In the long run, a people is known, not by its statements and statistics, but by the stories it tellsFlannery OConner in Christian Science Monitor.
In the thick of this Presidential political season we are bombarded by message from candidates who are trying to sell us their candidacy. In almost all cases their preferred message is to wow the voters by telling them (promises) what they are going to do if they get into the office.
The same happens when people are after the jobs they are seeking where they are required to submit rsums in alignment with the job descriptions for positions they are seeking. Most such job descriptions have requirements or statements that reflect on the candidates skills in specific areas such as teamwork, influencing, creativity, communication, management abilities, organization, and ability to manage details.
In response to such requirements the rsum statements job-seekers typically make are mostly in the form of trust me, I know how to do that format. This short blog is about learning how to present your message in a different way that is more impactful, credible, and easy to relate to for each of such requirements. I am going to do this with examples (I am going to show you) instead of telling you how to do this in your rsum and other messages.
Example #1
Tel
Excellent communicator, in both written and oral forms with strong command of the language.
Show
Managed a project leading a team of 25 across four countries, and despite the projects complexity and duration (22 months) kept all aspects of this project on track through teamwork, communication, and leadership. The final release was achieved three weeks ahead of schedule.
Conceived of a new business idea to extend the current languishing product into a new area of application and developed a one-page proposal making a business case for it. When new app was launched revenues doubled and profits tripled in Y-1 alone.
Example#2
Tell
Unsurpassed ability to influence different interests to bring them together for common purpose
Show
When a new product was constantly getting delayed because different stakeholders not agreeing on what features to launch in the first version, quickly summarized in-depth discovery conducted with loyal customers and translated that into a prioritized features list. Everyone quickly converged on that list and the product was launched in the ensuing two months with great market traction.
Example #3
Tell
Great attention to detail without losing sight of the main objective
Show
When the new chip design went through verification testing thousands of bugs surfaced, which scuttled the prospect of the initial release date. Took charge and went through each of the bugs and eliminated all of them, one-by-one, still meeting the initial release date.
These are just some examples of how you can develop a credible message that will immediately wow its reader than merely Telling them through empty statements such as the ones made here in the Tell part of the blog.
So, the next time you are ready to write your rsum or Summary on LinkedIn fortify any claims you make about yourself by Showing them and see how well that works for you!
Good luck!
| About Author | |
|
Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader. |
Website: http://dilipsaraf.com/?p=2796
Disclaimer: Please use this channel at your own discretion. These articles are contributed by our users. We are not responsible or liable for any problems related to the utilization of information of these articles.
