- In a world where people are getting
increasingly marketed to more and more,
it's important to be able to make your point
succinctly and effectively.
The biggest mistake that people make
when it comes to writing a resume
is, first of all, writing a resume.
Oftentimes they will write a resume like a list of
technical achievements, and so the resume
will actually look like a technical manual.
Instead, they should be writing their resume
like a marketing brochure.
A list of benefits to the buyer.
Think about the greatest value-creating experiences,
the experiences they might have had working on a team
and to use, not only action words,
but use success-action words; active words.
For example, 'driving,' 'growing,' 'leading,'
are very positive, affirmative action words.
The best advice on cover letters is
have them be short and to the point.
Understand what the buyer is looking for.
Have your cover letter be specifically targeted
to the individual reader, and speak to them
in their language.
Use their words; use their values.
- And what are you doing here?
- I think I could do a good job as your assistant.
- As an interviewee, it's very important to make sure
that you do research in advance so that you truly understand
what are the core values of the organization,
what is the culture, what are the things that they
celebrate and promote, and really do the best that you can
to understand and communicate the overlap between
your own personal values, and the values of the organization
One of the best things that you can do in preparing
for your interview, is making sure that you not only
research the core values of the organization,
but also research the growth of the organization
and where they're headed, where the puck is going
in the marketplace, in the industry, for that business.
Be able to communicate the decisions that you've made
in your career, the values that you bring
to the organization, and how certain experiences
might make you uniquely qualified to help the organization
grow and move into a direction that it's looking to go into.
Oftentimes, we spend too much time in the English language
focused on the transactional exchange of words,
when, rather, we should be communicating at a deeper level
the core values and the beliefs that we have.
Technical chops are only responsible for about 20% of the
reason why someone will succeed or fail
at any given company.
More than 60% of the reason why anyone will succeed or fail
at any company has everything to do with whether their
personal DNA matches the cultural DNA of the organization.
(bright music)