This is excerpted from a posting to a group to which I belong:
“I have been searching for a few months, and have not found a really good management recruitment firm to work with. At the suggestion of a member of the group, I figured I would come to you folks and see if I might have some luck. Below is a quick synapses of my skills, experience and abilities. If any of you know of or have an opportunity that you feel I might be good for, please let me know.”
After reading the presented synopsis (ignoring the poster’s misspelling above), here was my response:
One of the reasons you may not be getting the attention your experience deserves is your message. You do a good job describing the experience and qualities you bring to the table, but you haven’t addressed the most important “attribute” you bring to a prospective employer – the results you can produce for them.
For example, look at this excerpt from the introduction letter you attached:
“last several years managing the IT Operations group for a large division of a well known international software company, while also performing as the CIO for an IT consulting firm. The prior several years were spent as a senior analyst/architect leading large and small teams of professionals on a wide variety of IT projects.”
This gives no indication whether you actually accomplished anything for either the division or the IT consulting firm, just that you managed one and performed as CIO for the other. And a jaded hiring manager is likely to assume that since you didn’t say more, you probably didn’t accomplish much; not to mention wondering if you really did a very good job for either since you were splitting your time and focus.
Then you talk about leading teams on IT projects. But were any of those projects delivered on time? Within budget? In a way that accomplished anything of consequence for those companies?
The ONLY reason someone hires you is because of the RESULTS they expect you will produce. Your elevator pitch, your 2 minute pitch, your resume, your cover letter, and everything you do needs to clearly communicate results you can produce.
Here’s a short article on this relative to your Elevator Pitch.
Oh, and with regard to seeking to work with recruiting firms, see this.
Leave a comment and let me know what advice YOU would provide.