Ten quick tips for your HVR writing:
1) Know the throughline (the connection between your past jobs and the one you want to do now) before you start writing.
2) Don't forget to include your LinkedIn profile url (customized to your name) in the Contact Section at the top of your resume.
3) Start your Summary by telling the reader what you do professionally. He or she doesn't want to have to work to find that out.
3) Include a mini-story in your Summary to make it clear to the reader how you view your role as a pain-solver.
4) Go ahead and use I, me and other words that describe you. Just be careful that your bullets (Dragon-Slaying Stories) don't look like vertical I-beams, one of top of the other. That's easy if you use the Problem-Solution-Impact format ("When our two biggest rivals merged, I launched a grassroots email marketing campaign that ramped sales 14 percent to $2M.")
5) The key to an HVR is RELEVANCE. How can we show that you understand how your past jobs fit right into your brand, your direction and your suitedness to the next thing you plan to do? Don't tell us things we don't care about, like the name of the certification you earned in a different industry or the project name of something you worked on ten years ago. Try to see yourself in your resume through the eye of the beholder.
6) Don't use any 'praising adjectives' like savvy, smart, resourceful, well-versed, etc. The last thing you want to do in a Human-Voiced Resume is stoop to praise yourself.
7) Don't talk about your skills in the abstract, a la "I have negotiation skills and communication skills." Tell us stories, instead.
 "I care about" and "I love to" and "I'm passionate about" and "My thing is" are great ways to talk about what you do professionally. "I'm good at" and "I'm an expert at" are horrible ways to do it. The reader doesn't know us, and can't be expected to care what we think of our abilities.
9) Most of us have a tendency to talk about physical things: I wrote a report. I sat in the meeting. We tend to understate and undervalue our contributions. Can you say that you championed an unpopular idea and got it accepted and installed? You can! You should!
10) Your ex-boss or current boss is not watching over your shoulder as you write your HVR. Go ahead and tell the story. If I see it, I'm likely to nudge you to claim MORE credit than you have done, although you may feel squeamish about it. It is easy for us to fall into the trap "That wasn't officially my job" -- well, too bad! If you did it, you claim it. Step out there. Go forth! |
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Ten Tips on Writing HVRs
