4 Secrets to Building Sustainable Businesses- Imagining your Customer is YOU!

Have you gotten to listen to what they want?

In today’s rapidly evolving economy, everything seems to be moving at such lightning speed that it seems hard to keep up. I mean, was I the only one that had to look up what centricity meant? It wasn't even in the Oxford dictionary some few years back.

With so much excitement and buzz about the latest initiatives and development, we continue to race breathlessly forward towards creating something that will be loved by people, the type of product/service that will be consistently purchased by the people we want to call life-time customers.

It is an inarguable fact that customer service or customer experience as it is now being referred to by different organizations is at the core of any thriving business, no matter the size or industry. Gone are those days when companies could call the total shot and could get away with telling their customers to take their tantrums somewhere else. They couldn't care less back then as there were no standard nor functioning platform for customers to vent and share their purchasing tales of woes from various company.

Flash-forward to the millennial and the web is now bursting at the rims with various platforms to air different grievances and experiences from manufacturers and organizations that are giving less than the desired customer experience. Just putting a call through to a call center and not getting any response within 30 seconds will find the aggrieved customer swiftly posting on Twitter or Facebook to share the embarrassing experience, while complaining of lost airtime even though it may be a toll free line. It doesn't and wouldn't matter. In the here and now, the customer rules the organisation and deserves the crown. As a result, companies now understand that they must continue to invest heavily in their customers happiness and satisfaction to generate more lead businesses. It is neither finance, strategy, nor technology that leads to consistent and repeat business but CUSTOMER SERVICE/CENTRICITY. Customer Centricity remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful yet so rare.

Adding the term, “customer-centricity” to a mission or vision statement isn't enough as many organisations seem to think. There are various steps to delivering good customer service as well as growing a company that is customer-centric and which focuses most, if not all of its objective goals around its customers.

It's really about your customers. Leave the stage please!

THINK LIKE YOUR CUSTOMER - For an organisation to achieve customer-centricity requires rethinking the way the business is done. Everyone knows how to think like a customer because everyone was a customer at some point. Now, think about your experience as a customer either recently or sometime in the past. What impressed you and made you want to go back to that business? The baritone voice of the Customer Service Rep at the end of the phone who you could swear was quite good looking and boy, did he just sound so good as he kept apologizing and assuring you this would be resolved within the hour? Or was it the gorgeous ebony skinned lady with the never ending legs at that company’s front desk? What irritated you and ensured you would never return? The gum snapping Customer Rep who kept interrupting every complaint with an excuse or kept asking you to hold on without as much as a please? 

Advice -Make your business do more of the first and less of the second. Start building a strong customer centric team that understands your business is still existing because of your customers.

Can you hear what is not being said?

TO YOUR CUSTOMER, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS 'CUSTOMERS'- When a customer purchases a product or service from you and experiences some glitch, when they place a call to you or visit your organisation, they are concerned with just one person- THEMSELVES. They see their own self as an individual with individual needs and they expect you to treat it as such. The last thing your customer wants to hear from you or your Customer Service rep is “our other customers are experiencing the same thing”, “this is a very generic issue and we assure you it is not an isolated one”. Frankly, that’s the wrong form of assurance to give to your customer. Because they don't care what other customers think or want or like or are going through, they expect you to ask what they think, want and are experiencing. The minute you begin to treat your customer as 'customers', they will come to the quick conclusion that you really don't care about them, and go looking for a business that does. And in our extremely dynamic world where your competitors are literally waiting at the door step of your organisation to poach your customers, it is very key that you consider your customers as the golden goose that lays the only golden egg in the world.

Advice- Get rid of your customer service policy or ensure your Customer Service Reps do not give out the policy in a scripted autonomous voice whenever the customer calls, except where necessary or when the customer seems to be taking advantage of the leverage. Customers hate policies because they realize that the policy is more important to you than they are. Train your staff on how to deliver customer service.

Every complaint from your customer is feedback and an opportunity to improve. Listen!

ASK FOR YOUR CUSTOMER’S OPINION & FEEDBACK – Every customer believes that the money he/she has used to purchase from your company was what was used to build that new office, buy those new set of trucks or used to purchase another manufacturing machine. It does not matter that they had purchased a few Naira/Dollar/Pounds worth just a key holder. Once a customer shops from you, they believe they have contributed to the continued success of your company and as such, they expect to be treated like a major stakeholder. This is what every customer wants from your business. They have a problem that needs a solution, and they will give their money to the person who helps them solve it. And they will expect you to ask them how they want that problem solved. They don’t want you to assume you know what they want. They want you to ask. They want you to help them identify what their problem is, explore options about how to solve it, respect their choice and then help them achieve it. Customers don't care about your business or your products, only about how you can help them. Sounds selfish but if I am spending my money somewhere, I want to be considered important enough for my problems to be prioritized for solution.

Advice- For repeat customers, ensure you have their personal and sales history with your company stored and have your Customer Service Rep contact them periodically to ask for their feedback and opinion on past service and how it could be better. Many customers may complain at this point and even offer unrealistic advice but deep down, there will be that satisfaction knowing they were called by their first name from a company such as yours and to top it all, you wanted their opinion. Nothing would trump that feeling. And guess who would be coming back to make more purchases and possibly refer people to your business?

Doesn't matter their social status. To you, your customer has got be treated like a king.

MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS IMPORTANT - A restaurant manager once told his staff, "The customers are not here to eat food or drink wine. They can do that at home. They are here to be treated as if they are important; as if they are royalty. Do that and they will reward you for it”. Most customers aren't unreasonable (Ok, maybe most are) but they know there are limitations on what you can do for them. But they expect you to do as much as you can. Don't just make them important because they are your customer. Just make them important and they’ll want to be your customer time and again.

Advice- Inform them on newer updates regarding a product. For instance, if a customer wants to purchase an electronic item by November 1st and the electronic item’s price is intended to be slashed in 4 days’ time, you can inform that customer letting them know they can hold on from purchasing immediately as there will be a price slash on that product and would they want you to reserve one for them while you call them back in 4 days to remind them to place that order? Be rest assured that by doing this, you have bought the said customer’s brand loyalty and guess who would be going on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram to gush about the customized Customer Service they just got?

So, as a business owner whether small, medium or large, are you treating your customers like real people, or just some voices over the telephone, or a statistic figure on your latest digital infographic or just some fresh new policies you recently showed your latest investors?

Understand this- For your business to succeed in our current dynamic economy, the stakes are very high. Failing to deliver a high-quality customer experience at this day and age WILL result in a staggering erosion of your organisation’s customer base. Your customer is your king. Learn to treat them as such.

How to Make Memorable Speeches & Presentations.

The ability to deliver stunning speeches and presentations will impact positively on your success as great speakers are generally perceived to become great leaders.

Have you ever sat to listen to a speech or presentation by a well-known motivational speaker, pastor, entrepreneur or sales man and just felt like rising out of your seat there and then to take an immediate call to action towards achieving a goal or chasing a dream?

If yes, you are not alone.

The ability to elicit responses and effortlessly lead listeners on an action journey with words, presentation and gesticulations is what makes a speaker successful. The power of a delivered speech is determined by the communication style the speaker or presenter chooses to use. What is seen and perceived to be a seamless speech and awesome presentation actually comes from a well-practiced, dedicated, intelligent, and sophisticated writing. Although several entrepreneurs are no strangers to public speeches and presentation, not every business owner or employee is quite as persuasive as they’d like to be.

Below are some tips on how to make memorable speeches & winning presentations.

Voice Clarity- As a speaker or presenter, what will endear your speakers to you starts from your voice as a clear voice projects confidence and sincerity. Having a clear voice tells your audience you know what you are saying and aren't scared or too embarrassed to share what you know. Speaking clearly also projects your intelligence, honesty and presents an image of a good leader to your audience. So, few days before that presentation at the workplace or that speech at the public stadium, ease off on the cold water and ensure you are drinking enough water to stay hydrated as this affects your voice. It takes conscious and persistent effort to pronounce and enunciate clearly, even if you otherwise have good speech habits so try and practice in front of a mirror and sincerely ask yourself whether your voice sounds convincing even to you. Watch out for your voice evenness and listen to your voice as the trick is to be clear and use a version of your accent that you would use for your colleagues, classmates, teachers and your boss.

Own that Speech: It is generally assumed that talking fast suggests one is lying or that one has got something to hide. As a speaker, you need to slow down and assume your audience has attention & hearing defects, especially when you are about to pass an extremely important point or information. Place pronunciation emphasis on key words and phrases that you want to use to pass a very essential information. To be understood from the podium or during a presentation at the office, you must speak more slowly than you do in everyday conversation. This slowdown is needed to compensate for the time it takes for auditory information, especially technical jargons to be digested and processed by your listener. Speak in a conversational style, but more slowly and deliberately, always pausing between phrases, to facilitate the listener's cerebral processing of your message. And it helps when you make eye contact very often as people are compelled to stay listening to you when you focus your gaze at them for some seconds. You can repeat important information and look into one or two faces of your listeners while pausing to stare at some directly. This shows you want that information that you just passed to really sink in.Don't be also afraid to use natural hand and body gestures to help express yourself, but don't overdo it as this could leave your listeners in a daze when your hands and body move very often, leaving them slightly disoriented.

Use Powerful Visuals- No matter the age of a listener, the presence of visual images will elicit more responses than pure texts. Make sure your visual material is well designed for presentation. Your first presentation slide should be powerful enough to grab your audience as statistics have shown that speakers have the first 20 seconds to grab the attention of their listeners. The first few seconds determine whether your listeners will listen with rapt attention or bring out their phones and start gossiping. Projected graphs and interactive photographs can significantly add to the impact of your talk and help your audience absorb its content. But your material, whether slides or PowerPoint needs to be properly constructed such that each slide leaves your listener waiting on the edge of their seats eagerly for the next slide.

Keep It Very Very Short – Whether you are giving a motivational speech or presenting a business idea to your bosses, it is important to know that the average listener has a very short attention span. Hence, make your most important points in the first few minutes ensuring your listeners have an idea of the information you are trying to pass across within the first 5 minutes. During work presentations, your presentation audience will determine the length of your speech as it is generally believed that top management leaders require just 60 seconds to make a decision whether to go with your idea or move on mentally to start thinking about that meeting they are scheduled to attend the coming week in Brussels. You can then spend the remaining minutes expanding your points and having enough time for the questions and answers. Statistics have also shown that the shorter the speech/presentation, the more positive impact it will have on the listeners. Once a speech or presentation exceeds a certain amount of minutes, the listeners tend to wander off mentally as the long epistle merely distracts the audience from the point of the talk. This also applies to office presentation as most leaders have low attention span for long details.

More Visuals, Less Texts: Too much written information on a slide is not only hard to see, it beckons the audience to read it while the speaker is talking. This definitely distracts from the reason they are gathered in the first place as they could have simply picked up a good book to read. Simultaneous reading and listening is almost impossible so when a speaker attempts to make the audience read lots of texts on a presentation slide, it will generate audience distraction. Also avoid using full sentences on a slide as it encourages the speaker to read from it, which should never be done as your audience will have to read along internally. Your slide might serve as a prompt, but never as a script for reading.  Remember, less is more.

Dress the Part- The most successful speakers are those who understand the influence of powerful dressing during any presentation. Your audience would come from different backgrounds and may judge you, however dressing responsibly and powerfully will project a confident and assured presence which would captivate not only their visual interest but also their mental attention. You can also consider adorning colorful clothing especially in dark rooms and if the background is also white. This would ensure you are very visible to everyone in the room.

The steps to being a successful speaker and communicator start with consistent practice and personal development which should be never ending. To make impact with your speeches and presentation, simply keep learning about your intended audience and listeners.

In my next post, I’d be sharing tips on how NOT to release remuneration details about your recent job when scouting for a newer job.

5 Email Mistakes that Could Threaten Your Business

Five minutes, five months or even five days before receiving that harsh email from a boss or wealthy client with a very cold subject title “You are fired”, or “Not Interested”, you had been given the opportunity to take that one decision that would eventually lead to a devastating outcome for your business/career. It could have been one email or maybe a series of emails but in today’s business world where everything seems to be moving at an accelerated pace, the power of email communication is becoming more frighteningly magnified.

Email is used for all business communication purposes and as a result, it is important to get it right so as to keep that good job or maintain that impressive list of wealthy clients.

So what are those rules and netiquettes governing the use of email for business communications purposes?

A lot!  

SENDING AN EPISTLE - There's nothing worse for a colleague, boss or a business client than receiving an email from you that looks like a hymnal meditation on all the saintly galaxies of the stars as seen through the eyes of the blind. Though, it is understandable that some emails may be long based on the required type of information to be disbursed, a standard email should be brief, clear, concise, correct, coherent & courteous. It should be in readable size keeping in mind that the recipient may have other tasks they need to get back to and the shorter your mail, the more likely they get to read all the content before sending straight to the archive box. And except the recipient is an author proofreading your recently completed work of fiction, keep the email very concise where official information is concerned, well, except it is a wage reduction email alert. If however, the intended information needs to be detailed out which should not be in all cases, you can consider introducing each thought in another paragraph to hold the attention of your recipient step by step. Lumping up thoughts and information will no doubt ensure you hear their bored snores from your office. So, remember to keep it short and simple so it is not confused for some multiple questions examination.

LACKING IMITATION SKILLS– When sending out an email from a professional correspondence, it is very important to understand  and mimic the work attitude & culture of your recipient or the format of all mails received from them. If you have a boss that sends a mail to you like “Hey Dave, why don’t you come on over and let’s hash out those pending budget forecast”, you can certainly respond with “Hi Femi, I’d most certainly be right down in a minute”. If however you have a colleague or boss that sends mails formatted like a presidential speech or one that is meant for ears of the Queen of England -"Dear Manuel, may we have a look at the presentation slides for tomorrow’s board meeting. Kindly bring to the board room if you please", then certainly responding with “Yo Natalie, hold up and I’d be right down with the deal, aiit” will move you down their respect ladder. And when it comes to the content of the mail, it is important that you follow the pace & tune of your recipient. If you are responding to a mail that asked, “May I understand why sales happen to be low this afternoon”, it is important to keep your responses as short so this may not be the best time to explain it was as a result of the head of sales pulling out 20 team members from the work saga which occurred 4 weeks ago. Consider responding with a concise statement such as- “This may be as a result of low staff turnover for today due to the bad weather. However, I suspect this may also be as a result of the system upgrade currently in process”. If the recipient now sends a mail asking you to “explain”, you may then go ahead and compete with the lengthy verse of Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock.

Misunderstanding your Recipient: Miscommunication can easily occur because of cultural differences, especially when writing as body languages cannot be read. And in the current global economy where work diversity and inclusion means several workers from different cultures now work closely together, it is important they take time to understand mannerisms and work attitudes to create a great work culture. When you receive a mail, it is perfectly okay to read repeatedly until you get the message. It is a standing joke among my colleagues that when we receive a mail from above, we usually share among ourselves asking one another what they think the message meant. It could be a one liner but we could take several minutes debating on the clarity and if there were any hidden meanings. Tailor your message depending on the receiver's cultural background or how well you know them and their behavioral patterns. Some recipients want immediate responses to any mail sent. Even if you don’t have the answer, simply acknowledge the mail and promise to get back to them. You should understand what your recipient wants and how he/she responds to mails and once you have a good idea what your recipient expects from you, sending mails that’d get & hold the person’s attention will help in getting you through.

Icy Email Alert: Have you ever received a message from a colleague or boss that makes you think of the “world war zombies” or "robocop"? You must find ways to be personable in your mails without sounding like a crush longing for his/her colleague/boss' affection. Leave your humane signature in every email you send out. Let colleagues, bosses or business partners be able to identify your mails even without seeing your name or email address. It could be in the way you use “please” after every request or “kindly” after every task assigned or “thank you” after every request has been fulfilled. Simply show your own humanity and learn to personalize once in a while. Don't get too personal however -"I hope this hot season doesn't make you all sweaty and dripping" just sounds weird & off the beat. If you however receive an email in which your correspondent steps into more personal territory asking after your family or your health, you can take it as a friendly cue and make sure to respond personally but succinctly.

Not Proofreading like Your Life Depends on It: I judge people based on spelling errors. And be rest assured that every email you send to your bosses, colleagues or clients is being proofread even while digesting the information. Reason? The human mind is prone to identifying errors and loopholes. Hence be assured that your mistakes won't go unnoticed by the recipients of your email. Try not to rely on spell checkers and if in doubt, simply leave it out or type the word on Google and it will bring out the correct spelling. Never write a colleague/boss/client's name in small letters nor the names of their companies in small caps.It not only suggests rudeness in some culture, it shows the sender is tacky and not respectful.(I know my Chinese colleagues may take it personal having their names written in small tiny letters) Read and re-read your email a few times like it’s an exam. While working closely with a great boss, I ensure that I proofread my emails religiously and even seek the opinion of other colleagues whether there is a word out of place. It never mattered whether it was a one liner. With him, making spelling or grammar mistakes would have earned me a sarcastic comeback. Everyone in the organisation also knew that. With him, your mails must be devoid of errors, ambiguous meanings and most importantly, very concise. To be certain it is devoid of ambiguity, you can consider reading out aloud to be fully certain. Only then can you hit send.

In my next blog post, I’d be sharing useful communication tips on successful public speaking.

Successful Job-Networking Tips

Hi My name is..........and you are?

Many a job applicant believe the best way to get a good job is by applying to several positions available at once whether or not they qualify for that position. So you find HR professionals receiving resumes from applicants with their email address appearing in BCC: while the applicant’s name appears in the TO: section. This shows the resume was sent as a mass mail. I had once received a resume from a graduate with less than 3 years working experience applying for the role of a CEO of a relatively known organization(well, you have to admire his courage and tenacity however misplaced). Some even go the extreme extent of stalking several contacts holding an HR position in their dream organisation, spamming their mail boxes with “don’t forget me o” mails.

These are unacceptable ways to successfully network for a reliable job either in physical social functions or on professional networking sites. Below are some key tips on how to make the most of job networking and the acceptable ways to search for jobs.

What's your niche?

FIND YOUR NICHE- Having done my fair share of recruitment and job profiling in the past, I discovered that many experienced professionals do not know their skill set even after several years of work experience, nor can they mention their professional areas of expertise where they can excel the most or focus their career path in the long run. I have received tons of resumes and cover letters and what many of the messages these resumes convey is that “I am ready to work anywhere, just employ me and I will be a jack of all trades”. Only an HR professional or an MBA holder is allowed to be a “generalist” in the technical sense and both professional degree holders still have their specialized aspects as an HR Generalist can only function within HR as a generalist while an MBA holder can only concentrate in managing the crucial arms of a business. The first step towards successful networking is for you to have a niche and have vested career interest in one particular field. There may be other areas of interest you have, however, there has to be a primary niche that lights up your eyes and voice with enthusiasm whenever you describe where your career passion lies, especially when you meet an advantageous network partner that can assist in connecting you to your dream job. The last thing a reliable network with good referral wants to hear from a job seeker is “I can work in sales, good in project management, adept in finance, customer service expert, marketing & admin. I also have experience in research”. So before rolling out the speech, identify your core strength(s) and why your job search is tailored towards that aspect. This is where you can refer to the importance of passion and enthusiasm & research in a job search as I discussed in my last post here.

Hmmm, what do I do?

WHAT DO YOU DO –As a job seeker whether experienced or a recent graduate, being able to clearly explain exactly what you do will automatically lift you from a wide pool of other job seekers either to the front row or relegate you to the farthest background. The question “what do you do” is not an avenue for you to say “I am a director of finance operations or I am a regional manager or I am the senior vice president of seriously,who gives a hoot”. The other party will probably just smile artificially or boldly yawn and move on to the next network partner who is well equipped to answer the simple question that was just posed at you. When asked “what do you do”, this is your opportunity to propel yourself to the limelight of your listener(s) so it is very important that you mention and include in your speech what you are really passionate about, something that lights the fire in your eyes when you talk and put the lilt in your voice when describing what you do. This question does not even have to be singularly related to the position you currently hold if you happen to be employed. However, if your current job function is your main area of interest, then consider expanding your job description rather than simply providing only your job title. So when asked the famously misquoted question “what do you do” consider responding like this:

“I currently provide lasting e-solutions for business partners who experience difficulties getting huge customer base to market their products and provide the platform for them to showcase their products/catalogs and also provide marketing solutions for clients who are looking to gain competitive advantage within this marketplace. And doing that has given me an opportunity to build my knowledge regarding business forecasting and sales projection. And in my spare time, I provide online training video tutorials for a specific skill set of entrepreneurs and also give occasional motivational speeches to budding entrepreneurs”

With the above opening, not only will you impress your listeners but you will create a lasting & memorable opening that will lead to further curious “how”, “what”, “where” and other questions that you will invariably get bombarded with. This means your listeners will be able to deduce that outside your job role, you also have other passions and interest which you are putting to good use. So, ensure to brush up on how to answer convincingly and confidently “what do you do”. And guess who they might be contacting should they be needing the services of a public motivational speaker either at a physical location or online?

GET THE EXPERIENCE & THE CASH WILL FOLLOW- Usually, most job seekers either searching for fresh jobs or seeking to change jobs are seeking new positions for only one reason- higher pay. There is nothing wrong with wanting to earn enough money to commensurate with what you are bringing to the table(emphasis on being able to offer exactly what you are asking for as many graduates have an over inflated idea of what they are worth based on their past school fees or the cars they ride & the distance between the company and their residential location.). However, when seeking new positions, it is important that you do not come across as someone seeking a job based on the salary on offer. Because this will suggest to your contact that once another job offer comes with a higher pay, it’s “zoom baby” for you.

And as a rule, however harsh it may seem, I do not process resumes from contacts nor refer contacts for jobs who ask before finding out the job description that “how much is the pay”? This is a turn off question and only very experienced professionals who have an extreme lot to offer in areas of job experience and specialized expertise are allowed to consider the “benjamins” and the perks before signing the contract of employment. For other mid-level or fresh job seekers, it is usually unappealing to ask for the salary band a company is offering before asking what the job actually entails. When networking and you meet a contact who mentions an available position, ask intelligent questions that will suggest you are looking to grow your experience and career path first in that organization. So during the interview, you can now negotiate and explain passionately why you feel you are worth more than what is being offered to you. And based on your level and areas of expertise, many organizations may actually be willing to negotiate higher once they are convinced you are well qualified for the position you are being interviewed for.

And really, wouldn't you rather start on a considerably average level with a company and prove your competency level towards a salary upgrade than start big and be told after some complicated key performance metrics that you are actually being paid much more than what you are giving in return to the company and "the management has reviewed your net pay and have agreed to initiate a cut pay but if however you choose to resign, management will understand"? 

If you fall in the latter, you may refer to the above networking tips once again to prepare you for the job search ahead.

In my next post, I will be sharing tips on email etiquette & effective communication skills in the work place.

Getting Your Dream Job with a Winning Resume & Cover Letter

Your resume is a marketing document that needs to impress even the most disgruntled HR officer assigned to shortlisting from a huge applicant pool. It should be a summary of your experience, education, skills and its main purpose is to convince a potential employer to interview you. Simple as that!  

Contrary to a wide range of confusing articles popping up all over the internet on the importance of just knowing the right kinds of people to land you a good job, it is still imperative that your resume acts as a convincing tool for potential employers. It is however possible that through intense networking, you may get to meet the President of your country or even his adviser who may promise you a good job or you finally get to meet Dangote through that rich uncle or Adenuga at a wedding function and they will assure you a lucrative position in their huge companies. 

However, except your folks are major investors or shareholders in these companies, you will still be required to send your resume to someone they might ask you to contact as a follow-up. You may never get to see nor hear from them again and that person would be the only contact you may have to landing that job you were promised over the bottle of champagne you managed to share with them. You can also be rest assured that there are other 5,348 people with good networking skills like you that have been assured that same position. 

So, how do you stand out? And what will set you apart from the cloned resume holding career change seeking peers?

Understand Your Audience - As an experienced graduate either currently employed or looking to cross over to another industry or company, you need to ask of yourself - "Who is the audience?" You will need to understand what job and industry you are interested in targeting and tailor your resume strictly to that industry and the position you are coveting. As a recruiter, I can recognize a mass “to whom it may concern” type of resume at first sighting. When I receive such resume, I won't give it the time of day it certainly does not deserve. Such mass photocopied resumes show the candidate is not willing to stand out, not dedicated enough nor consider the organization important enough to give  it the attention of the day through the resume specialized building tailored for just that organization.

Conduct Intensive Research- As an applicant, the worst turn off for HR professionals is to conduct an interview with a candidate that may get to ask after the interview session questions like “May  I know what your organization is really into”, “How long have you guys been in existence” or “What’s your main source of revenue in this  company”. Such questions show that the candidate has probably applied to 167 more companies and the present interview was probably just one out of many. When you are applying for a position and preparing your cover letter, the word “stalker” should literally come to the mind of your recruiter/employer upon perusing your cover letter and resume. Conduct an impressively intensive research on the company’s financial statements, its board of directors, its work history, the year the company made its first profit, its work culture and if they have a website, go through it ravenously. If possible, provide an information that's still a sort of challenge that the company is facing which the recruiter may even be briefly aware about then mention the various solutions you can proffer for such challenges when you are recruited. You may however want to leave this for the 2^nd or 3^rd stage of interview when you finally get to meet one of its most important member of the management team. There, you can showcase your stalking skills regarding the company's achievement. For instance, your cover letter could read something along this line- 

Sample Cover Letter- Having spent a large part of my educational years following up on GE’s performance as well as centering my final year project on its financial performance in the public market in 2011 and 2012 with a huge profit margin record of $3.8b, the positive brand perception has majorly influenced my decision to join your impressive technology team that have built a digital spectrum software that has been described in the Forbes as the future. And considering that the GE brand has been recognized as the no. 45 brand among the top 100 brands in the world, I understand my long standing passion which I have nurtured from my sophomore years towards working with GE and needing to be a part of its extremely diverse team and most importantly its Technology team, an area in which I will be willing to focus my career knowing I can contribute my previous professional experience as an IT associate while I grow to become a strong part of this diverse network of professional as seen on your website.

After this, you can then go ahead to list your skills and how you can put it to good use in your preferred department. What such cover letter projects in the eyes of the recruiter/employer is a candidate with superior researching skills, keen eye for good detail, passionate ambition & dedicated interest. These traits can pave way not just for an interview but to actually getting the job.

Profile Summary – You have written your impressive customized cover letter. Now what?  Now, you need to put together a resume that would create a “wow” effect such as your cover letter did. As an experienced graduate, a profile summary is usually much more befitting than an objective as your profile summary should concisely show your experience, your skills you are bringing to the table that can be proven, the areas where you gathered these experiences and what you hope to get from the organization with the experience you are bringing on-board. For instance -

Sample Profile Summary -Accomplished advertising and marketing professional with demonstrated success in the public and private sectors. 8+ experience generating sales leads, training and developing sales teams, and creating marketing campaigns.

The above summary consists of just two sentences and within those sentences, a recruiter is able to know the candidate’s areas of interest, skills, years of experience, and candidate’s objective which is to secure a position within the same advertising and marketing department. A profile summary does not have to be long as many candidates are usually quite excited to list all the skills they have acquired over the years in this section. You can leave the excitement for the next section.

Accomplishment & Experience Section – For experienced level hires, employers are looking for candidates who can come in and start producing superior projects immediately. Therefore, recruiters will seek only candidates that have a track record of accomplishments. Wherever possible on your resume, quantify results, describe changes you have implemented, highlight areas where you were given or took on increased responsibilities. And it is a MUST that you have enough accomplishments as an experienced candidate. How else can you prove you haven't spent the past few years playing solitaire and mahjong at your office desk? A recruiter focuses intently and majorly on three areas of an experienced resume – skills, accomplishment & experiences. And during an interview, most of the questions that will be thrown your way may revolve around these areas so it is important you start practicing and building your confidence for that moment when you need to boldly state what you have achieved and can achieve. Only your accomplishments can convince a recruiter that you may be an advantageous ROI (return on investment). So spend your time listing your accomplishments and most importantly, mentioning figures and percentages.

Sample Accomplishments –

i. Coordinated team events and town hall activities at the best yet economical locations – saved expenses by 40%.
ii. Provided exceptional support to the managers and co-workers which increased overall efficiency by 30%.
iii. Reduced file retrieval time 30% by employing a user friendly electronic filing system.
iii. Attained the title of Best Employee 2010 following excellent customer feedback for providing outstanding tier one services.
iv. Increased program revenue from N1,000,000 to N10,000,000 per year.

However, after tailoring your accomplishments spanning all your work experiences, after each experience section with an organization, you can have a sub heading “key achievements” where you list the achievements you had during your tenure in that position. You can do same for all your previously held positions only if your accomplishment is in one way or the other related to the position you are customizing that resume for. It’d be ridiculous to mention as achievement “successfully greeted customers amicably which led to high rating in customer feedback during the quarterly performance review” when applying for a role in IT or as a Business Analyst. Remember, the key is to tailor to meet the position being applied for and ensure you only include the experiences and skills that match what that employer requires.

Resume Format & Use of Tenses – For an experienced hire's resume, it is advisable to stick to the functional resume format as this ensures the recruiter sees the most important information first – summary, accomplishment, skills & experiences. Also, lacking the ability to use punctuation marks and proper tenses where necessary is a no-no and totally unacceptable for all types of resume. And in cases where your resume is being reviewed by a finicky recruiter like myself with extreme knack for language use and punctuation mark, this could will send your resume straight to the shredder. As an unwritten rule, proofread your resume a million times then share with astute friends and family that have keen eyes for fishing out mistakes to also go through for you. Let your resume be a flawless piece of work and know when to use capital letters as well as the parts of speech that must always begin in capital letters (your name for instance and the name of any company in your resume, well, except it's part of the company's brand logo like Facebook to have it start in small caps!). Italics in resumes isn't professional and except you are a graphic designer submitting a mock-up design or a model showing off a portfolio of all your good pictures, on no account should you consider using different fonts and colors to introduce a new point or information on your resume. Leave the coloring for the toddlers and infants in prep schools.

And finally, except where specifically requested for by a recruiter or organization or at a modelling agency, attaching your picture to your resume is incongruous especially in this part of the world and may be a final conviction to the recruiter that just maybe, the candidate really doesn't belong in the employment sector just yet.

In my next post, I’d be sharing the dos & don’ts of job networking & job referrals.

Disclaimer - The above article reflects solely the opinion of the author and is not in any way the opinion of HR professionals in the HR industry except otherwise stated.

Tips to Building a Fresh Graduate Resume.

For quite some time, I have been opportune to assist several job seekers in reviewing their resumes(at no cost). And even though not all the job seekers got the job they applied for, they all got past either the first stage of interview or the second stage after the resume profiling. Some even got to several stages with different companies. So we were able to establish that as a result of the resume reviews, they were able to get the attention of the HR professionals within these organisations and secure a test and an interview.

Does that make me qualified enough to review resumes? Probably not, but with little experience in HR and professional qualifications in several arms of HR including recruitment & selection, I have acceptable understanding of what's expected in resumes and what HR professionals look out for in job seekers.

I’m hoping to share some tips on how to build resumes that would at least get job seekers past the gate of any organization. The HR dept is considered the gate of any organisation and this could range from the HR assistant that would receive the hard copy of your resume to the HR Email Sorting Officer that’d receive your resume by mail. I have shared some basic tips below on how to build a standard resume.

Here it goes…

Objective Statements – Objective statements should reveal what a graduate can offer and what he/she is seeking in exchange. Seeking here does not mean financial/compensation gain but more of career opportunity and role of interest. And as an unwritten rule, only fresh graduates are permitted to have objective statements. The more experienced graduates should work with profile summary. (This would be discussed extensively in my next post)

Sample Objective Statement 1- “Seeking a challenging career with a progressive organization that provides unique opportunity to capitalize my marketing skills & sales abilities in the fields of Sales and Public Relations”.

Sample Objective Statement 2 – “Seeking a position as a Sales Associate for an organization that can take advantage of my fresh ideas and acquired marketing knowledge through education and real life experiences.”

From the above sample objectives, the two key parts that an objective statement should have-what the graduate wants and what he/she is willing to offer has been successfully included. Also, objective statements for fresh graduates should not exceed 2 sentences. Anything more than this may have the HR officer pass along your resume, into the mail trash.

Typos- Simply put, typos are a no-no and HR professionals find it annoying as it screams out one quality a job seeker must not have-“lack of attention to details”. Note that for each vacancy that a company sends out, they receive more than 1000 resumes both from the qualified and not so qualified. And to provide an equal competitive stance for each applicant, an HR officer would take the pains to go through all the resumes sent. But you should understand that because of the volume of resumes received, they are looking out for the smallest mistake to narrow down the search. Unfair? No, it’s called life and in life, there would always be selection processes to sieve out the best. So to ensure you make it past that first stage where you can get to be called for an interview and win them over with your speech, it is important you proof read your resume a thousand times. And if you have a friend or relative in the HR field, let them go through your resume until you/they are certain it is devoid of typos. Typos are not acceptable on any resume –fresh or experienced.

Soft Skills – Soft Skills are so sweet and adorable and doesn't the word remind you of a new born baby’s cheeks and toes? Exactly! Companies are not desperately looking for soft skills for challenging roles that matter, at least not from the onset nor the first key reason the vacancy was rolled out in the first place. Only Customer Service employees are allowed to boast immensely about the soft skills they possess. And usually, companies would only give your soft skills slight attention after being convinced you possess all other essential skills to succeed in the vacant role. Simply put, soft skills are not the main meal of the day but the dessert. They are also considered innate qualities that you are expected to possess as a graduate. It is a waste of time and space on a fresh graduate’s resume to waste 10 bullet points listing your soft skills.

Soft Skill Sample 1- Excellent written & verbal communication skills? Really? For your sake, we hope so because how else were you able to complete your project in school?

Soft Skill Sample 2- Ability to multi-task? Is that a skill? It’s like saying you can take water from a tap into a cup and lift to your lips. It is an expected locomotive movement and same can be said for your revering multitasking skills. *yawns*

Soft Skill Sample 3- Can work in a fast-paced environment? The only thing that won’t be fast paced in any organization in 2014 is the amount of time it takes for a hand dryer to dry your hands- and that gets done within minutes.

All the above soft skills are too generic, unnecessary and overused and you can be rest assured that HR professionals glaze over this area without seeing it. Instead, focus on skills and abilities unique to you.

Sample unique ability 1 - "Strong competency in designing mock marketing campaigns".
Sample unique ability 2 - "Advanced skills in researching markets and identifying target markets based on marketing positioning models".

Any HR expert can see that the above skills is unique to an individual except you lie about this. And on no account should you lie on your resume, no matter how tempting. Any organization worth working for will find out in due time and nothing would hurt your professional experience than to be terminated on account of integrity issues. The labor market is a strong networking team and news travel fast. You definitely don’t want to begin your career journey with lies.

Note however that specificity in such unique skills should only be mentioned in the organization that is looking to recruit into a position that requires that specific skills. If it is however a general vacancy for graduate development program or management program, skills such as “excellent project management skills” & “practical ability to gather and use data effectively” may come handy. The key is to customize your resume to suit that position you are applying for.

Ditch the Outdated Personal Details: I am referring to gender, religion, marital status, state of origin, local government, date of birth and house address many job seekers are still surprisingly including in their resumes. Except an organization specifically requests for this information, it is unnecessary to include this as it may make your resume too cloggy and divert attention from your key sub topics- Objective, qualifications, strengths & achievements. Your resume header should include only your full name, email address and phone number. A reputable challenging organization does not require any of this private information to hire you. 

In my next post, I’d be sharing tips on writing a good resume for employed job seekers or applicants with some years of experience.

Disclaimer - The above article reflects solely the opinion of the author and is not in any way the opinion of HR professionals in the HR industry.