dots. In reality, though, cover letters are rarely read with interest because most are so vague or poorly written they add little value. It's likely that only the opening line has been customized and the rest of it is as generic as the accompanying resume. People who spend even a minimum of time scanning resumes can spot these fakes quickly-with typical results.

Candidates often stuff their resumes with laundry lists of the functions and responsibilities they've had in past jobs in a desperate attempt to cover all their bases. This approach rarely pays off, however, because the amount of information you would have to put into a general, all-purpose resume is so enormous that you'd need to write a book-which of course no one would read.

Length is not an issue. Content is. People will read any length of resume if if the content is of interest to them, and that's the secret. Ideally, a resume should contain no more and no less than the exact information an employer is looking for. After all, every employer expects that you are so interested in their company that you have written a resume just for them. Realistic? No. Reality? Yes, I'm afraid so. the content is of interest to them, and that's the secret. Ideally, a resume should contain no more and no less than the exact information an employer is looking for. After all, every employer expects that you are so interested in their company that you have written a resume just for them. Realistic? No. Reality? Yes, I'm afraid so.

Never a.s.sume that just because you had a particular responsibility, performed a particular function, or accomplished miracles that required super-human effort, the person reading your resume can automatically link that to the challenges faced by their company. The onus is on you to guide them to the conclusion you want them to draw. You have to motivate them to pick up the phone and schedule an interview with you.

The content of your resume has to be relevant to your reader. It must address their specific needs clearly-instantly. It's a laser-guided missile, not a dumb bomb. If your resume is in response to an advertised opening, it reflects the exact needs profiled in the ad. If it's sent to a targeted group of companies, it demonstrates how you can make them money, save them money, and increase their efficiencies. If it's a networking resume, it addresses the type of problem your contact's peers are likely to be facing. It's never vague or wishy-washy. It's always direct and specific.

Guerrillas know this. They understand that people are motivated by their own selfish interests. They know they need to guide, cajole, and dare interviewers with a snapshot of what you can bring to the table. A hint of the results you can accomplish.

Most people have many great accomplishments they can leverage for their next career move. Yet for many of these same people their resumes are bland replicas of the generic all-purpose resume in vogue these days. A doc.u.ment that merely mimics what a resume writer thought was important. In reality, only you understand what you've accomplished that would be of interest to a potential employer.

Ask yourself. No-better yet-cut your name off the top of your resume and give it to a couple of your best friends. Tell them it's the resume of one of your mutual contacts and ask them if they can guess who it is. If they can't tell it's you or, worse, if they think it's someone else you have a problem-the description of your accomplishments and your jobs are too generic. If it makes you look like a hundred other applicants who are also "project managers," "teachers," "accountants" or whatever, how do you expect an employer to select you for an interview? Yes, you could get lucky, but luck is so unpredictable!

So, your first objective is to make sure your resume is read. One of the biggest mistakes candidates make is a.s.suming that just because they send a resume to a prospective employer or recruiter, it will be read. Ain't so!

ALL RESUMES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL

If you want to be seen, you have to have a compet.i.tive resume to stand out. It's rarely the most qualified that land interviews; it's normally the ones who are the most impressive on paper. The best resumes "speak" to employers, providing quick insight into your personality and drive to succeed.

A resume can serve you in a variety of ways, but it is primarily used in making contacts with prospective employers so that you can: * Respond to a job opening.* Create unsolicited demand for your skills.* Cut and paste to fill out an online application form.* Supplement (not replace) a company's standard job application.* Rehea.r.s.e before interviews.* Draw the interviewer's attention to a particular accomplishment during interviews.* Tailor a person-specific thank you letter after an interview.* Send an aid to your references so they'll remember what you did, especially if you were one of many on a team.* Refer to it during telephone interviews as a reminder because, after all, the interviewer has a copy.* Prompt a recipient for the purposes of networking.

A guerrilla resume is a multidimensional, multipurpose doc.u.ment. It is: * Your introduction to a prospective employer,* The first impression recruiters will have of you,* The key to positioning your seniority, and* A bargaining chip for your salary negotiations

In other words, it is a significant doc.u.ment in the advancement of your career.

STANDARD AND EXTREME GUERRILLA RESUMES

A Standard Guerrilla Resume is a cross between a chronological resume and a functional resume is a cross between a chronological resume and a functional resume ... ... on steroids. on steroids.

Like a functional resume, it highlights your best skills and achievements. Like a chronological resume, it presents your experience and education in order, from most recent to earliest.

You can use a Standard Guerrilla Resume if you: * Are just leaving school and lack experience,* Have extensive experience,* Are making a career change, or* Need to explain time away from work due to illness or other matters.

In short, the Standard Guerrilla Resume will work for most people in most situations.

This resume has all the information that we, as experienced employment professionals, are looking for in a candidate. Every Standard Guerrilla Resume includes the following 5 parts: 1. Objective Objective or or Summary Summary, focused on either one job t.i.tle or a narrow skill set.2. Select Accomplishments Select Accomplishments and/or and/or Special Skills Special Skills list as a kind of executive summary of the best, most relevant 4 or 5 points about you, which map to the requirements for the position you want or would be most relevant to the employer[s] you're targeting. If you have a strong mix of specific achievements and skills, you can include both sections. list as a kind of executive summary of the best, most relevant 4 or 5 points about you, which map to the requirements for the position you want or would be most relevant to the employer[s] you're targeting. If you have a strong mix of specific achievements and skills, you can include both sections.3. Experience Experience or or Employment History Employment History, detailing your relevant paid and unpaid work history, as well as internships. This section should go back only about 10 to 15 years in detail and summarize earlier work.4. Education/Training Education/Training section, where you list your degrees, relevant training, certification, and so on. section, where you list your degrees, relevant training, certification, and so on.5. Additional Information Additional Information, as needed, at the end. Here you can include your computer skills, relevant hobbies, volunteer work, and so on.

In Appendix 2, take a look at a Standard Guerrilla Resume that won its author a job.

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A WAR STORY.

Steve Duncan