
This past American Idol season was a revelation for many, including myself, in terms of the overall quality of the 24 finalist performers the judges selected for the competition, and for many fans the outcome over the last 8 weeks and especially the finale was a shocker as well.
However when the music was over, all the votes tallied and the winner announced it validated certain central themes I've been expounding upon in this blog and in my resume writing and career coaching practice about what it takes to craft a winning resume and deliver a powerful job interview — a resume must visually establish a brand and paint a colorful picture with inspiring stories about why you are the best person for a given job, and on a job interview you must validate your resume with a polished verbal presentation.
As much as I am not a big County/Western music fan and I do not think the eventual winner, Scotty McCreery, was the most talented contestant he is the winner because he did all of the above better than his competition.
As Jennifer Lopez said to Scotty on more than one occasion "…I love the way you tell the story in the song." This is what resume writers and job seekers must strive to achieve on paper and in a face-to-face interview.
So here are four lessons I learned from Scotty this season.
1: He immediately identified his core audience and designed a game plan to appeal to them week after week.
2: He established his personal brand from Day One – 'the aw shucks, cute throwback country-western singer' and he maintained his brand integrity throughout the season while continuing to polish and grow his brand.
3: When it came to his on stage performance he didn't deliver just words and music, he told us stories and made an emotional connection with key decision makers that grew exponentially week after week.
4: More than any other contestant Scotty had a likability factor that no other competitor could match.
Combine all four of these factors and you can plainly see why Scotty is the 2011 version of the American Idol with a $1M recording contract. That is the key; he got the job 13 other contestants were vying for.
So how do YOU accomplish this? First you need to identify your audience and determine what stories they want you to tell. Then you begin to mold your resume around the desired profile and paint a positive, colorful picture of who you are and what makes you unique.
If you want specific advice I can send you an MP3 of the Career Studios interview I did last week on resume writing. Email your request along with your current resume to
perry@perrynewman.com.
Author:
Perry Newman, CPC CSMS is a nationally recognized executive resume writer, career coach, AIPC certified recruiter and SMMU certified social media strategist known for his ability to help his clients get results. You can view his sample resumes at
http://www.perrynewman.com, and email him your resume at
perry@perrynewman.com for FREE resume critique.
