You Owe It To Yourself… And Him!

Today I’d like to follow up our previous blogs about unique distinctions (you can read them here and here) with some practical applications for your résumé, elevator pitch, and interviews.

Understanding Your “Why”

Simon Sinek is well known for his encouragement to create a “why“ statement. This statement is “the compelling higher purpose that inspires us and acts as the source of all we do.”

Crossroads Career’s “why” is found in our purpose statement “to help people find and follow Jesus Christ through crossroads in their careers.” How do we do this? Through our core values of love, stewardship, glorifying God, truth, and community.

Stewardship and Maximizing What You’ve Been Given

Our stewardship value is defined as being “faithful with the resources entrusted to us.” Matthew 25:20 illustrates this with the parable of the talents. It states, “The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’” Jesus is pointing out through this parable that the master expected a return on the initial talents he had given that servant.  

As Christ followers, I believe we have a responsibility, even an obligation, to fulfill the purpose he’s given to each of us. He has given us talents, skills, and abilities, along with many other gifts. (In fact, we counted up 17 – click here to read). John 3:27 further reinforces this truth with “a person can receive only what is given them from heaven.”

Unfortunately, I fear that most of us are not fully aware of all that He’s given us, even if we are fully desiring to maximize the potential that lies within us. To that end, Crossroads Career has developed an approach called unique distinctions to highlight for people a way to prepare, present, and make full use of all that God has given us. 

What Are Unique Distinctions?

We define unique distinctions as a confluence (flowing together) of your personal experiences, flavored with TSA (yep, that’s Talents, Skills & Abilities) and a hint of results. When these distinctions are highlighted in 3 to 5 phrases or sentences, there is only one person on the planet who possess those – YOU!!

Since the goal of the hiring process is to match what an organization needs most to what the applicant (you) do best, what better way to summarize the features you possess than with unique distinctions?

Applying Unique Distinctions to Your Résumé

So let’s begin with the application for your résumé. Most of you are probably familiar with the résumé summary that appears just under the person‘s name and contact information. It usually shows up in paragraph format. I have cut, pasted, and assembled a sample from 2 to 3 real resumes in the paragraph below. Please read it quickly:

The Typical Résumé Summary

Results-oriented Senior Leader with a strong track record of managing people and projects. Strategic professional with a proven track record of driving business growth and operational excellence.  Skilled in leading high performing teams, optimizing processes, and implementing innovative solutions. Culture and transformation expert; converts engagement data into targeted actions that shift behaviors and improve retention.

Three Questions to Ask

Now answer these 3 questions:

Question 1:   Would you read all that when you’re in a hurry? 

Question 2:   What does it really mean?

Question 3:    Couldn’t this describe about 10,000 people?

Unfortunately this paragraph summary is all too common in resumes today. We’ve gotten there because we feel like we need to satisfy the ATS applicant tracking system requirements for keywords, and we believe that a short paragraph summarizing what we’ve done or our attributes will satisfy the reader. I submit to you that these paragraphs don’t do much other than take up space and frustrate the reader. There are definitely other ways to satisfy the ATS.  🙂

A Better Alternative: Unique Distinctions

Instead, what do you think about the three unique distinctions below for three real people:

• Former CPA who became certified as a Senior Professional Human Resources professional
• Vocational minister with a decade of experience at Coca Cola and a food science degree
• State champion pumpkin farmer who specializes in leading workplace culture change

Easy to read? Easy to understand? Makes you want to know more? BINGO!

I’ve also gotten the question, ‘How should I present these distinctions in the résumé?’ I would suggest that you arrange these 3 to 5 bullet points under the word “Summary,” or under a short, broad description of the role you’re looking for. Roles like Senior Leader, Product Developer, Technologist, Nurse, or School Teacher. This way, at a glance, the reader can immediately see what role you’re seeking.

Applying Unique Distinctions to Your Elevator Pitch

Next application is the elevator pitch. How many times have you left a networking conversation not being very sure of how that person will remember you? If you’re like most people, far too often. By utilizing your unique distinctions and continually refining them, you can walk away assured the person with whom you’ve networked knows who you are and what you’re looking for. They won’t forget the conversation. You can weave this approach into the regular flow of conversation from questions that come up like, “So tell me about yourself.”  Or, “What kind of role are you looking for?” Practicing this with a friend can help you lather, rinse, and repeat your approach.

Applying Unique Distinctions to Your Interviews

Now let’s discuss the interview. By placing the unique distinctions at the top of your résumé, the interviewer will definitely want to know more. So the first application is that the unique distinctions help you prepare for the interview, because you’ve baited the hook with intriguing, insightful, and truthful statements about who you are and what you do. A recruiter or hiring manager simply can’t pass up wanting to know more. Look back up at the statements I shared – – wouldn’t you want to know more about those??

Helping the Right Employers Find You

The second application is more subtle, but equally important. That is, you are putting forward which unique part of the puzzle the organization might be seeking. What do you do best that they need most? By being clear with who you are and what you do, you can help filter out organizations who don’t want that, thus avoiding a waste of yours and their time. Or even worse, you end up pursuing a role primarily identified through a poorly written or organized job description (read more on that here), and then you end up accepting a role that is not suited for your talent, skills, abilities, and experiences. You just don’t fit. Aargh!!

For example, I am the retreaded CPA who became a SPHR. I am not classically trained, nor did I grow up through my career, in the human resource functions or disciplines. Although I am HR certified, and I gleaned a fair amount of knowledge about the function, I didn’t grow through the ranks through traditional means. One path is not necessarily better than the other, but for me, I didn’t want to be in a role where the expectations of the hiring manager would be such that I have had that experience. Nor do I think the organization would want to find themselves in that situation either. 

Through my simple and clear statement, I can save both myself and the potential hiring managers from a tremendous amount of frustration. 

You Are Worth Highlighting

Think of your unique distinctions as headlines for a news article, stores with big signs in their window, or big banners in a store advertising a product. In this case, that product is YOU. Stores are not shy about advertising their specials, features, or great deals. 

You shouldn’t be either. You’re a great deal!

We’ve all been given a wealth of resources bestowed upon us by our Creator. You owe it to yourself – and to Him – to prepare, present, and utilize all that he’s given you to be a good steward. Blessings.

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Dave Sparkman currently serves as the volunteer Crossroads Career board chair and local ministry leader. He is also the founder and managing director of Spark Your Culture, a corporate culture consulting firm. Prior to that he worked at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune #5 public company, serving in the role of Chief Culture Officer. His unemployment experience came from the implosion of Arthur Andersen, where he served as the West Region Managing Partner, People.