A Resume is Not Enough: Creating Memorable Interviews with Candidate Packets

Upgrading Your Interview

The bedrock of the interview is the resume.

When a candidate is going face to face with the hiring manager, typically the first thing they set down on the table is either their card or a few copies of their resume.

Some candidates get caught up in the length of resume, formatting, colors, picture or no picture, the size of the headline, whether or not to include "skills" - - all of which is just micro decisions that get you lost in the sauce where you could really be making some big progress elsewhere.

Which is why we developed what we call a candidate packet. This packet should not be used for applying for jobs, a resume is fine there. We are focusing on when you are actually going in for a face to face interview and handing it off physically, or your first phone interview where you will email it to your interviewer within 15 minutes of the beginning of the interview.

This helps you stand out in many ways. You're providing so much value from different angles that the interviewee is going to take you very seriously. You're showing a lot of intent and consideration on the role, which makes hiring managers much more confident that you mean business.

In the best case scenario, this document consists of four main things (stapled together) in this order. . .

The Candidate Packet:

1) Cover Letter

A lot of people ignore this step by either submitting the same cover letter to every single job they're applying for, or just not including one at all, deeming it pointless. One of the big reasons we are waiting to submit the candidate packet is that we want whoever gets it to actually read it. If you are submitting it into an automated HR application pipeline, it may never get viewed so there's no point in spending time making one.

When you get to the interview stage, especially when interviewing with who would be your functional line of command, you should take the opportunity to write a paragraph or two on what exactly you could bring to the table for their specific company/opportunity.

You are speaking directly to the functional manager, and are not speaking about any other candidates or comparing yourself to other candidates. Go over specific metrics you have achieved, goals you have broken, networks you have, proficiencies, and skills,

Go over why you want this job specifically. Never re-use a cover letter on a different role.

2) Summarized Resume

In the history of recruiting, when noticing where someone works and what their role is - nobody has ever looked at a resume saying, "dang, I wish there was more detail on here about their job - I might have given them a call!"

The whole purpose of your resume specifically is not to tell an Odyssey about your career or to mimic the Hero's Tale throughout the copy. The only purpose of your resume is to get someone to pick up the phone and call you, or get on their computer and email you.

A common 'leak' I've seen for nearly a decade is the over-sharing of information on the resume and the mindset that "mo' data is mo' betta"'. The only MORE you're giving to an HR person or a hiring manager is MORE READING.

You want them contacting you. Give them just enough information to be intrigued, but not so much information that it becomes a chore to read your whole resume.

I suggest a single page resume, with the focus of the resume being the last ten years of your career, with 2-4 bullet points at each role or employer. Promotions within the same company should all be segmented by date.

3) Achievements Page

Here is where all you high-detail people can enjoy dumping out all of the stats, KPIs, budgets, and numbers that are so important to your background.

This page just goes over your most important achievements in detail, in either a paragraph or bullet form. Take your time to explain the situation as much as you'd like. The most important information is always the most recent, so focus on the last five years or so.

The reason we do this is, if someone wants to read more information on your background after consuming your resume, they have the option immediately. The situation is that we don't necessarily want to make the resume look overwhelming at first glance. We want it to be easily consumed. If someone is looking at your achievements page, its because they already reviewed your resume and possibly want more information before taking action.

4) Pre-Written Referral (and others)

Now, you probably won't be able to get a written referral from your current boss - so what can be very handy to have already prepared for your interviewers is a reference. Connect with a previous boss (as recent as possible) or line-of-command and get a paragraph or two written on their experience with you as an employee. Its a huge bonus if its printed on the company's letterhead.

With the pre-written referral, you should obviously include the referee's name and phone number in case they'd like more information with them specifically. In addition - you should include a couple of names they can call to get extra reference information on as well (in case they don't want to call the same person that already gave a reference).

Presentation and After the Interview

Hopefully you've left the interview on good terms and there were no surprises. Always get the contact information of the person interviewing you, so you can send a follow up email within 24 hours of interview. My personal opinion is to send it at start of business the next day, but some attempt to send before end of business the same day. I personally like chaining the days that they are thinking about you together.

Remember, showing up with a packet like this exudes the fact that you mean business. Needless to say, you shouldn't employ this tactic on a role that you aren't really all that interested in. The last thing you want to do is attract an employer that you don't want to work for.

Take a small amount of time and get a candidate packet worked up - you'll be amazed with how the dynamic changes!

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