Recruiter: Replace Your Résumé With a Business Plan

Tips

By Fran SullivanMP900387278

So, now you’re unemployed and you’re competing with many other job seekers to find work. Okay, what do you do first?

If you’re like most, you’ll probably start by writing a résumé so eye-catching it leaps to the top of the pile in every Recruiter’s office. But, you can’t stop at writing just one résumé; you’ll have to create several. And you’ll have customize each one to match the specific job you’re seeking, but is that enough? What sort of information should your résumé include?

Typically, a résumé lists your job experiences, professional skills, and shows potential employers how you are the right fit for the job. What your résumé doesn’t show is what you can actually do to help a company become more successful and increase its profits. And that’s the problem, at least according to one Recruiter.

“I’ve looked at résumés and I just don’t like them as a job hunting tool. They don’t offer an employer any solutions because résumés are purely historical,” said professional Recruiter/Author Nick Corcodilos, famous for the job advice he dispenses on his website, Ask the Headhunter.com. “Who cares what you did two years ago if you can’t convince me you can do the job now?” he asked.

Instead of using a traditional résumé, Corcodilos recommends using another kind of document that you can customize the way you would a résumé. It’s called The Working Résumé and resembles a business plan, a formal statement that includes background information about an organization, a set of business goals, reasons for attaining them, and a plan to reach them.

So, how does this kind of business plan differ from a traditional résumé? For one thing, it does not list your job experiences, academic credentials, accomplishments, achievements, or awards. Huh? Then, what does a working résumé include that a traditional résumé doesn’t? A working résumé should:

  • include a clear picture of your potential employer’s business
  • show you’ve acquainted yourself with the company, proving you’ve done your homework
  • list the internal and external industry challenges facing the company
  • include a plan of how you will accomplish the necessary work to resolve those challenges
  • highlight the skills and experiences you developed so you can apply them to making the company more successful
  • show the employer you’re the right person for the job
  • provide real solutions to problems, and
  • provide an estimate of how you will contribute to improving the company’s bottom line

Each business plan you create should be a one-use-only-document, tailored to every company that grants you an interview. Moreover, a business plan has to perform double-duty, acting like a blueprint for The Working Interview, where you demonstrate to your future employer that you can do the job successfully and profitably. Creating multiple business plans requires a great deal of research and a lot of careful thought. Sounds like a lot of work, and, truthfully, it is.

But it’s worth it if it results in your landing your dream job. What’s more, The Working Résumé clearly proves you can actually do the job, instead of forcing a future employer to try to figure that out by reading your résumé, which only provides a laundry list of your skills, experiences, and accomplishments.

“If you’re not prepared to demonstrate your ability to actually do the job, why should the employer bother to interview you?” asks Cordodilos. If the job is worth wanting, Corcodilos concludes, The Working Résumé is worth doing.

For more information about The Working Résumé, or other job hunting tips, visit Nick Corcodilos’s website www.asktheheadhunter.com.

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