As I type this, I am taking a break from re-writing my BIO/CV. A client and friend of mine, Steve Francesco* of Francesco International, provided some very clear and constructive feedback that my current BIO does not reflect the “high-tech troubleshooting, courageous, business leader, employee and entrepreneur” that he knows me to be. Steve is a Pharma marketing exuctive and probably one of the worlds leaders in the “Switch” process. (Moving pharmaceuticals from Prescription to OTC [Over the Counter]).
His points, about creating an effective profile, were spot-on:
- Be Clear about Who you are and what you have to offer. A bio must be a sales sheet about yourself and quickly identify what you could do for someone
- At the introduction of the Bio, “…summarize who you are that will grab attention”. Then he says.. “tell them, in detail, who you are and then at the end, summarize again who you are..”
I have always referred to that as:
“Tell them what you are going to tell them, Tell them, then Tell them what you told them...”
- There needs to be a theme of comprised of three things that describe who you are and what makes you unique and valuable
- The theme needs to be incorporated and inter-twined into each function and chronological position you have held and the outcomes you have achieved. His point is to provide the weave and threads that connect all of your past to each other and tell the story…
- Too much detail can mask the real message and power – cut out content that is not related to the theme or you uniqueness because it can distract the reader from seeing what they need to see
The other value and power of his feedback is that it wasn’t just “edits” or feedback about the content of the resume. I recently had five (5) CEO’s and CMO’s (Chief Marketing Officers), critique my BIO. This highly successful group of executives provided very detailed edits like you would get during a “red-team” proposal review, and showed lots of “red” in edit mode in Word. But none of the executives viewed my BIO from a marketability or sales perspective.
And, unfortunately, I thought I was done.
Steve comments were very strategic and he told me about what the BIO said about me, what the reader learned, and how it made the reader feel about me. (I.e. Am I someone who could assume the reader’s problem or take a significant responsibility off of the reader’s hands and be trusted). And, when I said to Steve, “Lets get on a GoTo Meeting and review the document details”, Steve said “No. This is not the time to review the document, it’s about thinking more strategically.”
So, I am now re-writing the summary of the CV and then will re-write the details of my background to match.
The lesson here? Be prepared to re-think what you have done, improve from your past, and be open to criticism from the people who matter…
Good feedback and important to remember.
Wait till you see my new BIO.
