The Perfect Fit

Update and Enhance Your Resume . . . NOW!

In following up on my "Marketers and Account Service Pros Need Portfolios Too!" blog posting last week, this is about simply enhancing your resume when you update it.  Once again the point is, you need to have a current, effective (if not fine-tuned and impactful) resume, even if you're not currently "looking for a job".  Why?  So you can respond more promptly when a recruiter (like me) calls you out of blue and starts talking to you about a career opportunity that you think is too good to be true!  Yet, it is true!

And, just as Account Service pros need portfolios, Creative pros need resumes!  I know, you hate that.   You want your work to do the talking . . . recruiters and employers need to know about more than the work, to determine qualifications and potential fit.  Great work is a table setter, not the meal!

We need to know things like work history, previous titles (hopefully showing increasing responsibility), previous employers (indicating size/type of company), previous client/category experience, number of direct reports, etc..   There are lots of ingredients in the hiring a great employee recipe!  There is generally value in your ability to respond promptly to a recruiter's request for a resume.  You certainly should have a link to your work.  Don't say, "Samples of Work Provided on Request" . . . Trust me, we want and need to see the work.  Just show it to us!!!

I have a couple of very simple suggestions for how to enhance your existing resume and make it more information packed.  You need to add hot links, where ever possible and appropriate.

For example, my employer is:

Bishop Partners, LLC  St. Louis                                                                        July 2001 - Present

Specialty retained recruiting firm and sole proprietorship, headquartered in St. Louis with expertise in conducting executive search for Corporate marketing and agency positions nationwide.

By adding the hot link, and short employer description, you can give the resume reader signifcant additional information in a different way, and very conveniently.  You could (for example) link your name at the top of the resume to LinkedIn, or you could add a line to your resume asking the reader to visit LinkedIn (with hotlink) to read all your recommendations.

I love those folks who use Dropbox to host files which are then hotlinked to their resumes.  Last year I wrote a blog post about "Create Richer Resumes With New Technology".  While Dropbox isn't so new anymore, it's still incredibly effective and seriously under utilized!  (Great for backing up essential files, too!)

Great Candidates Want To Return To St. Louis!

Bishop Partners is proud to be referred to the friends and/or colleagues of my professional community, when those people decide they want to return to St. Louis.  We all know that St. Louis seems like a magnet, exerting a constant and unrelenting attraction to those who grew up here (and can actually understand and answer the "high school question")! 

Many of those professionals have received the benefit of experience outside the region.  That means they have (at least) a different approach, and very possibly an innovative one.  They're received the benefit of training, different experiences, influences, clients . . . and a different way of approaching marketing issues of the day.  This different approach is almost always beneficial to the local employer who hires them and helps them come return home.

The new employee, is generally grateful, resulting in dedication, hard work, loyalty and sharing what they've learned with and for the benefit of their colleagues, the employer and their clients.  It's a win, win, win!  Imagine the influx of new ideas, new approaches, new contributions to culture, training, technology, marketing approaches and solutions . . . it goes on and on!

I thought I'd do my part by discreetly introducing a sample of these professionals.  Our database contains scores of candidates who are currently positively producing for their existing employer, but who want to move back.  In some cases, at their own expense (thus, removing one more barrier to returning "home").

Let us know if you need some "new blood" with one of your upcoming hires!

Sr. Art Director/Designer:  This candidate wants to move home so his young family can be raised in St. Louis, closer to their own family.  Outstanding conceptor, designer and art director.  He's equally comfortable online and on paper.  Seven years of experience and almost ready for ACD.  Hard worker, great attitude, visual thought leader.  No re-lo expense needed.

Executive Creative Director:  Also Design Director and VP of Brand Strategy . . . a superb hybrid combination of creative, design, executive leadership and client strategy and relationship development!

Sr. Producer, Creative Director, Writer & Art Director:  Really! Exceptional talent equally at home with art direction and copywriting. Significant TV production, online video production, diverse category experience. Many, "Big Awards", Graphis Annual One Show (interactive), Gold Addys, NYAD Annual, Chicago Film Festival, HBO Comedy Arts, MoMA Show (and part of permanent collection).  20 years. Midwesterner, wants to move back!

Executive Creative Director, CCO:  Pioneer of CPG "Branded Entertainment", films for brands. One Show, Cannes, Gold Effies, CA Annual . . . Unique combination of ceative and business strategy in one package. Leader of new biz development and talent recruitment.  Midwest guy!

Senior Vice President Worldwide Group Management Director: Most recently for one of the largest CPG full service agencies in the World, located in the Midwest.  Also client side executive marketing leadership for a category leading brand.

We also work with the regions highest performing marketing and advertising pros (at every organization level), who are quietly and confidentially looking for new opportunities.  We have special fee packages for candidates who are not the result of a complete search.

We're responding to client needs.  We've been asked by several clients recently if we can help with identifying candidates, without necessarily getting involved in a "full service search", saving time and expense for our clients. 

Marketers and Account Service Pros Need Portfolios Too!

I normally spend a great deal of time identifying and then contacting new candidates.  These are known as "passive" candidates . . . the ones not actively looking for a new job.  These are the candidates that recruiters strive to deliver, and employers generally don't reach.  They need to be "recruited".  They don't spend their time looking for a new job and they don't respond to job postings.

These passive candidates are generally a company's top performers.  They're hard working, loyal and spend their working hours contributing to their employer.  This does not mean that they wouldn't be interested in hearing more about opportunities that have the potential to be clearly better than what they're currently doing.  I love the part of my job when I introduce a new opportunity and the passive candidate says "Yes, I want to hear more . . ."

It's remarkable to me how few people have a current resume, and almost no marketing executives or account service professionals have what I'll call a "portfolio".  It's a portfolio that's an assembly of documents, printed materials, tearsheets, spreadsheets, briefs, branding rationales or other writing samples, testimonials and recommendations, etc..  When I ask a client side marketer if they have a "portfolio", I often get an indignant response like "I'm not a creative".  Not being "a creative" is not an excuse for never having an assembly of the things you have accomplished successfully throughout your career.  Many, if not most marketers I know do identify themselves as being "creative".

I've found, and some clients agree that a well presented portfolio can be the difference between getting hired, for that exciting new opportunity or not.  It can be what explains your previous contributions so clearly and effectively, that a new employer "gets it", and can't wait to get you working on their team.  Portfolios can illustrate your accomplishments so effectively, that the compensation package is increased.

In short, there's no good reason not to have one . . . No matter how much experience you have, now is always the best time to start.  Your portfolio doesn't have to be terribly complex.  Some of the most effective account service/marketing portfolios are from pros with less than 10 years of experience.  They understand the value of "case studies".  A clearly laid out case study can be simple, yet it tells a marketing story beautifully.  Its value is further enhanced, because someone who presents case studies clearly understands what their job is really all about, and what success for the client really means.