Everyone knows that ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS.  But why???

There may be many reasons, but near the top of the list is that we are bombarded by brand promises…most of which are not true or never proven.

Today, however, I heard an exception…and it REALLY stood out.

While listening to the car radio, the announcer gave the Wall Street update.  He said, “…the Dow Jones average is up 3 points this morning…wait…no…actually, it just took a jump up…so it’s now up THIRTEEN points for the day.”

Wow!  If this station wants me to think of them as having the most up-to-the-minute financial news, then this was powerful.  My mental image as they shared this stock report was of them having a live feed from Wall Street and glancing at it in MID sentence…to make sure the news they delivered wasn’t even 2 minutes old.

Like the slogans bandied about on every radio station (“our city’s most accurate weather forecasts”…“absolutely the best selection of music,” etc), they could have been telling me for YEARS that they had the most current financial news…and I either would have ignored it or not believed it.

But they didn’t SAY it…they deLIVEred it.

So how can you communicate YOUR brand by how are you LIVING…in a way that influencers and prospective employers can SEE it?

Note: if you already know your brand, are confident in how you communicate it to others, and you routinely get unsolicited feedback from others that say how memorable, unique and compelling you seem to be…then you should stop reading here.

If you are close to panic-mode looking for a job, you may be tempted to stop reading as well…because time spent on personal branding seems like a luxury you can’t afford.

CAUTION! Investing time to understand your brand at a deep level and how to articulate it to others is one of the BEST possible uses of your time.

As Meg Guiseppi explains on EXECUTIVE Career Brand, it will, among other things, enable you to differentiate yourself from the competition; explore weaknesses that may inadvertently be holding you back; help you reconnect with your values and passions (which makes you a much more attractive employee); and, in short, may be the deciding factor in landing a plum job.

I suggest you work your way through the 10 steps at this blog post (10 Steps to an Authentic Magnetic Personal Brand), and learn from William Arruda, starting with this video and book (Arruda – video; Career Distinction).  For access to a free assessment on how others view your brand, go to this link: 360 Reach .

Being the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) must no doubt be one of THE most difficult jobs in the country.  Responsibility for the safety of millions, unspeakable scrutiny and pressure, 15+ hour days and on-call 24×7, etc.

As the current Director resigns this week, the White House will want to quickly find a replacement.  But with such unique requirements, how will they find candidates?

Or the more relevant analogy to you as a job seeker…how would you go about POSITIONING yourself for the role?

Sure, you could send your resume and try to call in a favor from your most networked friend to dig up a referral.  But trying to do so AFTER you found out about the opening would be futile.

Finding the replacement Director will start LESS like an application process and more like a NOMINATION process – with a handful of the President’s trusted advisors giving their top recommendation(s) for the job.

Dennis Blair got the job the FIRST time around…but the person whose name comes up most often the SECOND time stands the best chance of getting the job THIS time.  This is remarkably similar to how “normal” exec-level jobs are filled.

It is also the way job openings become public knowledge.  At first they are NOT.  Then only a small but increasing circle of people know…until everyone is aware.

So how do you secure a nomination to the early short-list?

Sure, you can ask your friends “who’s hiring?” and respond to Internet postings…but how’s that workin’ for you?!

The answer lies in ADAPTING a few traditional marketing principles (performance, packaging, promotion, persuasion) for our world of new media, a “noisy” marketplace and increasing competition.

Actual PERFORMANCE is the foundation. In the case of DNI, the reality is that if you had not already performed well in the right kind of roles over the last 20+ years, then no amount of additional marketing done TODAY could help you play catch-up.

Performance includes accomplishments and results…but it also can include things like loyalty, commitment, dependability, persistence, and innovation.

Note: if you are not excellent in what you do, then you either need to focus on closing the gap between being good and great, change what you do, or narrow your niche.

If you can’t be “the best” financial planner, perhaps you can be the best financial planner for newly divorced women that need to readjust their finances.  Or if you can’t be the best Director of Operations, maybe you can be the best ops exec for companies that had a bad experience outsourcing manufacturing to China and now want to bring operations back to the States.

Assuming you are a performer, you must also PACKAGE yourself in order to display your accomplishments in a credible and memorable way. Packaging includes the use of “materials” that will influence your overall image and perceptions in the minds of others.

This includes routine items like your resume, cover letter, clothes, email address, profile picture on LinkedIn and voice mail recordings.  It also could include speaking engagements (like keynotes, panel discussions and interviews) or written materials (like articles, whitepapers or books).  Basically anything that can impact your personal “brand.”

As you can see, the lines between marketing techniques are necessarily blurred…but each tends to enhance the other.

PROMOTION is another necessary ingredient.  After all, you could be a better basketball player than Michael Jordan…but if you lived in a remote village in a third-world country and no one knew of your talent, it will do you little good.

Promotion involves implementing strategies and tactics to ensure that the RIGHT people know you, remember you, like you, and know where & why you are valuable.

This includes being visible from things like industry interviews, to helping others and having regular contact with them via meetings, events, email or social media and/or blogging.

If  you are a performer that is properly packaged and promoted…your odds of being recommended for job openings are extremely high.

Note that in most cases it will be rare for someone to nominate you if they don’t LIKE you…while occasionally it is a non-factor.

Finally…because you can expect competition for any open role, you must PERSUADE.  You must be a compelling nominee by sharing communication designed to influence decision-makers.  To most this conjures up images of the stereotypical fast-talking salesperson whose favorite subject is himself.

The most powerful forms of persuasion, however, are more about asking thought-provoking questions; taking time to listen, diagnose and educate; displaying a quiet confidence; and having “raving fans” as references that do most of the bragging FOR you.

So…when an organization needs to find a replacement in your profession, will YOU be on the short-list?

If you’re not, then WHY not…and what do you need to do to CHANGE?  If you’re not sure where to go for answers, a good place to start is this FREE 360 assessment to get feedback from others.

Do YOU have any thoughts?  I’d love to see your comments or questions on this (or your own job search challenges) in the comment section below.

An executive recently emailed me the following.  “Do you have any thoughts/suggestions for me? I am 57 years old and eminently qualified for a CEO/COO role…but have found that most organizations are looking for that 40-something exec.  I can tell from their reaction to me that age is a factor.”

My response?  It can certainly be harder to get a job at 57 than at 42…but it’s very doable.

The biggest key is to discern WHY age might be a factor in a specific situation.  You can then determine how best to PRESENT yourself in relation to the issue.

If the negatives of age are more real than perceived, then you know to focus on highlighting your other strengths…or move onto the next opportunity.

Legalities aside…why might age be a concern?  There ARE a myriad of potential negatives that are correlated more closely with older execs than younger.

Is it because their most important customers are in their 20’s and they suspect you won’t be able to understand their buying habits or earn their trust?  Would your peers be single and in their 40’s so they wonder if you could fit in with the team?

Would your boss be female and they’re concerned that you’re too “old school” about women in the workplace?  Is the environment frenetic, 12-hour work days and they’re not sure you’d have the stamina?  Might they suspect that you are “set in your ways” and not open to the continuous learning of their culture?

The potential reasons for age concerns will give you clues about how to present your positive attributes that can neutralize the SPECIFIC but unspoken objection.

If you suspect, for example, that their concerns may be regarding “energy level,” you may want to mention the half-marathon you’re training for, or how you aspire to be like your father who still downhill skis at 79 years young (mine really does ).

Or if their concerns are about you being stagnant in your learning, it could serve you well to quote a well-known business book you are reading.  (If you’re not a reader, summaries of leading business books on CD are an easy and surprisingly inexpensive way to stay current.)

Realize, however, that your age might just be a negative that you can’t spin your way out of.  In that case, your job is to give the prospective employer the confidence that your OTHER, unrelated attributes will outweigh the negatives.

You can’t win every battle, but take comfort in the fact that companies ultimately want to hire the BEST person for the role.

Understanding the “why’s” of any surface objection and knowing how to present yourself accordingly highlights the importance of your personal “brand.”  This can include just about EVERYTHING…from what you say to HOW you say it, the pen you use, your email address, etc.

Two last thoughts.  First…don’t forget that there are DIFFERENT negatives associated with being YOUNGER that you can use to your advantage.  You may need to be subtle when doing this, and you certainly want to avoid being defensive.  Per the video clip below, a sense of humor never hurts.

(Check out this 41 second clip to see how Ronald Reagan addresses the age issue in a presidential debate against  Walter Mondale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPu1UIBkBc)

Second…you may believe that that improper age bias is a factor in your job search.  And you may be right!  But I’d caution you to be very careful about how you HARBOR that assumption.  You may be better off to purge it from your thinking…because of how that assumption can impact your ATTITUDE.

There are a myriad of characteristics that can be strikes against us during the first impression stage (looks, weight, clothes, height, accent, mannerisms, etc).

That said, a positive and energetic persona can go a long way towards neutralizing just about anything that hurts our candidacy…including age.  And positive energy is difficult to project if we are secretly entertaining thoughts that the decision-maker has an unfair bias!

Do YOU have any thoughts?  I’d love to see your comments or questions on this (or your own job search challenges) in the comment section below.

I’m usually not a big fan of executive-level candidates using “gimmicks” to garner attention for their job search.

If the SUBSTANCE is there, you can find plenty of “normal” ways to get noticed and differentiate yourself from the crowd.

That said, there are some exceptions.  For example…if your ideal role is Chief Innovation Officer.  Then you have much more latitude…and your antics may SUPPORT your brand.

Assuming, however, that you choose to NOT go the wild & crazy route for exposure, I think seeing examples that OTHERS have used can do wonders for increasing your own creativity.  During stressful times – like when you REALLY need a paycheck – your creativity tends to be even MORE stifled.

As a result, I recommend that you do some brainstorming or Internet browsing, see what you find, and devise some APPROPRIATE creativity for YOUR job search.

The exercise can be a lot of fun, reintroduce a sense of humor during what can be a gloomy time…and loosen you up a bit for that big upcoming interview.  (The 3 links below will give you a start.)

It might even serve as a memorable conversation piece during the interview to help you advance to the next round.

This gentleman was looking for a creative job with an advertising agency.  For less than $10 he bought the Google keywords for the names of executives at his target companies.  When the executives Googled themselves…his ad was the first one they saw!  http://www.viralblog.com/remarkable-gossip/the-google-job-experiment/

This gent walked the streets of NYC wearing his resume on a “sandwich board.”  Definitely an attention-getting idea…but MAN did it work against his brand!  It took him 99 WEEKS to get a job.  I suspect that the very technique he attributes to helping him FIND a job actually significantly PROLONGED his job search.  Great strategy (get big-time media visibility), but bad tactic (at least for an Operations Manager).    http://wdef.com/video/sign_man_gets_a_job/05/2010

This isn’t about getting a job…but his ingenuity is worth highlighting.  He started with a big red paperclip with the stated goal of making successive trades for something more valuable…until he ended up with a HOUSE.  (It didn’t take him NEARLY as long as you might think !)  My takeaway from this?  If we have an a unique and compelling VISION (even if a little off-the-wall)…people will want to help you.  http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

Do YOU have any thoughts?  I’d love to see your comments or questions on this (or your own job search challenges) in the comment section below.

In a post titled, “Referrals: when to use them…and when to pass”, I wrote about a helpful guideline for deciding when to use a referral source, and when to bypass the referral and make the contact yourself as a “cold call.”

Because of the importance and prevalence of referrals in the hiring process, you may want to make sure you’re up on a few other important aspects that were not covered in the previous post.

The giving and receiving of referrals has inherent risks for all parties that I won’t dwell on.  Suffice it to say that you need to choose a sponsor that will help your cause more than hurt.

And the person providing the referral for you wants to know (consciously or subconsciously) if their reputation will be enhanced or tarnished.  (Strive to make that question easy for others to answer positively about you and you’ll receive big dividends.)

But there are other very important aspects of soliciting referrals.

The principles demonstrated in the real-world situation below that I got a chance to observe this week are represented in the following words: appreciate, confidence, interest, ask, tactful, help, and release.

A consultant, Amy, met with an influential executive, Tom (not their real names), who had gotten wind of a notable consulting assignment.  In a follow-up email to Amy, Tom shared helpful details about the potential client that were not yet widely known, suggested who she should contact to “bid” on the project, and graciously offered to let Amy use his name.

Sounds pretty good, don’t you think?

Well…Amy responded by letting him know that she did not plan to make contact with the client if Tom wasn’t willing to make a phone call on her behalf.  (Before you jump to the conclusion that Amy was biting the hand that was trying to feed her, read the rest of the story ).

The result (so far) is that Tom quickly offered to make the phone call for Amy.  If she wins the consulting assignment later this month, this example will be like a “walk-off homerun.”  But even if she doesn’t get the gig, I’m sure this is the kind of ‘swing at the bat’ most of us would take ANY day of the week.  It’s now up to HER to hit the ball!

I believe there are several keys to the quality and speed of Tom’s response to Amy.  (She sent the email ‘return receipt requested’ and, despite being a busy guy, Tom responded within 2 minutes ).  They include:

• She expressed appreciation for Tom’s offer to let her reference his name, and showed quiet confidence and excitement about being able to add value to the client.  (Amy made it clear that she understood and cared about the CLIENT’S need.)

• Amy asked for an endorsement, and gave the REASON that she needs Tom to make a proactive call…rather than simply borrowing his name.  (The engagement will be high profile, so she’ll be competing with much larger firms.  She can’t spend hours (or days) developing a proposal if she’ll automatically be perceived as an “outsider” and a long-shot to win the deal.)

• Her request was direct, even while being tactful.  Amy was not presumptive…and she gave him permission to decline.  (She essentially said, “I’m not suggesting that you SHOULD do this for me…and I won’t be offended in any way if you’re NOT comfortable being my advocate for this project.”)

• She purposely interjected a couple of helpful insights regarding the client.  This was information that could benefit the client…whether or not Tom agreed to contact them on HER behalf.  (This showed him tangible evidence of the kind of value she could readily offer…and it provided him with some specific ammunition with which to “sell” her to his contacts…if he chose to make the call).

In addition, even before the emails were exchanged, two important things happened that impact the frequency and strength of referrals.

The first is that, even though Tom and Amy had never worked together on a project and only recently met, Amy already had a great reputation with Tom.  (That became obvious in his email when he listed several people he respected that had shared great things about Amy.)

The second is that, even though Tom is an extremely influential and well-connected businessman whose relationships could benefit Amy significantly…she did not ask him for ANYTHING in their first meeting earlier in the week.  Even after he mentioned having the inside scoop on an attractive consulting engagement.

Instead, she focused on branding herself as a knowledgeable/helpful/likeable professional…in hopes that he would nibble on the “hook” that she dangled in the water.

How tempting it must have been for Amy to move aggressively towards initiating a discussion about how to get referrals from Tom…but by all measures her patience appears to have quickly paid off.

Note: if she was NOT really knowledgeable and helpful, then this would have been manipulative (and Tom probably would have been able to see right through her)…but she is all of those things.

To recap…the keys to maximize the effectiveness of referrals include: show appreciation for whatever help you’re given; project confidence and sincere interest; ask for what you need (but not too early in the process); be direct but tactful; show that you can add value; and give them an escape.

Do YOU have any thoughts?  I’d love to see your comments or questions on this (or your own job search challenges) in the comment section below.

When initiating contact with a decision-maker, you sometimes have the choice of getting a “referral” that will hopefully give you an advantage.

Often this takes the form of either getting permission to use the referral’s name…or having them initiate contact on your behalf to provide an “endorsement.”

The common teaching is that securing a referral is ALWAYS better…to help turn a “cold call” into a “warm call.” And intuitively, this seems to make sense.

When it comes to using referrals, Kevin Kermes has an important perspective.  Kevin is the founder of Build the Career You Deserve (http://www.kevinkermes.com), and consistently shares some of the best job-search advice I see.  (Over 20,000 people have subscribed his blog.)

Recently I heard about a “litmus test” that he suggests for referrals: if your contact is willing to make a phone call on your behalf…then utilize it.  If not…then you are better to NOT use the referral and take your chances on your own.

I think this is a GREAT guideline that will serve job seekers well.  The logic and wisdom is that if your referral A) has respect and concern for you, AND B) has a solid enough relationship with the decision-maker…then it will be a worthwhile referral.

If either of these ingredients are missing, then the referral may do more harm than good…and it’s not worth the risk.

Have you ever had, for example, someone contact you “at the suggestion of John Doe,” but you have NO earthly idea who John is?  It actually happens to me quite frequently…especially with the advent of LinkedIn.

It’s a seemingly small miscalculation…but a tangible demonstration of the person’s low E.Q., and a big turnoff.

Implementing this guideline will also encourage you to ASK for the more coveted phone call on your behalf.  Often our referral is WILLING to do this for us…but just hasn’t thought about the importance.

Do YOU have any thoughts?  I’d love to see your comments or questions on this (or your own job search challenges) in the comment section below.

An executive recently confided that, after being unemployed twice in a relatively short period of time (and for too long), “I am in a ‘malaise’ that I’m having trouble pulling myself out of.”  He wanted to know my suggestions.

It is common for people in a prolonged job search to have trouble staying motivated.

While there are some foundational aspects of an effective search that you must inspect for flaws, I told him that the key is to go about your search in a DIFFERENT way that will breathe NEW ENERGY into your search and pull you out of your “funk.”

That means to not go job HUNTING…and instead to go job FISHING.

Steps #1 through #4 below function as building blocks to the “magical” step #5 that explains job “fishing.”  (Go ahead…I know you can’t resist skipping down to #5 .  Just promise you’ll scroll back up to read #1 through #4.)

1) Find 3 or 4 same-sex friends that can help you through this journey.  Preferably people that know/like/trust you, and that can help via connections, encouragement…and accountability.  Don’t be shy about asking…just do it!  Everyone needs help at some point.  (You’ll be there for them when THEY need help, won’t you?!)

2) While the situation you’re in is not fun, try to appreciate the potential blessing.  If you KNEW that in a few months your salary would increase and you’d like your new job twice as much, wouldn’t you gladly endure the pain?

Most of us need to experience the discomfort of being pushed “out of the nest” to encourage us to find something better.  Something we were BORN to do.  I see it all the time (and have even experienced it myself on a few occasions ).

3) Make sure you’re not just looking for a paycheck…and that you’re looking for a job you’d LOVE to do.  Focus on the intersection of A) the business needs you are GIFTED at solving, B) what you are ENERGIZED about doing, and C) the TYPE of organizations that might have the problems you can solve.

Discuss your answers with friends that will be encouraging yet honest.

4) Armed with tangible ideas about WHAT you should be doing from the intersection of A, B & C above, create a specific list of organizations to target.  A typical target list should consist of 25 to 100 organizations in a particular industry that are of a particular size and in the relevant geography.

A Different Way of Looking for a Job – FISHING not HUNTING (drum roll, please!)

5) With your target list in mind, I’d challenge you to go about your job search in ways that will DIFFERENTIATE you from the masses.  (This in itself is very refreshing.)

Conduct your search more like “fishing” for a job rather than “hunting.”

Fishing involves choosing appealing bait that will attract your prey to the hook that you put in plane view.

Hunting, on the other hand, involves staying hidden until you choose to ambush your prey.  But as soon as they know you’re there, you’ve lost the game!  (I’m not a hunter, but I’ve heard that your smell and that bright orange vest tend to give you away at the most inopportune times .)

Most job seekers hunt.  They simply forward resumes to prospective employers with notes implying that they’ll be a great hire…and ask if there are any openings.  Others try to leverage their network…but to essentially do the same thing.

The methods of sending unsolicited resumes and “leveraging” your network in this fashion focus on YOUR need for a paycheck, and is like attempting to close-the-sale before the customer even believes they want what you have.

This method of job hunting can be successful…but only in the way a broken clock is right twice a day.  Not often enough to be useful.

No wonder people are discouraged!

Instead, deploy some creative and much more enjoyable ways to make influencers and decision-makers want to ENGAGE with you.  This is fishing.

The possibilities are endless, but one idea is to conduct “expert interviews” with a dozen executives within companies on your target list.  Choose a topic related to YOUR area of expertise.

If you’re an HR exec, discuss a topic like “Best Practices for Motivating Employees During Times of Declining Revenues and Stagnant Wages.”  Don’t ask for anything in return (that would be an ambush ), but offer to share the aggregated results in a report you compile.

If you prepare for and execute the project properly, you will simultaneously accomplish several important tasks, including: learn a lot about their challenges and thought processes; impress them with your initiative, insights and communication skills; change the game by creating something of value to give them; and give them a reason to meet you that is in THEIR self-interest.

Have you seen a resume and cover letter that could accomplish that?

Perhaps most significantly, the combined impact of this approach reverses the typical job search dynamic and positions you to be “one of one” and the first one THEY will ask to help them solve a problem.

Do you get the sense that this “fishing” method could be both more fun and and effective than being one of 100+ groveling for the one opening that every other exec already seems to know about?

Worse case…they don’t ask you to help them solve a problem.  No worries.  Somewhere in your multiple encounters it will come out (WITHOUT you asking them for a job) that you’re in search of your next gig.  (If you’re writing articles, an unobtrusive place to share this is in the “about the author” section.)

The “law of reciprocity” is an unstoppable force that will be working overtime for you…and will produce surprising results if you are patient. (http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/power-persuasion.)

Other fishing ideas include writing articles or blog posts about industry challenges and concrete ways to overcome them.  And if you’re not much of a writer, you can find the writings of OTHER thought leaders, summarize THEIR articles, add a few insights of your own…and then share them with your target audience in a systematic way.

The tactics can be different…but the strategy is the same.  Over a relatively short period of time you can brand yourself as a knowledgeable executive that has value to add and a willingness to share it.

And that bait will be irresistible to someone!

Do YOU have any thoughts?  I’d love to see your comments or questions on this (or your own job search challenges) in the comment section below.

Are you GREAT at what you do?  I mean one of the top 10% in your field?

If not, you may want to take a closer, more realistic look at how you add value to a business and why they should pay you the money you want.  But even if you really ARE great, do you think people will want to hire you quickly…and pay you what you’re worth?

The answer is yes…and no.

It’s not that companies don’t want to hire you and pay you what you’re worth…but if you leave it up to others to understand the value you bring to the table, they will always so no and/or pay you less.

BUT, if the value is really there, then you will be in-demand and paid what you’re worth.  The catch is you need to properly POSITION yourself…and you need to TARGET the right audience.

I can’t tell you exactly what that looks like for YOU, but I can tell you what it looks like for Joshua Bell.

Joshua is a pretty good violinist who learned to play some famous pieces of music.  When he performed during rush hour in a subway station in Washington, D.C., he collected over $30 in the violin case at his feet in a little less than an hour.

Not bad.  Annualized this comes to about $60K.  And he’d probably enjoy performing for FREE if he could afford to.  Except Joshua is worth more than that.  A LOT more!

As arguably to best violinist in the world, he can be found playing a Stradivarius violin on the world’s greatest stages where he earns $1,000 per MINUTE.

Interesting that he was JUST as good at his craft when he was playing in the subway station. (And passers by could have a much better seat than at Carnegie Hall ).  But the subway station performance lacked targeting and packaging.

(Check out this video clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw), or you can read the whole story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html).

Now…do NOT make the mistake of assuming this was just an intriguing experiment (which it WAS).  Like the laws of gravity are real and apply equally to everyone…so the principles of positioning and targeting are universal.

Everyone understands that you need a paycheck.  But charity aside, that’s YOUR problem.  What problem of THEIRS are you able to solve???  Make that clear to the right group of people and they will beat a path to your door.  (Just ask Sam Bradford or Eric Berry, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bradford; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Berry).

So what problem can you solve better than most executives?  Who needs that solution?  How can you position yourself as the answer in a way that they will believe you? (Once you’ve bought into this way of thinking, HOW you do and don’t position yourself is key…and I’ll be sharing insights about this in future posts.)

Do YOU have any thoughts?  I’d love to see your comments or questions on this (or your own job search challenges) in the comment section below.

By far the most common and costly mistake I see executives making with their resume has nothing to do with the format, the wording or the length.  It has to do with WHEN they share it!

The powerful principle is, “Your resume can’t GET you the job…but it can ELIMINATE you.”

The simple but unconventional solution?  DO NOT SEND A RESUME!

Note that I did not say, “don’t WRITE a resume.”  CREATING your resume is a valuable and important exercise.  And most executives should even enlist the help of a good resume writer.  Portions of the content you create will serve as strategic “bait” for your successful job search.

But if your entire resume is perfectly polished and you share it at the wrong time…you might as well be rearranging deck chairs on the proverbial Titanic.

That is because multiple aspects of almost everyone’s background can be viewed as strong negatives.  And it is virtually impossible to know what the deal-killers will be in any given situation.  That makes sharing your resume a very risky move.

There are many reasons why execs typically hand-over their resumes faster than a gambler surrenders poker chips in Vegas.  But you MUST resist the temptation!

The good news is that there is a MUCH more effective way.

With a little common sense and research, it IS possible to know what elements of your resume WILL resonate.  Those, and ONLY those, are what you should share – the elements that you KNOW will register in a positive way!

Don’t be fooled into thinking that you have to reveal everything in the early stages.  Instead, hand-pick the most powerful ammunition from your resume that pertains to each individual job opening and fashion it into a few compelling points.  (You can do this in an email, cover letter, voice mail, and/or verbally.)

Instead of sharing a “tell all” autobiography because you are scared to leave anything unsaid, opt to reveal the “tip of the iceberg” that will entice them to look for the treasure beneath.  (See a simple example of a bullet point crafted as “bait at the bottom of this post.”)

If you don’t know what aspects of your background will resonate, then you either haven’t done enough research…or even you suspect you’re not a fit.  If the former, then go the extra mile and do more research.  Differentiate yourself from the plethora of resume blasters.  If the latter, spare yourself the inevitable rejection and invest your time looking for a better match.

So never VOLUNTEER to send your resume…but what if you are ASKED to send it?  Tactfully delay.  And never send it PRIOR to a serious interview.

Coming from someone who asks executives every day to send their resumes, you are not required to comply…and it is not the turn-off you may suspect.

Always have a reason to NOT have a finished resume, and then simply respond with, “…actually I don’t have a completed resume, but I’d be happy to send you some relevant bullet points or brief bio for you to skim.”

Not sharing your full resume accomplishes several important things.  It gives you the chance to showcase your positives without prematurely revealing potential negatives.

It also suggests that you have confidence that most job seekers lack.  (Your “masterpiece” – complete with contact information for 5 references and emailed within 3 minutes of the request – SCREAMS “I need a paycheck!”  And that is the exact opposite brand you need to project.)

Declining to send your resume also shifts some of the power back to YOU…and can provide a small boost of needed confidence.

When executed correctly, this strategy poses little or no risk…while maximizing the chances of advancing your candidacy.  WORSE case, you can always send your entire resume later in the process.  But I urge you not to give into the methods of the masses!

At first you may feel uncomfortable with what FEELS like a risky move.  But your odds increase dramatically when you take decisive action against your natural fears.

Do the perceived or actual negatives in your background need to surface at some point?  Usually.  But how much more effective to discuss them in context AFTER you’ve had a chance to build some in-person rapport, show the value you bring to the table, and build some momentum for your candidacy?!

At the end of the day, people hire people…not PAPER.  So the key is to get PAST the paper…not give them MORE of it!

To drive this important point home even further, think about a dating analogy.  Since you can’t get married after the first date, why risk prematurely scaring your date away by talking about how many kids you do or don’t want to have, or how you might want to move cross country to be closer to your family?  Both are potential negatives.  Much better to orchestrate the dialog to maximize your chances of getting to the NEXT step, which is merely a second date…not a marriage proposal/acceptance.

Then, what might genuinely seem like a non-negotiable on the first date may become quite tolerable…after your date puts your “negatives” in perspective with your many strengths.

The more you focus on the END result that you think you want, the more you will be tempted to take a shortcut that can permanently derail your long-term goal.  (Can you hear Will Smith talking to you from the move “Hitch”?  If not, watch this clip.  Then rent the entire movie TONIGHT and take note of the job search parallels.

Entertaining…but also highly instructive !  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvsZ-2EJYDU

Simple example of a bullet point crafted as “bait”

• Graduate degree; proven sales success in both entrepreneurial start-ups and Fortune 100 environments

Depending on the situation, phrasing your background like this could be intriguing.  In contrast, however, sending the entire resume that telegraphed that your graduate degree was in psychology rather than business, that the start-up was your own consulting firm between jobs and the Fortune experience was with now defamed and defunct Enron…would not be nearly as attractive.

Your resume would likely be destined for the circular file, whether or not you could actually do the job.  The key is to position your experience to your advantage, realizing that you are not required to reveal every detail up front (as long as everything that you DO reveal is true).

Do YOU have any thoughts?  I’d love to see your comments or questions on this (or your own job search challenges) in the comment section below..