How the Unconventional Resume Gets the Job

No calls and No interviews are the biggest concern of the job seekers. I will show you the unconventional resume at the end. First, let us see the situation.

100+ Job Applications

What I see is the topical behavior of job seekers. As a professional resume writer, I get a fairly high portion of job seekers who had applied to many jobs and got no results.

Recently from a good pro, I read in my feed.

“It’s been almost 3 months since I was laid off from my job of 12 years. I’ve been hitting the market hard but just can’t seem to get any legitimate bites. I’ve applied for hundreds and hundreds of positions of which I believe match my background, but apparently, I’m doing something wrong. Any guidance, coaching, constructive criticism or words of encouragement from my connections are welcome. I would love to hear from you!”

What we do

In spite of no results a common way of working on a resume goes a bit like this:

1. State all your facts in sections Education, Experience, Award – Prize, Writing, Co-Curricular Activity, etc.
2. Adjust font sizes, layout adjustment fixes grammar errors, and make sure it has the bullet points.
3. Give a title
4. Check for accuracy of contact info.
5. Apply

How many times do you repeat this? Do that ten times, and if you are not bored out of your mind, something is wrong with you.

And people tell me they send 100s of application and no results. I wonder why they do the same thing when they don’t get results. You have all the credentials for the jobs you are pursuing.

Why is it not working? Why don't you get results?

You are interesting

Your body of work is a reason people should find, you are interesting. It is your job to convey people know who you are. Your work both personally and professionally has gone up significantly over the years. Moreover, your resume is still just a piece of paper with some job titles on it. There is something to all of us you possibly expressed through a piece of paper which is a resume, and it must be interesting.

Are you doing it?

Here is what I do for my resume clients and it works.

I Talk

Start with your branding statement and make it answer the HR Manager’s questions.

“Why should I care?” or “What’s in it for me?”

Answering these questions first gives the HR Managers exactly what they need to know up front; then they can choose to keep on reading.

Here is how I talked in my resume for a PPC Manager post.

Do you want to double The Impact of Advertising? – I Bring $2 For every $1 Spend

PPC Ninja Mukesh Shah

Examples: 

For sales position: What by Not Hiring (Name) (Company Name) will Loose – New Customers

 For production post: 30% cost reduction is routine to (Name) Production Pro Par Excellence. 

Then I tell stories.

I say experience with stories.

My example:

1      

OnBoard Tours. Staff writer/SEO Assistant  Feb 2013 to Nov. 2013.

My boss, our President, gave me for the first time passwords to anyone for his Google Adwords accounts and then asked to manage daily spends. It was because I saved him average $1200 monthly in the first week with analytics.    

• Manage daily PPC campaigns and spend of $6000.
• Email campaigns to get reviews on Trip Advisor.
• Create and post articles daily on three company blogs.

2

Ecomleads.com. Media buyer. July 2011 to Aug. 2012

Allow me to tell my boss our President called me Hawk. It is because I changed his mind for scheduling and bidding ads with data from analytics he never used to have.

Prepared click figures for search campaign for a month and got a real insight to when we got traffic.

Responsible for PPC and PPV advertising

• Research Payday loan market one of three most competitive markets.
• Research 4000 keywords and 9000 websites for PPV
• 200-400 PPC leads at $1

 Talk, Don’t List

You must talk about your work do not just list experience.

New Way

The goal is your resume must be in the top of the pile.

You can do it telling your strengths.

In my experience what you lack chiefly is confidence and self-worth. You are expert at something and performing the fairly good job but not aware it is good info to tell. If you don't own what you do well and share it with others, then nobody else is ever going to know. Put it in words that you learn, invent, experience, improve, etc. Own it because it is authentic.

Story

The best way to tell your experience is telling a story. You must put experience with the story. And don’t tell me you have none. Everyone has something good to tell.

If you don’t have much experience or are fresh from school, think of some interesting happenings, your WOWs, learnings and put few lines it will make your resume interesting to read and convey your personality.

Experience Story Examples:

From resume of a Sales position story

Cox Communications – Oklahoma City, Ok Account Manager 9/2013-5/2014

My 110%+ Goals Story

I am an aggressive seller and had goals in mind. To reach "Winner's Circle" I had to average 110% to goal throughout the year to be eligible for the Award, and that was not always easy due to the competition. What I did differently? I did lots of secret shopping on the competitors such as DirecTV, Dish Network, and AT&T to strategize my sales technique. That made me trainer also.

• Responsible for the development and facilitation of various training topics for 20+ stores to ensure complete knowledge of products, services, and independent associate development. I Gave sales training to all levels of employees.
• Responsible for prioritizing, identifying, and publishing the marketing and educational content with all staff member associated one on one.
• Provide work direction and coaching to employees for career/personal development.
• Handle day-to-day relationship management, cold calling, outside prospecting, and maintenance of clients.
• Responsible for building customer relations.
• Meet and exceed sales goal.

_____________________________________

From resume of assistant teacher position story

Bowen after School Institution    Foshan, China      Student Teaching         Jan-Mar 2013

Children Love Me

Students are an inspiration to me for creative art. I am a friend for them. When they struggle with some questions, I explain the issue or question. If one could not explain math questions with a number, I draw and explain it. I like to listen to them and hear what they are confused about because I want to make sure they understand. If they still could not understand I will use another way to illustrate it. I encourage questions and stories. Students love to question they enjoy stories. You will amaze with their stories. Maybe few words or pictures but they are proud of it, and I am also proud of their creation.

• Taught primary school students in various painting and hand making techniques
• Improved creative ideas by encouraging students

_______________________________________

With stories to experience, HR cannot ignore you. The art is conveying what HR wants through stories and bullets. Make sure story tells benefits to a company you are applying, and bullets convey your ability for the tasks company is looking.

People find it difficult telling success stories. Most feel they have nothing worthwhile to say. The truth is everyone has good things to say. You think your work is normal and average and nothing to say about, but the information is knowledge for others.   

You know that famous beer story of Schlitz beer reached to the number one position in six months by simply saying the process of making beer in advertising (American brand). Everyone make the beer the same way, but Schlitz said it and people find value in information.

Tell what you have learned, what experiences you have had that position you to be successful in the job you are applying. Remember, there are probably a lot of very similar people, but you can make a compelling case with a story like the beer brand.

My unconventional resume

Let me tell you how I got my first job in the US.

My Story:

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I am Mukesh Shah and have to fight my handicap with resume.

In May 2005, I came to the USA on immigration visa from India at the age 55. At the age, people start retirement planning. I have to start a fresh and no question of retirement. I was excited of American dream since my younger days.

I came with one handicap an impaired speech because of cancer surgery. I am account graduate and marketing diploma holder and had experience of 30 years. I choose Houston, TX mainly for the support of my childhood friend. Took a house opposite him and started life in the US.

Finding work was the only job after I get my social security card because without it no one considers you for employment.

Job Hunt

I did what a best practice was. Created Monster account and started applying. I consider my no American experience and education/degree were disadvantages.

And major problem was initial phone screening here all recruiters do.

I can’t communicate on the phone, and things didn’t go further. I tried to email of my speech handicap and seek a personal interview, but no one responded.

Job Fairs

Job fairs were an option and were good for me. I can go and talk to recruiters at least. I usually write if not understood in person and it works. In person, people are friendly.

Challenge

My challenge was to overcome my speech handicap. The tool I had was a resume. I have to prove through a resume that I am worth hiring.

I can’t talk to recruiters as they won’t understand my speech. One need time to adjust to it and that too require patient. No one had time at the fair booth.

360 Turn to Resume

I was seeking accounting job. There was a job fair organized by Houston chapter of Texas CPA association. The announcement states if “You have accounting knowledge we have a job for you.” I wanted exactly that.

Since it was CPA job fair, all recruiters must be accountants I assumed. I thought carefully, how to differentiate myself. The best way to sell is to talk the language your prospects understand.

Well, the accountant’s language is balance sheet and profit and loss statements. I thought of a balance sheet as my resume instead of a traditional chronological resume.

I created Mukesh Shah’s Balance Sheet.

There were Assets and Liabilities columns, and I put my account degree, experience, writings as my assets and my speech handicap, medical expenses as liabilities. My equity was learning mind and creative thinking.

I did this for the attention of recruiters and initial interest. I was confident if they talk I will prove I am fit for the job. And fortunately, my Balance Sheet got the attention of all the recruiters I met, and I get my first job as a staff accountant at local CPA firm.

Thanks to my 360 turn to resume and made ‘Balance Sheet’ my resume.

I am not thinking about this much. It is an effort I did to get a job nothing big deal. But in 2015 I did one headline writing course, and there I mentioned my experience, and I got comments from fellow participants. The comments encourage me sharing this here.

My Intro:

“I did sell my concepts through letters. In Houston also, I got my first job at CPA firm by a different approach to resume. I went to a job fair of CPA association. Since I had a speech problem and was desperate for a job as I have to start in The US, I created my resume in accounting language. I made Balance Sheet as a resume. Balance is education, experience, etc. and liability is impaired speech, medical expenses, etc. It was a success my resume got the attention of all CPA recruiters and got a job with a CPA firm.”

Comments:

"The idea of the balance sheet resume is a great one! That's A-I-D-A in action." -by Kai ? Sat Aug 08, 2015 8:19 am

"I love the balance sheet resume too. Cool, creativity and demonstration of fitness to the job. Welcome!" -by Jeff Moore ? Sun Aug 09, 2015 12:42 pm

"Now that's creativity, Thar! The balance sheet resume - would be the first honest resume building system the world has ever seen." -by Jon Kenworthy ? Sun Aug 09, 2015 7:01 pm

"Since I read your post on Saturday, I used your idea in helping out a young programmer. For his, the graphic has three parts: input, processor, output. The input is his skills, and the processor is him, the output is the people/groups/impacts that he's had." -by RobM ? Mon Aug 10, 2015, 5:32 am

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I hope this helps you and think what’s possible when you adopt new ways. If you are finding it difficult, please reach out to me, and I will do it for you. I am Mukesh Shah, a resume writer you write me at [email protected]

You better write in comments if you did or know some different resumes, unconventional method used. People will learn and benefit.