Creative Resumes & Personal Positioning

Recently, Dana Arquilla, WFMY-TV web reporter and camerman Chris Keimig came by to ask me about a Kernersville, NC artist, Thomas Roam, who is using Google Maps to position himself online and to further enhance his attractiveness as a potential employee. The clip of the interview (at the bottom of the page) captures only a portion of what I said, so let me outline the three main points I made:

Know your audience:

Whether you are promoting yourself in a job search, as a freelancer or as an expert, learn as much as you can about your target audience and make sure you are communicating in their comfort zone. In this case, Thomas is a talented artist with a growing portfolio he wants employers to know about. Choosing to use Google Maps to showcase his talents and experience is a good judgment call – his audience, the people who might hire him – are most likely looking for creative people who not only have artistic talent, but who can learn new media tools quickly and who can see innovative ways to share information visually.

Cover Your Bases:

When you try to stand out from the crowd, you don’t want to stand so far out that an employer doesn’t know where you fit in. A good part of the hiring decision is not just whether a candidate has the skills and experience to do the job, but will the person fit in the organization and with their team. No employer looks to hire a high maintenance employee who is going to require a lot of hand holding to get the job done. When an applicant chooses to do something different to get attention, they may get the initial look they had hoped for, but with that look will come further questions about why the applicant chose the creative route. I think the best thing to do is cover your bases. Make sure you are providing what is traditionally needed in a resume and have your creative flair be the extra added value. As I said in the clip, you don’t want to make an employer have to work too hard to get the information they need to consider you as an applicant. Your goal isn’t to have an employer talking about your creative resume, your goal is to get hired. So, make sure the tool you are using serves your core purpose, but then have fun with the rest of it.

Leverage Multiple Messages:

I think what is clever about what Thomas Roan did is that he leveraged multiple messages which means he is speaking to a variety of people at the same time. There are so many different ways that adults take in information. If you can provide multiple ways to have your message be received, you are reaching more people and acknowledging that there are different communication and learning styles. In this case:

1. Thomas found a way to present his portfolio, education, artistic influences, life choices visually.
2. He used an online tool that is familiar to people, so it isn’t off-putting or overwhelming, but in a new and different way. This showcases his critical thinking skills and creativity in addition to the content that is highlighted in the actual piece.
3. He shows that he can adapt technology to multiple purposes. This is not a skill that every artist has. So he has shown a value-add or an unexpected bonus that an employer gets when working with him.
4. He presented his work in such a way that WFMY-TV was interested in covering it. Again this means that he was within the comfort zone of his audience, presenting something different, but not so much on the periphery that a lot of people couldn’t appreciate it and be interested in learning more about it.
5. He was effective in explaining himself and his work verbally and on-camera in addition to his skills as a visual artist. Again, these are not things that everyone is adept at doing.

All in all, I should thank Thomas Roan. I’ve never met him, but since our paths crossed on this interview, I had a chance to further expand my thoughts beyond what was picked to include in the video clip and to use his work as a mini-case study! So thanks Thomas, this was a fun concept to think more about.

The video clip is below and if you would like to visit the WFMY-TV online article, it is titled Local Man Google Maps His Resume and is on the DigTriad.com site. By the way, if you go to the link, the video clip is often to the right below some advertising and can sometimes be hard to find.

Here’s the clip if you want to watch it here:

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Yes! You may use this article by TheCoachingAssociation.com Executive Director Barbara Demarest in your company newsletter, blog or website as long as you add the following bio box:

Barbara Demarest (www.barbarademarest.com) received her MBA from the Babcock School of Management at Wake Forest University and her BA from Duke University. After 20 years at the Center for Creative Leadership, Barbara launched a strategy consulting practice focusing on people leading change in associations, foundations, universities, nonprofits and knowledge businesses.  You can find Barbara’s executive coaching profile on www.thecoachingassociation.com.