advergirl

Advertising Resume Makeovers: Part 4

Danielle Hueston, Rochester

Before/After:

Why:

I've chatted with Danielle a few times via email. She reminds me entirely of my mentee, Lauryn. If the similarities are as close as I think, Danielle is going to be horrified when she sees this resume. We have completely ripped the security blanket of CONTENT out from under it.

Let me back up a second. Danielle is at her first agency job and is going above and beyond at it. But, like John, is nervous about what comes next. How do you leverage the sometimes-menial work of an entry level gig into a meaningful career? Plus, she wants more responsibility and to bring more of her ideas to the table. Danielle mentioned that she already made the "difficult decision to remove my first job ever - 5 glamorous years of making pizzas and salads," but we're going to cut even further.

Here are the changes we made:

• Added a profile. Basically the positioning statement of a resume. What you fundamentally stand for. An opportunity to get a little passionate about what you do and how you work. We truly believe that most people cannot write their own profiles. It's hard to really see yourself that clearly. Best practice: Ask your mentor to write it for you. The one we're showing here for Danielle is based on what it's been like to work with Lauryn (although I'm pretty sure that it applies to Danielle, too.)


• Slashed all non-agency jobs to little more than a timeline. Same reasons as Kate and John.


• Blew out Danielle's current job to talk about what her core position is and then how she really over delivers on that. Like a lot of smart people in an coordinator position, I get the sense that Danielle is doing a lot more than she's technically being paid for. This is a (completely non-bitchy way) to call that out.


• Cheated a little and replaced her title (Coordinator) with her role (Account Services). You know what Dave Barry says - a resume isn't just a piece of paper. It's a piece of paper with lies on it.


• Simplified the education section. Unless you're applying to Google, no one much cares about your GPA these days.


• Deleted the awards section. They all felt kind of dated and more associated with finding a first job than growing into a second one.


• Added a call to go to a Web site for references, work samples, etc. If you can't help but say more, this is a great way to do it "on demand" and still keep your resume straight-forward and simple.

Looking for more ways to talk about being an AE?

Read the single most popular Advergirl post ever: AEs-This is your real job description

Advertising Resume Makeovers: Part 3

John Quebec*, Canada

Before/After:

Why:

John is worried about what comes after his current gig. How does he rally the experience he's had so far into a meaningful next step? Something with a strategic flair and some flexibility.

And, I've got to say - John had the best problem of the bunch.  Turns out, he's a very savvy interactive AE. Who not only gets the development process, but also gets the consumer mindset. In short, he's the guy everyone wants. And, perfectly positioned to go into a traditional agency or client-side gig and take the place by storm. BUT, you'd never know it from his resume. So, first rule: Make sure you know what you have that The Big World wants.

Here are the changes we made:

• Kicked it off with a chatty little profile that reflects a lot of the ways John talked about himself in his email. That replaced a list called 'summary' that basically covered business skills that we would consider tablestakes - stuff like teamwork, education, etc.
  
  One extra note on this profile - In the region John lives in, being bilingual is an important differentiator for candidates. So, we left that in the profile, but  also made it relevant to his specialist skills by adding a little something Webby: "Fluent communicator in English, French and social media." If he's applying to a traditional agency, that could also be "Bilingual: English/French, Traditional/Interactive."


• Simplified his career narrative and made the descriptions more parallel. That change added a lot of voice and confidence. From "Development of creative briefs and briefing the creative team" to "Writer of meaningful creative briefs."


• Again, removed a lot of the college jobs. Same reasons as Kate's.


• Moved the education down. Unless it's Harvard or the New School, I think most people want to know - what have you done lately?


• Turned his "other experience" section into a new element aimed at building relevance. One of the toughest things in online marketing is keeping up-to-date on what's changing. Armano's written a few good posts on the horrors of interviewing someone for an interactive role and finding out they never interact. So, in this section, we brought together some of his online and offline passions - things that keep him fresh in his role at the agency. (And, heck, frankly add a ton of interest and affinity for the reader)

This resume is my absolute favorite makeover. Both from the strategy of positioning John and the visual impact of the change. So, I'm choosing this post to share a few savvy resume design tips from Adverboyfriend (Lance Dooley, Creative Director, SBC Advertising).

How to perform a Resume Facelift:

• Don't over do it. Visually, keep it relatively simple. I could have taken this 8.5 x 11 real estate and created poster art. That would be a mistake of galactic (I just wanted to use that word) proportions. If you have the luxury of knowing a designer that will help you, make sure they know that this is still a business communication tool. It can not overwhelm or confuse it's audience. It still has to resemble a resume.


• Hierarchy. You have ONE THING you want to say about yourself. And then you have 12 things to support that point. Make sure that that ONE THING is clear and visible.


• Break through. Your audience looks at dozens of these a day. Traditional resumes are just Word docs that are all prosaic, all the same point size, and all of the content ends up having the same presence. The same resume that would get you in the door to be a Barista at Starbucks is sometimes used for your dream job at Crispin. There's no customization to the audience - to the creative people you're really talking to. If you are starting a conversation with a person in a creative environment (account service or creative) make sure your resume is not antithetical to their culture or state of mind.
  
  Be different. Be unique. Be relevant. Do it visually. Do it with content.
  
  Or do it with the follow-up. I interview intriguing candidates all the time. Whether I'm hiring or not. A candidate I was interested in, but not sold on, made it her mission to stay in front of me (and be my first choice) from the day I met her until I had approval to hire. To get my attention, she sent me a Joke Of The Day every day for 64 days. She is now one of my most valuable employees.

More Getting Started Content:

If you're trying out an interactive AE role for the first time, check out these two great worksheets for diving in and exceeding expectations:

And, look for our last resume makeover on Wednesday.

*Not his real name, in case you didn't guess!

Advertising Resume Makeovers: Part 2

Kate Lindsay, Seattle

Before/After:

Why:

Katie wants to eventually make the move from a marketing generalist to an agency-side planner or strategist. No small feat. The first logical step was to re-organize her packed two-page resume to focus on the best stuff. Here are the changes we made:

• Replaced "objective" with an orienting blurb about her career: "Account planner with roots in marketing strategy and a passion for great work." It starts to rationalize her experience with the gig she's applying for and creates a great filter for reading the resume.


• Changed up the employment section to do two things - (1) let her talk about her role in more conversational, relevant ways - not just in lists of job titles and (2) set up her job description as accomplishments - not here's what I was asked to do, but here's how I delivered.


• Deleted the college jobs. Not because they weren't valuable, just because they created confusion. Not only was the list long (why is a person who's had eight jobs applying for this entry level gig?) but the roles were all over the place (not bad, but confusing for someone who wants to categorize you and figure out where you fit in).


• Removed the list of design programs. When you're applying for a specialist role that doesn't require them, it sends a conflicted message - is this really what she wants to do? Or does she want to be a designer?


• Removed all the long-form copy about skills and related experience. It's the fodder of (not words for) a cover letter.

The result: It's really easy for me to see that Kate has provided real value for other companies, thinks & talks like an agency person, and has experience at a place like this.

Need a cover letter for your resume? Check out these Advergirl tips

Tomorrow on Advergirl: Another resume makeover and resume design tips

 

Advertising Resume Makeovers: Part 1

Not long ago I issued a call for resumes from advertising newbies. Agency types with fewer than three years experience who knew their resumes weren't working as hard as they should be, but just didn't know how to fix them.

Over 100 resumes from 8 countries were submitted. And, once I dug out the printer, three emerged as great examples of the challenges most submitters were struggling with.

I worked on the makeovers with "Adverboyfriend" - also known as Lance Dooley, Creative Director at SBC Advertising.

We'll start off with a few general tips on fixing common problems and then the before / after / and why of three makeovers.

Common Goofs: General Resume Advice

• Your resume is a package, not a laundry list. It's that meaningful, relevant way you want employers to know you. You have to know what's important. And, that's not necessarily every job, award, and task you've ever had.


• It's harder to write short than long. Most of the resumes we received were 2 - 3 pages long. That's a page for every year of your agency lives. And, it's too much. Simplify your story to the good parts. Clarify your goals and profiles. You want us to read it, not be impressed by its weight.


• Pick a job and go for it. Don't expect the harried manager or unfamiliar HR rep to determine how you could fit into the agency. Tell them how. Explicitly. Name a role and focus all your content on it. (You can always have a couple of versions if you're still undecided)


• Your skills are things you can do incredibly well, not programs you can operate. Before reading any further, please solemnly swear that you will never again type the heading "Skills" and list next to it every computer program you've ever launched. If you must list skills, they're facilitation, synthesis, making cookies for the brainstorming meeting, even. Just not Photoshop.


• Have a voice. The ideal reaction that a manager will have when meeting you is - wow, she's exactly what I expected from her resume. Bring your personality to the page. It shows (not tells) that you know how to communicate.

Ok, onto the resumes with these two small caveats:

1. These recommendations are expressly for people who want to work in creative industries. Candidates applying to large corporations that leverage key word scanning software should think as much about the relevant key words and the ease of import as some of the advice we're sharing here.


2. We picked these people because they appear to be great candidates. Smart, savvy, creative. So, when the criticism starts flying, remember that it's not about them - it's about a piece of paper.(Thick skins, people! You can insult us in the comments!)

Watch for the resumes this week:

• Monday: Kate Lindsay for Seattle
• Tuesday: "John" an anonymous ad guy for Quebec
• Wednesday: Danielle Hueston from Rochester

Advice for Newbies: The Week

As a special thanks to all the students and young professionals who take the time to write me with questions and ideas, this week I'm dedicating Advergirl.com to advice on starting out in advertising.

Today, we'll kick-off a four-part resume makeover series. And later in the week, look for advice on interviewing, networking and staying fresh.

New to advertising? Send me your questions or memorable (great/horrible) experiences.

Experienced in advertising? This is a great week to share your advice. Send comments to lhouseholder at gmail. If I can quote you, please include your name and home agency.

Ok, let's jump in...

Groundswell. A book about a movement.

I almost don't want to tell you about this book.

I laughed. I dog-eared a ridiculous number of pages. I found cause to clamor for a notebook to jot, nay, furiously scribble down an idea. I'm already retelling the stories.

It's almost too good to share.

I should back up...

In general, I think good marketers come from two basic camps. Statistics and experience. Or, how we can model and measure likely success vs. how we can learn from what's worked and hasn't worked in the past. Heady or intuitive.

Groundswell author's Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff are from Forrester Research. So, it was no surprise that they could write analytics well. Could  lay out an infinitely logical and actionable model for how to  do social media with your customer audience.

What was a surprise is what amazing storytellers they are and how willing they were to bluntly - sometimes harshly - tell it like it is.

Li and Bernoff start of by setting aside particular technologies and diving deep into the ways social media has changed us. Increasingly, they argue, we get what we need (news, reviews, shopping, etc.) from other people rather than from traditional institutions (like business or media).

Then, they systematically answer the questions a lot of digital immigrants ask in the meetings we've all sat in (over and over and over again):

• How does it work?
• Why do people spend their time on this?
• How is this going to impact - threaten / totally screw up / help - my business?

But, the best part is the back 2/3s of the book where Li and Bernoff dig into various strategies to tap into the groundswell with stories about the success and failure of brands brave enough to give it a try.

Some of them are parts of the story I never knew. Like the Mini marketing that we hold up all the time as so savvy and talky and in-the-tent started by listening to the (later named) groundswell online. Or how the awkwardness of the internal conversation become part of the impetus of P&G's broadly cited Beingagirl.com

And some reveal surprising results. Like how Blendtec's funny 'will it blend' videos (crunching up iPods and other odd things) popped sales of the absurdly expensive kitchen device 20%. Or just how much of Ernst & Young's recruiting is powered by Facebook.

And some were simply inspiring. Like the oft-told story of Best Buy's Blue Shirt Nation (btw - next time I talk about my home agency, let's remember - it's not self serving, I'm just an Orange Shirt) or the all-too-human ways execs at Avenue A / Razorfish connect with employees.

Every story is accompanied by the business plan behind it. Why it worked. What the ROI was. How to know if it's right for your audience.

You can probably guess which parts I dog-eared.

Local marketers who get it

Let's get physical for a moment, ad friends, with a couple of great examples of local marketing done right. Starting with agency work and wandering the whole way down to a homemade, hand-stuffed message from a local restaurant:

First up: The Women's Fund of Central Ohio Keyholder Event

This annual fundraiser supports grants to programs that promise social change for women and girls. Every year, they feature a well-known speaker. This year, it's Miriam Peskowitz, author of The Daring Book for Girls.

The invitation and Web site were created by Ologie (long before I arrived!) and - I think - powerfully bring to life the book, the theme and the cause. The pieces feel very high end for local greater good and have been received with something akin to delight.

AND- The Web site (again for a local market event) has been nominated for a Webby. Vote for it under Living / Events on the People's Voice.

Onto: The Makeup Counter at Nordstom

Talk about making a big brand personal! Nordstrom has always been known for service, but sometimes they outdo even themselves.

Recently, I went to the Laura Mercier counter to get a fab new lip gloss (seriously, baby doll gloss, you've got to have it) and was helped by a perfectly gracious associate.

Then, the following week, I got this hand-written note from her - thanking me for the purchase. That's a business card I was careful to save.

 

 

Finally: Figlio Restaurant in Grandview / Columbus

We've talked a lot lately about brands leveraging Twitter to listen to users - to find small problems before they get big; to uncover ideas that might make better products.

Peter and Laurie Danis, owners of Figlio, have perfected the old-school version of that.

They have a great personal story about tossing their law practices for the love of food. For caring about work with passion. So, they scan the local newspaper's career section every week. And, target people who've recently been promoted with a great little congratulations package:

A letter about your accomplishment. Their story. And a gift certificate for dinner. All asking that you share your celebration with them.

And, all bizarrely genuine.

 

 

Crisis Communications and Social Media

Last week on Twitter, David Thulin wondered:

"who will first fully use the power of interactive Social Media to handle a large corporate crisis"

Great question. Followed quickly by - how?

If you haven't already written social media into your crisis plans, here are a couple of ideas on the how:

• Find the windows. Before the story is written, it is Twittered, or posted or boarded.
  
  If the issue is a big one, our impatient, chatty online talk leaders won't start with a long-form blog post or a call to their editors, they'll test the waters. See what other people know. Show a few of their cards. These short-form - what the heck is going on(?) - snips are a window into how your story is being told and who is telling it.
  
  For most consumer products, Twitter is an easy entry into that chat. Simple tools like Tweetscan let you search (on demand or all the time) your brand by name, product, etc. Have an all-common-nouns name? You may have to follow your brand followers by setting up a Twitter account and listening to people already talking about your industry or easier-named competitors.
  
  (If you're building a case for a champion, Billy's got lots of Twitter basics over on B&A's blog)
  
  For B2B products, the medium changes with the industry. A lot of IT gurus, for example, still use closed boards - ones that will be completely worth the registration fees for you to listen in on.


• Empower trustees of the brand. Ok, you've found someone tweeting about about The Crisis. What now?
  
  Luckily, you've prepared in advance by tagging 3 - 4 storytellers within your organization. Their actual job titles don't matter. You're looking for savvy users of the very technologies you're targeting (online communities, blogs, etc.) who are passionate about the brand and have excellent judgment.
  
  This online response team is tasked with three things: (1) understanding the shared brand story (what we stand for, who we are, who we serve), (2) understanding the current crisis or issue (knowing how to get the briefing and what questions to ask), and (3) using their best judgment to engage online talk leaders.
  
  Once activated, their job is to talk to people who are already talking about the crisis or who are likely to. Ask questions, share perspectives, talk to real people like real people. Yes, you can quote me.
  
  Way too scary? Another option is to engage people just to drive to a more controlled event. Maybe your product development leader or CEO is willing to field questions from customers, bloggers, other conversation media makers. Use the response team to drive people to that call / webcast / chat room.



• Create a credible voice. If the crisis is significant, eventually someone is going to have to talk to the masses without the filter of traditional media. The chef-ed up quotes in press releases and no comments are going to need to be replaced with a genuine interaction with a credible leader.
  
  There are easy ways to do this. And hard ways. A hard way is propping up your already beleaguered chief spokesperson to talk to a bunch of people she may consider ankle biters and watch the recriminations flow.
  
  An easier way is to already have a credible voice in social media. Newsgator is the latest brand (following Comcast, Southwest, etc.) to use a social media persona to interact with real customers. Say you tweet about wanting a Newsgator widget. Newsgator will track you down and find out what kind to inform their market-driven product development.
  
  Or, looking at it in a more traditional way - support a chief blogger (or committee of bloggers). Someone already ensconced in talking about the company and to the customer long before a crisis hits.
  
  Lauryn spotted this AdWeek article with some great corporate blogger examples.


• And, don't forget the golden rules: Don't lie (actual lies, fake email accounts, faux online personas, etc.). Don't send press releases (you wouldn't believe how many of those I actually receive). We're people. You are, too.

Follow David @DavidThulin
Follow Advergirl @Leighhouse
Follow Lauryn @LaurynByrdy

Chics Who Click: Which new women's site wins?

When a couple of media powerhouses launch competitive sites in the same month, it tends to make a little noise. Especially when they're both going after 40+ women. A demo they'd like us to believe is veiled in mystery, heretofore only defrocked by Lifetime and iVillage. A demo largely ignored by online marketers and jonesing for some real content.

Back to the powerhouses. We're talking about one of the founders of the Internet vs. the real-world lipstick mafia:

• Shine: Yahoo's latest attempt to win over the world with content comes to life in this editorial-style portal.


• WowOwow: By chics, for chics, this portal is the self-funded creation of Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans.

Well, a month has gone by since the shiny new sites were unveiled. Plenty of time for a little investigation and trial and error.

What's working:

• Shine is smart to lead with thoughtful editorial. A big smart topic that is at once personal, female and thought provoking. Even women who love Oprah and Sex and the City have a conflicted relationship with their girly side. Leading with content and following with dish lets people get comfortable.


• WowOwow is making great use of its own real network. Offline heros - like Candice Bergen, Marlo Thomas, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg - are creating fresh content for the site.


• I've come to really dig the Hair Day forecast on WowOwow. At first I thought it was vaguely insulting, but, really, it's chat-able and iconic and works for me.


• Shine feels like a magazine. The buckets of content. The reader feedback. It has excelled at taking an offline guilty pleasure and delivering it online completely intact.

What's not:

• WowOwow, meet Ajax. Ajax, Wowowow. It's easy to see the difference between savvy Yahoo and this group of newbies. The usability of the site is aggravating. Always more clicks. Even for easy little widgets and polls that should be included inline with the content.


• Shine's top nav is a little reductive considering the pop of everything else. They've designed it to encourage a full scroll. Which is interesting and oh-so-tabloid, but I think users are used to being able to increasingly limit their content to what's most relevant to them. That feels underplayed here.


• WowOwow strikes me as a little too reliant on community content. Everything is an open-ended question with a click to see what other people said. Couldn't we take some learnings from Twitter on this interaction?


• WowOwow gave up their above-masthead real estate to advertising. Ouch. Unless done incredibly well, that's a killer in editorial. And this snowy site is not done well enough to pull it off

Final word:
WowOwow walks away from some of the proven-for-a-reason principles of user experience. And community. And, for what? A 40+ Facebook group? Uh uh. 40 is the new 25. Your audience doesn't need Internet for Dummies.

Meanwhile Yahoo steps up the plate with one of the best sites I've seen from them. It's clever. Approachable. Content rich. Comfortable.

I hate to say it, but: I'm going with Goliath on this one. Go Shine!

Getting over The Yips

During the writer's strike, I suppose I could have picked up a healthy habit like spa cooking, whatever-came-after-knitting, or old-school Tae Bo. But, instead, I rented entire seasons of series I had missed the first time around. The most addictive of which was the profoundly screwed up Nip Tuck.

In one episode, the more responsible, less hot doc finds his hand shaking and jerking during surgery. Eventually he has to stop operating for the safety of the patients. And, alas, his own doc cannot find a physical cause. They determine it's The Yips.

The Yips: A golfing term that basically means you twitch when putting. Could be medical. Could be all in your head.

Zipping back over to the real world. About 8 months ago, I got a whopper of a case of them. Not in my hands, but in my voice. The woman who has been running rooms and talking off the cuff for 15+ years suddenly couldn't get through a little case study without her voice cracking like Peter Brady (remember THAT episode?) In one memorable new business pitch, my throat shut so tight that my usual casual speech quickly became a caterwaul, spiraling so fast that I basically completely lost the ability to speak for a moment.

The worst part is, The Yips feed on themselves. So, once it happened, I would be even more nervous about it the next time and it would be ever more likely to happen.

Happily the symptoms were limited. Only standing presentations. Only in rooms of people I didn't know.

More happily, it's over.

Not because I have a great story of dealing with it, confronting the office bully, getting my groove back, etc. No, I took the easy way out and just completely changed my environment. But, I have walked away with some advice. Sort of an adrenaline shot to the heart you can give to a speaker losing her cool.

Yips Rx: Interrupt her

All it takes is a friendly question, a smart (or, hey, no judgment, any kind of) comment to give her a minute to get her composure back. In that instant, the panic cycle is broken and The Yips have to start all over again.

Go ahead, do it for a good speaker with a case of the nerves in your life.