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In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I saw many of my friends looking for help in how they could pivot in their careers. This playbook is a result of the common themes, advice, and tools I have used or recommended through my career, and especially during the pandemic.
Objectives:
Objectives:
To provide the tools for clear and consistent professional presentation
To develop a series of personal resources to be used to land a role initially and to get promoted once you're there
Employment History
Employment History
Step one in presenting yourself professionally is knowing where you’ve been. Create a single document outlining your employment history (it’s okay if it lives as an unformatted text file for now - what’s important is thinking back and writing things down). Include at least the last ten years of your experience, and include your education, certifications, and any course work.
This should be a private document that lives on your computer or in the cloud, as it will likely contain more than what you’d typically share with a potential employer.
Write it down.
Create a centralized document for tracking your job history.
Think back and outline.
What has the last ten years of your work history looked like? Can you go back further than that, even? How about your education?
Flesh it out.
Can you think of at least three bullet points of what you did at each role, starting with an action verb? If not, Google it. See what others are listing in their backgrounds for similar roles. Have you done that? List it.
Evaluate your time.
Are there any gaps in time? What were you doing during those gaps, if you weren’t employed?
This is also a good time to think about your volunteer and extracurricular activities and get those listed as well.
Details
Can you remember your wage or salary at these roles? How about what city they were in, or who you reported to? What percentage of your time was in-office vs. work-from-home?
Employment History: Additional Resources
Employment History: Additional Resources
Action Verbs: Using a variety of action verbs in your résumé helps to highlight your accomplishments while staying specific to what you actually did. Here are some good resources for brainstorming that variety!
Indeed: How to Find Your Complete Work History
Guides to finding your employment records using public records like taxes. Resource when you want to ensure your employment timeline and reported employers match up with what will appear on a background check.
JohnLeonard: How to Properly List Temporary Work on Your Resume
When listing temporary work, it is important to indicate the agency you worked through (as they are your employer on record) as well as the client (as they more closely indicate your abilities).
Résumé
Résumé
What job do I want?
What job do I want?
A résumé should be tailored to the job you’re looking for. Use your Employment History to populate your résumé.
Include your:
Contact Information
Relevant Work Experience
Education
Start with a basic layout for now - the point is to get it on the paper.
Do I have a consistent history in that line of work?
Do I have a consistent history in that line of work?
If you do, great! List your jobs chronologically from most recent to less recent.
If you don’t, that’s okay, too! List your experience functionally. Group logically by skill set.
Feel free to tailor these approaches to your background.
How does my background match what the employer is looking for?
How does my background match what the employer is looking for?
Look at your Employment History. How does it fit with what the employer is looking for?
Review the job description you’re focused on, or a group if there are several similar.
Create a Relevant Skills section. Are there requirements in the listing that you’ve done? Pull language directly from the listing and flesh out your experience in Relevant Skills.
KPIs: Do I have the numbers to back it up?
KPIs: Do I have the numbers to back it up?
Look at the information you’ve included on your résumé, and look at your Employment History as well. Telling is one thing - showing is another! Think of some metrics you can tie to your experience.
Did you increase customer engagement? Did you decrease time spent picking and packing orders? By how much? Back up your work with numbers.
Recommended LinkedIn Learning Courses
Recommended LinkedIn Learning Courses
Take a break. Breathe. Then zoom out.
Take a break. Breathe. Then zoom out.
Think about how your résumé will look as a thumbnail attachment, or in a stack on a desk. Zoom out. Let the words blur. Is there visual interest, or is it word salad? Consider moving things around to create “white space” on the page.
How many pages is it? Make sure your most relevant information (contact, recent history, relevant skills and certifications) is included on page 1 if you need some more space.
Don’t be afraid to change the margins! Many résumés will only be reviewed on a computer screen, and printers don’t need more than a quarter inch to do what they need to do. A half to three-quarters of an inch is plenty if you need the room or don’t love the white space.
Zoom back in and read it out loud. Reading audibly forces different parts of your brain to absorb the information - you may see something you missed, or consider arranging things with different logic.
Resume: Additional Resources
Resume: Additional Resources
Guidance regarding how long a resume should be
LinkedIn: How to Write a Résumé That Will Get a Recruiter's Attention
Alternative guides to building out your résumé.
the balance: Different Résumé Types
Comprehensive summary of the different ways to organize your information within a résumé.
Google Image Search: Professional Résumé
Try this link, or perform your own search for résumés written by others within your profession. For example, a graphic designer’s résumé will look very different from a performer, as the graphic designer may take this opportunity to showcase their graphics skills, and the performer may include a headshot.
Extra Credit: Templating
Extra Credit: Templating
Maintain a Consistent Presentation
Maintain a Consistent Presentation
Now that you’ve created two documents with similar content, and have at least one more coming up, it’s time to consider creating a template.
Having a template ensures that you are presenting yourself consistently across documents - résumé, cover letter, and possibly references. Your template becomes part of your “brand.”
Recommendations for creating a personal template:
- Create a header using your contact information. You’ll want to share this on every document anyway!
- Decide on margins that will work with your résumé content and stick with them on your template as well.
- If you would like to consistently share to an online portfolio or LinkedIn profile, add that link to the footer.
- Create some way to organize page content. Tables are very handy here.
Interview Prep Notes
Interview Prep Notes
So you got the interview - Congratulations!
Qualifications
Qualifications
Review the job description and confirm how your background fits the needs of the role
Review what you’ve shared in your Relevant Skills
Be ready with an anecdote about how some outside volunteer or hobby experience ties in and further qualifies you.
Goals
Goals
What type of a job would you like to be doing in the future?
What actions have you taken to get there?
What actions are you planning on taking to get there?
Awareness
Awareness
Company: Do some research into the company you’re hoping to work for. What do they do? How would you be contributing? How are they doing financially?
Industry: What is the company’s position in the industry? What is the size of the market? Is there growth potential?
The Five Main Focuses of an Interview
The Five Main Focuses of an Interview
Over the course of the interview, no matter what’s asked, the question will likely tie back to one of these five overarching topics listed below.
Prepare for the interview by:
Having a story ready for each of these categories. Utilize the STAR approach (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to ready your five stories.
Having a question ready for each of these categories.
Know your strengths: Which 2 categories are you strongest in?
Know your weaknesses: Which category are you weakest in?
These five also come in handy when closing an interview as well: if a topic doesn't come up, use these categories to guide your “do you have any questions for us” discussion (with suggested questions in italics below).
If you have a template to use, use it here! Having a template and coming to an interview with these notes in front of you will look like you are referencing your own résumé.
Collaborate across organizational boundaries
How have you collaborated with other teams in the past? Has that included senior leadership?
What opportunities will you have to collaborate in future roles?
Customer success
How have you contributed to customer success at previous roles? How have previous employers defined customer success?
How does your future employer define customer success?
Personal and professional development
How have you grown professionally, both within previous job roles and on your own?
What opportunities will you have to grow in a future role?
Improve products and services
How have you improved products and services in the past?
How can you contribute to improvements in the future?
Uplift team
How have you collaborated and uplifted your team in the past?
What opportunities will you have to improve processes and uplift your future team?
Extra Credit: Personal Presentation
Extra Credit: Personal Presentation
Books are judged by their cover... and you will be too (unfortunately)
What do I wear to an interview?
What do I wear to an interview?
Dress for the job you want! How do others in that type of role dress on a regular basis?
What is the dress code at the company at which you’re interviewing?
Plan ahead for what to wear. Make sure everything fits you, and fits together.
Choose accessories wisely. Avoid pieces that may be distracting. Avoid heavy perfumes for the same reason.
When in doubt, aim for pieces that give you comfort and confidence.
Do I need headshots?
Do I need headshots?
Headshots convey professionalism before you even meet with the potential employer or client.
It can show that you “look the part” for a certain role.
A great headshot is an opportunity for a stellar first impression.
It can also show that you take yourself seriously.
Headshots reflect your personality.
Regardless of gender presentation, the general guidance is:
Regardless of gender presentation, the general guidance is:
Wear one patterned piece and one solid colored piece, closed toed shoes, and deodorant.
Do something with your hair.
Be well rested and have bathed.
Wear one patterned piece and one solid colored piece, closed toed shoes, and deodorant.
Do something with your hair.
Be well rested and have bathed.
Extra Credit: LinkedIn Profile
Extra Credit: LinkedIn Profile
The Basics
The Basics
Experience
Experience
Fill out using your Employment History
Review the Employment History created as the first part of this exercise, and fill in your history on LinkedIn. Include as much or as little as you’re comfortable sharing on a public forum.
Have great experience somewhere but don’t want to list the company? List the industry instead.
Have gaps in your resume? List the year only.
Any links you include to previous employers will allow other employees there to see you as a potential “connection,” which helps grow your network.
Headline and About
Headline and About
Who you are and what you do
Headlines default to your current role and company, but can be whatever you want them to be. If you’re looking for work, your headline and bio can be your value proposition. What sets you apart from others?
Decide on a voice for your About section: This section can be very matter-of-fact, or an introduction in the first- or third-person.
Call out your intangible skills - those skills that carry over no matter what work you’re doing, but don’t necessarily tie back to a specific role or metric
Be YOU. This is a great way to set a first impression!
Skills
Skills
Identify your skill set and flesh out
Identify those skills you’ve listed in your Employment History, software you’re familiar with, soft skills, and buzz words for your profession and fill in this section
Identify skills based on your experience
Look at job listings on LinkedIn that fit with your history - what skills are listed for those jobs? Do you have that skill? Fill it in!
There’s a cap of 50; use this section wisely.
Personalizing Your Profile
Personalizing Your Profile
Photo
Photo
Posting a photo personalizes your profile, and gives an interviewer a face to look for in case of an interview.
Profiles with photos are viewed 15-20 times more than those without.
Custom URL
Custom URL
Makes your profile more searchable
Looks more professional when used in professional documentation
Can be used to share professional branding
Connections
Connections
Reach out to current and former coworkers, and friends and family that you feel comfortable being associated with professionally.
Connection suggestions will appear based on your previous employers.
These connections can be curated and managed similar to other forms of social media.
LinkedIn Profile: Additional Resources
LinkedIn Profile: Additional Resources
Hubspot: How to Craft the Perfect Linkedin Profile
Comprehensive guide, including infographic
Page updated
Google Sites
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