How To Respond To "Walk Me Through Your Resume" Part 3

About the Author:

Leah Scarnegi (O’Flynn) was born in Dublin, Ireland and moved to NJ when she was 5 years old, graduated from Rutgers in 2007 and then made her way to Sun Valley, Idaho.? Leah has been recruiting in the Tech Sector for 11 + years and is currently the Chief Revenue Officer for Redfish Technology, a boutique recruiting firm founded in 1996. Leah has helped hundreds of Hiring Managers hire across the United States. Her areas of expertise include EdTech, Fintech, Digital Media, HealthTech, Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise Software and Mobile Apps. During? her free time , you can find her with her husband Tom and their two daughters, Lily and Zoey.?

She has written a 3 part series on how to approach ‘Walk me through your resume’...check out Part 1 + Part 2? if you haven’t read it yet.

Part 3

How to prepare for "Walk me through your resume..

You’ve researched communication styles, watched a few Ted Talks, highlighted the job description, studied? the company and sent connection requests on Linkedin to the interviewers. Now it’s time to write your script for “Walk me through your resume”.? Let’s use me as a use case. Hypothetically,? I’m looking to leave Agency recruiting and move into an internal recruiting position. More specifically, I want to work for one company and run all of their hiring efforts versus working for multiple clients. I am currently the Chief Revenue Officer of a company with less than 20 employees. I’ve found a position that aligns well but it’s a Director title for a Professional Training and Coaching company. However this role isn’t a management position, they are looking for an individual contributor. My dilemma is that my profile lends itself towards a management position. The company is a series C startup with 25M in funding looking to help C-Level executives scale. They need someone to build out their own recruiting efforts - sales, marketing and engineering.?

My recap for a management position would read like…..

I’ve been in the tech recruiting space for close to 12 years, most recently as a CRO for Redfish Technology, I started as a Recruiter, was promoted to Director then to CRO in 2018. I’ve managed multiple teams, direct reports spanned from 3 up to 8, consistently met or exceeded company goals, averaged ‘X’ amount of revenue per year, mainly worked with Tech Startup Companies from Seed Round through Series D funding, I lead by example, and embrace learning, collaboration and positivity. I feel that I’ve been successful as a Manager because I’ve established authentic relationships with my employees. It seems like BlueFish culture aligns with my methodology. I'm inspired by all of your success, the company size and culture. Your company is super interesting to me because I’m really passionate about helping C-Level executives and the startup world in general, we operate like a startup in a lot of ways, my years of experience across industries like healthtech, edtech, security and AI may translate well. Also, in general, I love to help others, I feel joy when my clients or employees thrive. I know this is just the start to our conversation but in your opinion, how does my resume match up with what you are looking for??

Whereas, my recap for an IC role would read like…..

I’ve been in the tech recruiting space for close to 12 years, most recently as a CRO for Redfish, I started as a Recruiter,? moved up to Director then CRO in 2018. I’ve managed multiple teams, direct reports spanned from 3 up to 8, consistently met or exceeded company goals, averaged ‘X’ amount of revenue per year, mainly worked with Tech Startup Companies from Seed Round through Series D funding, I lead by example, and embrace learning, collaboration and positivity. Also,? I’ve been responsible for my own quota in addition to managing, I made? President’s Club 3x in the last 5 years, closed > 100k in 1 month and >500k in business in 2021.? I’ve helped my hiring manager scale their teams, my speciality has been sales and software engineering in recent years but I’ve also done well across marketing. A lot of my role is sales driven but in recruiting that doesn’t come without strong relationships, it’s never been transactional for me but rather building long relationships, encouraging positive candidate experience and implementing efficient processes. Most importantly, cultivating a positive team feeling for everyone involved.Your company is super interesting to me because I’m really passionate about helping C-Level executives and the startup world, my years of experience across industries like healthtech, edtech, security and AI may translate well. Also, in general, I love to help others. I feel joy when my clients or employees thrive. I actually saw some of the positions posted on the job boards, which one is a top priority for you at the moment?

As I mentioned in part 2, I? suggest starting? with an overall statement, segue into the most relevant work, stats, numbers, and quantifiable achievements. More specifically, emphasize your management style if interviewing for a leadership role, your quota attainment if interviewing for a sales position, ability to pivot easily if interviewing for a startup company, and/or your motivation to grow with a company.? It’s easy to go off on a tangent and describe aspects of yourself or job history that do not align well with the potential opportunity. I also think it's important to share a bit about your personality. Finish up with an open-ended question. This encourages conversation versus a yes or a no answer. Some other examples include, I actually noticed your client list, kudos to your team. Is there anything in particular you would like me to dive into?? OR Is there an area you would like me to discuss further? OR how has the search for this role been going? What have the challenges been?

Lastly, circle back with your highlighted JD. Does your recap emphasize the yellow? See if your script connects with the yellow. If not, edit. I hope this helps and best of luck on your job search!

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