Getting the Reader to Act Worked for William

Many job hunters close their cover letters with something along the lines of this:

Thank you for the opportunity to be considered for the Product Engineer position.

Much more effective is the technique that William, a production engineer, used. Here’s the closing paragraph on his cover letter:

Your schedule permitting, I’d like just a few minutes to show you some prototypes. The technology I developed was successful in solving issues similar to what ABC Company faces. I’ll be in the area next week and will call on Monday, the 21st, to see what time might work best with your schedule.

William persuasively, yet politely, wrangled himself an audience with the plant manager who, by the way, cleared a 2 p.m. slot to look at William’s prototypes.

Adding a Pager with an 800 Number

Make it easy for your reader to take action. Make sure your telephone number is easy to see. If you’re relocating for your next job, consider getting a pager or telephone with an 800 number to overcome any employer concern about an area code that seems like it’s from a strange and distant land. Or use a friend’s telephone as a message number to give the impression you’re serious about relocating.

Ross had recently married. His wife, Zena, lived in San Francisco. He lived and worked in Fresno. A seven-hour, round-trip commute is not terribly conducive to a healthy marriage. Ross was looking for a new job in the Bay Area. Simply revising his Before résumé heading helped to generate callbacks on three of the next five résumés he sent:

Before:

After:

The address and telephone were his wife’s apartment in the city, and the pager made it easy for employers to reach him. Your accessibility may mean the difference between getting an interview or not.

The quote that introduces this chapter asserts that advertising is not a science but an art. I believe that the art of persuading can be likened to science. Just as in chemistry, where mixing certain compounds produces specific results, incorporating time-tested advertising formulas into your résumé can get employers’ attention, capture their interest, and create desire in your candidacy. When used thoughtfully and tastefully, advertising formulas can produce the desired outcome-an interview with your boss-to- be.

Desire is created when you

• Show why the employer needs you.
• Show how you can satisfy the need.
• Prove your superiority in fulfilling the need.

When your effort to create desire is persuasive, the buyer (your boss-to-be) will want to “own” the product (your services).

Why You Buy

Your decision to buy a product is driven by different needs and wants, such as the following:

• Prestige
• Security
• Convenience
• Comfort
• Fun
• Health
• Greed
• Guilt
• Vanity

It’s interesting to stop and really think about what motivates us to spend. Take out your checkbook and look over your recent purchases. In the chart that follows, list in the left column a few items that you have bought in the past month or so. Review the preceding list of buying motivators (prestige, security, convenience, and so on) and identify what prompted you to buy. You might have buying motivators that aren’t on the list. And, just as I found, you might have more than one buying motivator per purchase.

Why Employers Buy

Employers also have motivations to “buy.” Among them are the following:

• Make money.
• Save money.
• Save time.
• Make work easier.
• Solve a specific problem.
• Be more competitive.
• Build relationships/an image.
• Expand business.
• Attract new customers.
• Retain existing customers.

Finding your boss-to-be’s “buying motivators” might take some digging. Research the Internet, industry publications, company newsletters, and annual reports. Call friends in the industry. Network online. Interview company employees, customers, or competitors. In short, develop a list of specific needs and interests the company has; then address those needs in your résumé or cover letter. When researching, categorize your findings according to these TOP issues:

• Trends-the company’s five-year financial trends, strategic direction, and industry trends
• Opportunities-new ideas on the drawing board and company priorities
• Problems/Projects-competition or challenges that are keeping the organization from being as productive or profitable as possible-projects the company needs help implementing.

This information will be critical in your networking and interviewing.

Tip: Don’t overlook chemistry when it comes to buying motivators. Hiring managers (or their computer systems) may screen initially on competencies, but final decisions will factor heavily on chemistry. Include character traits or other personal branding elements that hint of positive chemistry and a good organizational cultural fit.

Use the next chart to begin thinking of the specific needs employers have that you can meet. Jot these down in the left column. In the right column, select a corresponding buying motivator from the preceding list. This exercise can help you get into an employer-focused mindset.

Both sides win when you address buying motivators in your résumé. Your boss-to-be will get the company’s needs met: problems solved and profits realized. And you’ll get your needs met: You’ll be employed, appreciated, and paid more!

Addressing Buying Motivators Worked for Mario

Mario heard that DataSafe Company was growing by leaps and bounds. The company specialized in data security and disaster recovery. He’d read about the company in the Business section of the newspaper. (This is a great source of job leads. If you’re on the prowl for a new job and haven’t been reading the Wall Street Journal or local business paper, get to the library today and check out back issues.) A star salesman, Mario wanted to be part of the action with this local company that had made Fortune’s list of fastest-growing companies.

Mario made three calls: one to an employee in the company, one to a customer, and one to a competitor of the company. Asking a few pointed questions, he found out what the hot buttons were for DataSafe: territory expansion and product launches. Although he had extensive experience in both areas, his résumé didn’t show it. The following section shows how rewriting just a few of his accomplishments homed in on his boss-to-be’s needs.

Notice how Mario introduces his accomplishments with words that specifically address his target company’s needs. He also uses check boxes instead of more traditional bullets. They give the reader the subconscious impression that “yes, this candidate has everything I need.”

Prove Your Superiority

Remember that every candidate must answer the employer’s question of “Why hire you over someone else?” You must prove your superiority! This is most easily done through the use of comparison-with others on your team, with other regions or districts in your company, with your company’s competitors, or with the industry standard.

Caution: When comparing yourself with others on your team or within your company, be careful! You don’t want to sound like a narcissistic Lone Ranger in a climate that worships the consummate team player. Use phrases like “contributed to company successes in revenue growth, profit enhancement” or “member of team that delivered threefold growth in sales.”

Asserting Superiority Without Put-Downs

Liz had interviewed for a sales position in the DME (durable medical equipment) industry. During the battery of interview questions from the interviewer, she was asked, “Where do you rank among your sales team?” Liz’s response was, “Well, I don’t have a ranking, since I’m the company’s only full-time sales associate.”

After the interview, Liz reviewed her handwritten notes. She realized her response to the “where do you rank” question could have been stronger. So, in her thank-you-for-the-interview, follow-up letter, she redeemed this weak response by writing the following:

During our conversation, you inquired about my sales ranking. As I mentioned, the present structure at Dantron does not lend itself to ranking since I am the branch’s only full-time sales associate. However, I did some research and found a few numbers that will confirm my performance as a top producer.

The average sales production for the two sales associates who preceded me was $27,000 per month. As of January, my monthly average was $39,000-a 44% increase in sales activity and a record for the branch.

Branch performance is, of course, a team effort. At the same time, it is driven by individual sales. Again, because I was the branch’s sole full-time sales associate, my contributions were critical in improving performance scores across the board last year. For instance

• Irvine tied for first place in the gross profit percentage category.
• The branch generated 100% of sales to budget in a year when the figures for promotions and other expense categories more than tripled.
• Most important, we finished first among eight offices for pretax income to budget.

Notice how Liz demonstrates her superiority through comparison with former sales associates and with other branches without stepping on anyone’s toes. She dispels any unvoiced thoughts of the Lone Ranger syndrome by weaving in the sentence, “Branch performance is, of course, a team effort.” She also addresses another of the interviewer’s buying motivators. The interviewer told Liz her DME company was “driven by sales.” Liz had taken good notes in the interview, so she “fed” this point back to the interviewer with the sentence “At the same time, it is driven by sales.”

Tip: If you’re like most of us, you’ll walk out of the interview wishing you had phrased something differently. Or, two hours later, you’ll remember a great example that would have perfectly illustrated your skills. The followup letter is a great place to polish responses that might have been rough or lacking during the interview.

To get your attention, copywriters focus on the single strongest benefit the product offers-first. Next time you flip through a magazine or turn on the radio, pay close attention to the ads. You’ll begin to see a pattern. More often than not, you’ll see the strongest benefit up front. Here are some examples:

Type of Ad -> Where First Impression Is Made or Strongest Benefit Is Presented

• Magazine or newspaper ad -> Headline and picture
• Brochure -> Cover
• Direct mail ->  Copy on outside of envelope or first couple of sentences in the letter
• Radio or television ad -> First few seconds of commercial
• Web site -> First screen

The principles used in magazine or newspaper ads also hold true for your self-marketing documents:

Type of Ad -> Where First Impression Is Made or Strongest Benefit Is Presented

• Résumé -> Headline and visual appeal/overall look and feel of résumé
• Cover letter -> First couple of sentences in the letter or bulleted items that highlight accomplishments

Advertising combines visuals and headlines to get attention. Résumés use good copy and eye appeal to get attention. By the way, the word copy, short for copywriting, is the term ad agencies use for the headlines, paragraphs, sentences, and slogans that accompany the visuals (pictures). I’ll be using the term copy to refer to your résumé content-the headlines, descriptions, tag lines, and other features that will wow and woo your boss-to-be. For the résumé, a good first impression requires persuasive copy and good visual appeal. Let’s look at copy first.

Headlines and Hard-Hitting Leads

David Ogilvy, the messiah of Madison Avenue and author of Confessions of an Advertising Man, says that headlines are “the most important element in most advertisements…five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.” Here are a few headlines that got my attention:

You’re born, you go to school, then one day things begin to get interesting.

(Photo in ad: young sailor aboard a gleaming ship, overlooking a beautiful Mediterranean port city. Ad recruiting for U.S. Navy.)

Oh, baby, where have you been all my life?

(Caption below photo is “half the fat, really cheesy.” Photo in ad: happy couple eating Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese Dinner.)

Doctors are too busy to wait minutes for the correct temperature. Guess what, mothers are busier.

(Photo in ad: close-up of a mother holding a sick baby. The ad is for an ear thermometer that takes baby’s temperature in one second.)

A good lead will do two things:

• Get your attention.
• Draw you into reading the whole ad.

You’re probably shaking your head, wondering if I’m going to ask you to write a catchy headline for your résumé or cover letter-maybe even put it to music! Something along the lines of the following:

You can double your sales in the next six months. Your competition has.

(Salesperson touting past sales performance.)

“Boutique” customer service wins over “wholesale” pricing…hands-down!

(Retail customer-service manager emphasizing service to support premium pricing.)

You’re too busy to worry about the “everyday details.” Let me help.

(Secretary targeting an executive support position.)

The preceding examples are intentionally bold, but they get attention because they offer a benefit to the target audience. The first example offers increased sales; the second, loyal customers (who will generate repeat and referral business); and the third, a saving of time for the boss.

If you’d like a subtler introduction, here are a few conservative headlines:

Profit-Driven Manager with Strong Customer Focus

Law Enforcement Professional with Vision…Courage…Leadership

Experienced Educator—Devoted 20+ Years to the Study of Sociology and Its Cultural, Economic, Political, and Spiritual Impacts on Our Local and Global Community

What headline would appeal to your boss-to-be? Some careful study of advertising strategy and human behavior can get your creative juices flowing. Do the following:

• Focus on your key selling points.
• Communicate those selling points to your audience.

You can use your “headlines” as a theme throughout your job search. Make them a common thread in your networking, cover letters, résumés, and interviewing.

Where You Can Use Your Headlines?

Networking: “I’m Sheridan McKenzie and I write for a living. I specialize in success stories.” (Use of intrigue in response to the age-old inquiry, “So what do you do for a living?”)

Cover letter: Creating attention-getting, hard-selling television ads has generated millions for my clients. (Example of a hard-hitting introductory sentence.)

Résumé: CLIO award–winning writer featured in Advertising Age and AdWeek. (Qualifications summary.)

Interview: “As a top-notch agency writer, I have delivered copy and concepts that exceeded clients’ marketing objectives. I can do the same for you.” (In response to the interview statement, “Tell me, in 25 words or less, why I should hire you.”)

A real benefit to preparing your résumé is that none of your prep work will go to waste. Every minute you put into it can be used throughout the networking, job search, and interview process. More important, the process will add to your sense of accomplishment and, best of all, your confidence! You’ll need every ounce you can muster as you launch your job search.

Visual Appeal

Most of us think of visuals as pictures. For the purposes of designing your résumé, I’ll use the word visual to refer to overall eye appeal. It takes just three to four seconds to decide whether the “look” of a résumé has eyeappeal. The key to eye appeal is using classic design elements—with consistency! Inconsistency in design (also referred to as formatting) makes for an ugly-duckling résumé, and ugly-duckling résumés are often passed over for those with swan status.

Consistency Worked for Javier

Can you find 10 or more design inconsistencies in the following example? Some are more obvious than others.

Consistent formatting for Javier’s résumé not only improved its eye-appeal, but also sped up his transition from the military to the private sector.

In some résumés, you can also draw in your reader by using an image they can relate to, such as a small graphic that represents your industry or profession.

Using a Graphic Worked for Jennifer

Jennifer, a recent graduate, used the graphic of a mortar and pestle for her pharmaceutical sales search. The graphic gives the impression of industry identification despite the fact that Jennifer had no experience in pharmaceutical sales. The goal statement was developed from researching Web pages of pharmaceutical companies.

Visual appeal is a huge factor in successful résumé design. Consistent formatting and use of a tasteful graphic can help accomplish the first step in the employer’s “buying” process: Get your reader’s attention!