“ré•su•mé (rézumei, rezuméi) n. a summary. A curriculum vitae [F.]”

 — New Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus of the English Language

résumé n. a powerful, nearly magical document endowed with special powers that got someone else a job but is governed by arcane rules about which everyone has different opinions.

—The lexicon of the layman, too many job posting websites,

and an army of uninformed résumé writers

résumé n. a document offering easily grasped value…to employers, clients, professional résumé writers, career coaches, and our industry.

—The careers professional’s lexicon

The first definition seems right to the harried lexicographer who must sort 230,000 words. The second seems right to most job seekers and many potential clients. This is becoming even more true with the advent of AI. The last should be right to professional résumé writers—once they reflect on the precise, powerful roles we should demand of every résumé we write.

I’ll start by describing the stress affecting hiring decision makers. Then I’ll lay out three roles you can use to judge if your next draft résumé is good enough for the client to see. Last, I’ll show you how to use our definition to build your practice.

Context counts: why the interviewer is more nervous than our clients:

A harried executive is shorthanded; he needs another sales representative. His boss’ office is his first stop. There he must get his boss’ permission to spend company money and risk bringing on a new person. He is appealing to the person who writes his performance review. There’s only one argument our potential hiring manager can muster: the new employee must make the company more money than it costs to find, hire, and keep him. 

It’s quite a gamble. In a recent LinkedIn discussion, the “best answer” to the question “is it still hard to find good help?” included these words: “Yes.… We're still having a problem finding highly qualified candidates that are not currently employed or who are seeking to make a career move,” wrote an IT recruiter. 

Our harried executive has seen people who aren’t good on the job. He knows someone, just like him, chose those deadbeats as the best of a field of eligibles. If others can make that mistake, so can our hiring manager.

When someone hires the wrong person, he does more than break the ROI promise he made to his boss; he lets down his entire company. 

Nevertheless, the work must be done. So he turns to his best employee. He explains how the new guy needs help and asks his top performer if she will assist. She probably will…for a little while. After all, she’s already overworked (that’s why they hired the new guy). Now her boss wants her to continue to do her work while also doing part of the new guy’s work, all without getting part of the new guy’s salary. If that keeps up, the company suffers three body blows.

The top performer, now disgruntled, goes to the competition with all the proprietary information and customer databases. (Body blow one.) Then she recruits her friends, also valued employees. (Body blow two.) Meanwhile, Mr. Incompetent has been fired, thus costing the company money they invested his training. (Body blow three.)

To put yet more hyperactive butterflies in the interviewer’s stomach, he knows he isn’t trained for the task. It’s surrounded by folklore, comical if it weren’t so corrosive. For example, precisely why did the following question turn up on a job site’s top ten list: “If you were an animal, what kind of an animal would you be?”

If the résumé you write is the first to ease the employers’ burden, your client gets job offers. Let’s make it as easy for you as you made it for the employer.

Three roles every résumé must fill:

A document that lets the hiring decision maker to deliver on the promise he made to his boss and his entire company. Each résumé must exceed hiring decision makers’ expectations, proving your client understands the target company’s key problems and has a track record of success transferable to the new organization. In short, organizations must grasp how your client plans to make them more money than it costs to bring him or her on board. The previous sentence should be read again.

“Summaries of Qualifications” rarely meet that standard. (“An Obituary for the Summary of Qualifications,” The Spotlight, August 2023, pp. 9+) They are usually a collection of buzzwords or traits that unintentionally describe mediocrity. (Would anybody hire anybody who isn’t a “top-notch problem solver?”) Responsibilities, too, have little place in the résumé. (“Where Quality Resides,” The Spotlight, May 2023, pp. 8+) If the reader recognizes the list of responsibilities, she still has no idea how well the applicant performed. If the reader doesn’t recognize the responsibilities, she may draw the wrong conclusion: our client isn’t qualified.

Why not let organizations see how our client intends to act as the best in his field? Since invitations go to individuals, why not include the company’s name in that pledge? Here’s an example:

What I offer Arista as your newest HR Manager

• A proven leader whose teams get cost-saving results that last,

• An expert at turning compliance requirements into opportunities that build production and save money,

• A respected professional who designs and administers affirmative action and diversity programs that contribute to corporate success, and

• A capable project manager who delivers results on time and on, or under, cost estimates.

Yes, I know all about the fixation of “key words” and ATS. We all also know that the success rate for posting a résumé on line is small. So let’s cover both bases.

Write your ATS résumé just as you always do. Then offer the advanced résumé described below. It and the cover letter go directly to the actual hiring decision maker (who will rarely be HR). In the cover letter, tell the reader your client has already applied on line. But your client is writing because he knows the reader has the biggest stake in the outcome. Thanks to mail merge, you don’t have to “tailor” each copy of the advanced résumé or cover letter.  Of course, you charge for both versions. 

In the end, it’s transferable performance that counts. The Challenge-Action-Response-Transferability model is very well known. But why not make the value stand out? Here’s a typical example:

  Transforming Compliance into Productivity 

Payoffs: When the leader of a $20B organization asked me to streamline the complex ISO 9001 audit program, I improved the policy so all 16 offices would respond to SMEs’ suggestions. Got every player training and certifications they needed. Delivered two months early and $100K under budget. My approach now the corporate standard. Saved $600K in manpower costs.

As templates for outstanding interviews, our résumés must “sound” like our clients, so they look as good on paper as they do in person. And we have to entice the interviewer to ask questions our clients want them to ask. Therefore, our documents should pass these tests:

• Did we, inadvertently, give our client too much or too little credit for what they’ve done? You and the client must stand behind the integrity of what you write.

• Did we capture all the client’s relevant success stories? Our client deserves credit for all she does. Showing what the client did isn’t good enough. We must also tell how the client performed in ways the target company values. 

• Does the philosophy and word choice sound like our client? The words we use must show our client’s passion and thought process clearly. If we used jargon, did we do so correctly?

As levers to negotiate salary, benefits, perks, bonuses, and severance, what we write should protect our client from a lowball salary offer. When we quantify results, particularly revenue made or dollars saved, the interviewer stops thinking of our client as a cost and sees him as a good investment. 

If the applicant saves the company a single turnover, if he can rescue one $25K contract, no well-run company will quibble over a $5K gap between what they planned to offer and what your client needs to reflect the return on investment he delivers.

Now you have three solid criteria to judge a résumé before you start to write. Use them in your initial consultation with potential clients. Do they understand what it takes to be the best? Does their track record reflect that understanding? Are they thinking like the next employer? If you sense the answer is “no” to any of these questions, you may not want to take on this job seeker. No one can—and no professional should—try to portray a lack of performance as a benefit.

Use the same criteria to help build your brand. Once you demystify the process, you’ll attract better clients and find it easier to work with them. Also, your in-depth knowledge will reflect well on our industry. It also will make this key point: AI can only go so far in helping people win great jobs. 

When your documents meet their required roles, clients win the jobs, companies win great employees, you win more money, and our industry wins the stature it has always deserved.

                    הצורה הגבוהה ביותר של חוכמה היא חסד

“The highest form of wisdom is kindness.”

– The Talmud, 200 AD

If you are like most of us, you’ve spent a lot of time on your brand.

If you are like most of us, you define your brand as your promise of value. You work hard on the details. You strive to show value, not features. You act diligently to make your brand authentic. You concentrate on having it uniquely yours. I hope it is also your business conscience.

You make it “speak” everywhere. It’s in your signature block, on your website, in the outgoing message in your voice mail, on your business card, in the Headline, About, and Experience sections of your LinkedIn profile, and in every post to every social media, blog, and e-list.

But no matter who you are, no matter what your practice, the foundation of all your work is right at the top of this article. Those words were written nearly 2,000 years ago, but you’ll find the same guiding truth from many other sources.

Whether you realize it or not, those words are always your unspoken brand. Your “spoken” brand attracts clients; your unspoken brand retains them, generates referrals, drives repeat business—and can transform what you do every day from work to fulfillment.

We serve many markets. However, one thing is common to all. Every one of our clients is under stress. Yes, they want to know how much a résumé costs, have questions about formats, interviews, applying for Federal jobs…the list is endless. What they really seek is reassurance and support.

Because we are in a helping profession, we get satisfaction from providing great products and sound answers. However, we must never forget what we do affects lives…not just the lives of our clients, but also those of their families for years to come.

Let me make that come alive. Suppose I sell you a new refrigerator. Suppose it’s a “lemon.” That’s serious! You’re out more than $1,000. You’ve lost more than a hundred dollars in spoiled food. There may even be puddles on your kitchen’s brand new hardwood floors.

You’ll get over it.

It’s only a refrigerator.

You’ll have a new one by Tuesday.

However, if I don’t do a good job guiding your career, it affects your ability to support yourself and your family. It can make you feel not only stressed, but inadequate. For men in particular, it can affect what gives meaning to their lives. Moreover, the effects can stretch over weeks and months. What we do is vital to our clients; how we do it is our unspoken brand. It’s vital not just to our clients, but to us as well.

We may not talk about it, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give it some serious thought. Like the words on your website, your unspoken brand offers value; it’s authentic and therefore unique.

Just as we write out our spoken brand to make sure it is right for us, so too should we put our unspoken brand in writing. Nothing makes your thought more visible than to see it in black and white. Committing words on paper is a wonderful way to concentrate on the promises you will make every hour of every day for the rest of your professional life.

What follows are suggestions. Adapt them to your style. Add more if I’ve left something out. But once you write them down, act on them every day.

• q Qualifying clients based on their backgrounds and ability to pay is good. Qualifying them on your willingness to respect them and be compassionate is better.
• q Offering advice is good; giving supported advice is better.
• q Answering clients’ questions is good; giving them the right answers, even if they don’t like them at first, and answering the questions they should have asked, are better.
• q Writing decent products is good; crafting each document as if it were your child’s is better.
• q Claiming to be responsive (“Your call is important to me.” “Visit us at www.automatedbrochure.com.”) is good; always responding to queries just as quickly as you can is better.
• q Making money is good; investing money in your own professional development is better.
• q Having knowledge is good; sharing wisdom is better.
• q Promoting your practice is good; supporting our industry is better.
• q Doing the right thing is good; doing the right thing even when no one will ever know, even at a personal cost, is very much better.

It’s easy to do the right things when everything is going well. It’s when things go wrong that you’ll be tested—and rewarded.

When you surmount unexpected challenges, you get more than pride for a job well done. You’ll probably learn something you never knew before, something you can use to expand your practice. You’ll gain even more if you share your new knowledge with others.

No matter how hard we work, the market defines our brands both spoken and unspoken. Meet and anticipate market needs and your spoken brand is enhanced because its unspoken counterpart supports it. Forget whom and why you are serving and both your brands will be damaged because the two will be at odds.

Perhaps you’ve seen people who never miss a day without posting platitudes, clichés, or “me toos” again and again on Instagram and LinkedIn. They think their contributions are helpful. But because they confuse quantity with quality, their unspoken brand begins to overshadow their spoken version.

Their inattention allows someone or something else to define their value. The site’s algorithm may call them “top contributors,” but the market (the only measure that counts) sees them as truly annoying spammers. Worse yet, because their contributions tend to be shopworn, their brand is now self-centered, uninformed, lazy, and out of touch.

In the end, they’ve confused what we offer with selling a commodity. My senior clients in advertising and marketing tell me we must make seven “impressions” about our product before our message stands out from all others. That’s why you see the same ads back to back between TV shows. It works for them; it works against us.

Commodity sellers seek sales...we seek clients. If you dispense “value” as if it was some faceless app, you will attract customers. The best you can do is satisfy them. Once you do, they will forget you. Clients, on the other hand, don’t buy from you. They hire you. They become your clients for life.

Offer kindness as value and you will gather clients around you. They will repay you in ways far beyond what comes with their credit cards.

My clients…all rising, senior, or very senior executives worldwide…first introduced me to the parallel between LinkedIn and cemeteries. The huge majority of LI profiles read just like obituaries.

That probably won’t change because LI doesn’t guide people to use its site as the powerful networking tool it should be. Since Microsoft purchased LI, things probably haven’t got better.

What a great opportunity for us! It’s more than a new revenue stream. It’s an exceptional tool to serve our clients powerfully for life. It will set them apart, not by the uncertain hunt for “key words,” not by the number of connections or skills endorsements. It will show them as some of the very few who “get” what networking should be.

Our clients come to us believing the established, toxic definition of networking:

net’-work-ing: a mutually mortifying ritual in which we impose on every friend, relative, and total stranger to ask them for something none can give us: a job.

Compare that to the real definition of the word:

net’-work-ing: the natural disposition to offer value, with no immediate expectations of a return, and without giving away the store. The dedication to make one’s brand visible, valuable, and irresistible to anybody who needs us—particularly hiring officials.

Because many hiring decision makers go to LI first to find new employees, shouldn’t we set our clients apart as the best by reflecting true networking in every part of the LI profile we write for them?

Posts

Start here because this section offers the most compelling, current proofs of our clients’ authentic brands. But only if we help them write thoughtful, useful posts, and choose photos to capture readers’ attention.

Please resist the temptation to use ChatGPT or something like it. We understand our clients and their personality far better than any acronym. And remember AI uses a large language model. Said another way, it scans lots of texts, most of which weren’t successful. Why would we ever consider charging our clients to provide them mediocrity.

Let’s also allow others to confuse LinkedIn with Facebook as they post pictures of trite motivational posters or “articles” that are little more than filler. We should encourage our clients to post when they have something to add. (And something we can help them write…which adds revenue.) They shouldn’t post too often. Those who post nearly every day can be seen as spammers.

Your clients should post in the two areas available to them. They can post to “everyone” in the space they see when they open LinkedIn. But they should also post to the special groups that represent their target markets.

The first line carries the day best by leveraging a common shortfall. For example, many clients think a collection of traits (sometimes confused with keywords) will set them apart. We know those are the minimum standards. I needed a compelling way to capture that idea.

Here’s what it looked like:

“Would you hire my dog?

I am a hard-working, self-starting, great people person, with good communications skills. So is my dog, Archie. (That’s a picture of him.) I’ve seen similar descriptions in hundreds of résumés I’ve reviewed…So why load the top of your résumé with such a mixture of traits and nice-sounding words?…Hiring decision makers…must know how you’ll make their organizations more money than it takes to hire you…in the first line of your résumé. Have it and you go to the top of the stack. Miss it and your résumé goes into the shredder. Questions? Contact me any hour of any day or night.”

Results? More than 2,000 views in 24 hours and, eventually two new clients. It took me a few hours to write and post it. It also generated about $6,500.

Obituaries begin in the “About” section. They read like biographies. Most try to shoehorn in some condensation of their résumé. It doesn’t help for two reasons. First, hiring officials want to know what people can do for them, not what they did for others. Second, the context is often missing. We can’t expect readers to know and appreciate differences in unfamiliar industries and firms on sight.

The “About” section should be home to the full brand statement. Please pardon the following extensive example. I include it to show a full statement of the value of client’s brand:

“What follows is my pledge of value to you and your business as an experienced international business development executive.

I am fortunate to acquire a rare combination of in-depth knowledge of a broad mix of defense programs, products, support, and services. Even more, can optimize their development value to the US government and international customers.

Most business development professionals say they anticipate customers’ needs. But they rarely say how they do that. To anticipate needs, I make time to learn my international customers’ optimum end state. I willingly take on the burden of understanding the world in which they must work, the support they need, and the threats they must face. That’s what drives the best solutions, programs, and development.

To some, ‘exceeding customer’s expectations’ becomes a catchall phrase that focuses on business customers. I agree. But I won’t be satisfied until our internal customers’ needs are served every bit as well.

It’s more than delivering specific developmental products, programs, or services to businesses. My goal is to have our organization seen as the trusted, ‘go-to’ choice in our industry. When that happens, the greatest and most enduring benefit will go to the warfighter and to US national defense and international foreign policy goals.”

The bottom line is right at the top. The pledges of value are clear and supported by examples of how my client thinks and acts in the best interests of his employer.

Experience

If only people remembered the true definition of experience: acquiring and applying wisdom over time. Most don’t. Most put their résumés here. It doesn’t work for the same reasons you read in my discussion of the “About” section.

Wisdom becomes alive when you help clients show how they added capability in each job. If you illustrate it with success stories from the résumé you wrote, this section reinforces the brand.

Here’s an example from the same client whose brand you saw in the “About” section just now.

“Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché, Helsinki, Finland

United States Department of Defense

March 2019 – June 2022 (3 years 3 months) Helsinki, Finland

When I got this job, I had little experience in diplomacy, political-military affairs, or working in an Embassy. I wanted to make a difference.

I studied Finnish language and culture, but I knew relationships mattered most. I found influential people in government, political-military affairs, security, business, and defense. I got to know all of them in business and social occasions. We have done great things for bilateral relations. Many are now good friends.

Through these relationships, I anticipated our partner country’s government's needs. I steered them towards US programs that met those needs. I've also steered them away from those that wouldn't; enhancing trust, and boosting the US ‘brand’ in Finland. That’s best for both countries. For example, I raised US foreign international military sales to Finland 25%, over $1.6B, a significant development.”

Those words came from a success story I wrote for his résumé. Notice how it supports his brand. Moreover, it goes even further. We had to disarm the common objection that my client, a full colonel, couldn’t understand a very different civilian culture. The first two paragraphs meet that requirement head on.

The Headline

Use the expanded brand statements in the “About” and “Experience” sections to help you and your client get maximum impact from these 120 characters. Remember: brands are actions that deliver value. No room for generalities here.

Use all the other sections including Activities, Projects, Volunteering, Skills, Licenses and Certifications, and Education to expand the brand as well.

You can fold key words into every section. But you can load up the entire Skills section with nothing but key words.

I hope I’ve offered some practical ideas for making your clients’ profile a powerful destination to draw employers and influencers to the best possible display of their brands.

Now go the next step. Guide your clients to build the right network. Yes, there are algorithmic reasons why the number of connections might be useful. But quality beats quantity. Every connection should be someone who can help our clients and who our clients can help. If my legislative relations professional has thousands of connections, but most aren’t in government, that number might mean little.

Use the definition of networking to have your clients reach out to the most useful people. Whom can your clients help who might be able to help them as well?

I have two domestic law attorneys in my network. Why? Because career development can be part of alimony packages. If I have a client who happens to tell me he is considering divorce, I can refer him. If my attorneys want to include career services in the alimony agreement they draft, they will refer me. Everybody benefits.

I hope this article is an example of true networking in action. We can all win. Your clients win because their value really stands out in the huge mass called LinkedIn. You win because you have more and better services to offer and the chance for more revenue. I win because I have the privilege of being part of this careers community.

“Clients for life!” 

You may have heard that phrase a lot. What you may not have heard is a specific way to help make that come true. I hope to change that with this article.

The good news is you’ve probably done all the hard work when you provided your client with a commanding résumé. 

And the value of that document doesn’t rest in a nice sounding collection of key words. Those usually include admirable traits and lists of responsibilities. You know…the minimum standards. No employer would even consider a candidate who didn’t fit those clichés.  

You’ve worked hard to prove to the hiring decision maker that your client will make their company a lot more money than it takes to hire and retain him or her. You’ve done it with CARC (Challenge, Action, Results, and Context) stories. No wonder your clients get those great jobs!

And how easy the press of business can erode the relationship you and your clients worked so hard to fashion. It doesn’t have to be that way for either of you.

After you’ve congratulated your successful clients, ask when their first annual performance reviews are coming up. Then show them how you will help them get their first raise. Below, you’ll see that suggestion gets you a “raise” as well.

You’ll capture and keep their attention when you remind them how you can help them avoid what happens all too often. Employees get a frantic email from the boss. The performance review is just around the corner! What should the boss write? Supervisors are so busy they don’t keep track of your contributions. You can easily fall into that same category. The result? The rough equivalent of, and with the same value as, a “general” résumé. It doesn’t justify a raise.

The good news is you have already trained your clients to build the foundation when you developed the success stories for their résumé, bio, or LinkedIn profile. Have them do the following:

Step1 :Every week, without fail, they capture the problems they solved, how they solved them, what the results were, and if there was a context. No need for editing. Just have them write!

Step 2: At the end of the first month, they send the draft. Here’s your chance to get them credit for all they’ve done.

• Don’t let them confuse a symptom with a problem. Example: Falling sales is not a problem. It is the symptom. Ask yourself what caused the symptom. In this example, falling sales happened when a new competitor entered the market, a fall in demand, an understaffed sales force…you get the idea.

• What did your client do to solve the problem?

• Specifics count. It isn’t what your client did so much as how they did it. 

• What were the results?

• Have them quantify results if they can. Remember: the applicant with the number wins. 

Can they compare their results with their previous performance or the company standard? Was there an unusual context? Did they do two weeks’ work in three days? Was this a problem they had never worked before?

• Express results in dollars if you can. The little digging required is well worth the effort.

• Example: Your client streamlined a routine process thus saving two hours in labor costs. How many people saved those hours and how often? Suppose three people saved two hours every week. What’s a conservative estimate of their salary? Suppose they were paid $45K annually. That $21.63 each hour multiplied by twice a week yields a savings of $43.27. But three people saved time. Now the number is $43.27 X 3 = $129.81. But that was only for one week. Consider a 50 week year. Now the number is $6,490 a year. 

• That is an ROI. Did this streamlining cost the company any extra money? No? Be sure you mention that in the note.

• Here’s an example I used recently:

  Optimizing Financial Data 

Payoffs: Designed and delivered new financial forecast reporting tool in only one week. What once took days, now done in about four hours. Near perfect accuracy right from the start. Done without spending one extra dime. Saved $1K in manpower costs.

Step 3: Follow up every few months. You (and your clients) will be impressed as the numbers grow.

Step 4: Use your clients’ notes to draft an email to their boss. It might read something like this:

“Hi Sam:

I was thinking about my upcoming performance review.

Of course, I’ve kept you informed of what I’m working on. I’ve also attached a brief summary of the contributions I’ve made in this year. I hope they can be the foundation for expanding my responsibilities.

Looking forward to our time together,

Jane”

Step 5: Suggest your client forward your note to their boss about two weeks before the review. It won’t be lost on the supervisor how Jane helped them prepare to write her review. Since many supervisors have money they can use for bonuses or raises, Jane’s given them all the support they need to do just that!

Step 6: If a raise isn’t forthcoming, you and your client can update the résumé powerfully and quickly. If the boss is awake, they will notice Jane’s note looks suspiciously like the résumé that got her the job—a résumé she can use to find a new position. Executives know it takes about three times the annual salary to replace an employee. If Jane leaves, she’ll take inside information to her next company which may well be a competitor!

But thanks to you, everybody wins. Your client got a raise. Their boss can justify that increase to retain a top performer. But your client and their bosses aren’t the only winners. You won as well! You charge for the service, and you’ve got everything needed to update your clients’ documents quickly and well.

How much you charge depends upon the client and the number of stories you must draft. But just one percent of the client’s salary may well offer great ROI for them and for you. After all, their raise would surely be more than one percent!

Consider a modest salary of $50,000. One percent would be $500.00. If you work with executives, as I do, the most modest salary of $100,000 will net you $1,000. 

But no matter how big the raise nor how much they make, you’ll have earned clients for life!

“X” always marked the mysterious location of buried treasure. PARWCC wants to give you a “treasure” that isn’t mysterious at all!

It’s the wisdom you’ll get from relationships you can’t find anywhere else.

The spot isn’t shadowy either. It’s the Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel, the Thrive! Conference site.

When you heard about the Conference, what came to your mind first? Were you looking forward to getting your “batteries recharged,” meeting old friends again and making new ones, gathering innovative, profit-building ideas, rubbing shoulders with the thought leaders in our industry, seeing interesting sights?

Or did you dread the “expense,” the “time away from your practice?” When you are on a journey, do you concentrate on the costs of travel or the rewards waiting at the destination?

In this article, I’ll try to enhance the latter and offset the former. For years, I practiced every one of the concepts you are about to read. As a result, each conference earned me more money than the entire cost of the trip. I want you to have that kind of return on your investment.

Now is the perfect time to apply what you learn to reap the rewards in about 87 days, on 28 April when Thrive! begins. I’ve laid out things you can do before, during, and after this Conference. (Later, PARWCC will provide more about what to expect, what to pack, how to get to the resort, what you should bring, and the like. Watch for it soon.)

Now, before you go:

Book your airspace early. The longer you wait, the higher the fare. When it comes to fares, please don’t let ultralow cost carriers deceive you. While their published fares seem very low, add-ons for things for which you never expected to pay add up so fast you might easily spend more than if you flew on a regular carrier.

Reliability is a factor as well. Low-cost carriers have fewer planes and crews. If there is a delay anywhere in their system, your flight may be delayed or cancelled—sometimes for days. When that happens, don’t expect much support or reimbursement.

As soon as you know when you’ll be travelling, block time to prepare yourself. After all, aren’t you as important as your best client? If you do this well, you’ll treat your clients better than ever, retain the best, and attract new ones. Also set aside time you will devote immediately after you return to put what you’ve learned into practice. If you do, you won’t be distracted by the press of daily business.

Start with promotional activities. These bring excellent returns for little money. Aim at your clients. Since most of them see or read the news, or visit social media, or your website, think of your trip as a news story that will interest listeners and viewers.

The important message in your release: listeners and viewers can optimize their careers with information not available anywhere else. Be sure to mention some of your key takeaways as they apply to your clients. As always, tell your audience what value they can gain. Never tell them how they can do that. They get that by engaging you.

After you’ve written your press releases, get even more mileage by incorporating them in your telephone messages or your autoresponder:

“…I can’t reply right now. I am mastering even better ways to serve job seekers just like you by attending the Conference of the Professional Association of Résumé Writers and Career Coaches. When I return, I’d like you to have the benefits of all I’ve learned to help you go beyond just getting a job to the rewards of a satisfying career.….”

Up to now, my suggestions aimed at helping others. You can also help yourself. What, specifically, do you want out of this event? Take a moment to write direct questions to which you need answers. I suggest writing because it sharpens your thoughts. Consider this example to see a typical train of thought from the general to the specific.

General question: I have heard major online job boards as we know them today may disappear. What’s coming next?

Specific questions: How can I help my clients get ahead of their competition by using the latest net-based recruiting tools to their advantage? What’s the likely increase in ROI for those I serve? How do I reflect that improved ROI in my pricing structure?

Once you have the questions written, think who might have the answers. (Does this sound like the kind of advice you offer job seekers about networking?)

Do you want your time with clients to be even more effective, more efficient, more rewarding? You’ll want to attend Cami Leech Florio’s session on structuring client sessions for impactful results.

Do you have nagging suspicions you’re not helping your clients get the most from their exposure on LinkedIn? Denise Bitler has the answers from creating a captivating headline to delivering background banners that champion your clients.

Don’t forget the networking events like Beers and Careers hosted by Franklin Buchannan. These are informal discussions, focused on building your peer-to-peer connections and industry insight while having fun.

Use what you find to contact perspective “mentors” well before the Conference. That courtesy will allow them plenty of time to think about your questions. Later, when you see them at the Conference, no formal introduction will be necessary. You may want to set up some private time to get the benefit of their knowledge. There’s always breakfast — what better opportunity could you ask for?

Use your questions to decide which speakers you want to hear, which presentations you must attend. Now go the next step. Leave your “comfort zone”. Attend sessions about which you know the least.

With the sessions identified, there is still more to do. (Now you understand why I suggested you block time before you go). For each session, make a list of what you already know about the subject. This trick will uncover what you don’t know, what information you need from the speakers’ talks.

From time to time, review your list. Check it against the slides and handouts you got from the speakers. Take both copies of the slides and your lists with you to the presentations you’ve chosen. Use them as checklists to capture vital information on the spot. Finally, if speakers didn’t touch on the information you need, use your list to ask appropriate questions during the Q & A sessions.

While you are there:

Work your plan. Follow up with people who can answer your vital questions. Be on the lookout for others. Whether it’s during a presentation, or just informal meetings, take careful, complete notes.

If you really want maximum impact, set aside a few minutes before the end of your day to refine your notes in the quiet of your own room. Concentrate on information that helps you. No need to focus on examples speakers use, unless they reinforce some action you should take.

Listen for new ideas, possible introductions to “rising stars” or established people in your part of our industry. After all, we designed Thrive! as a priceless learning tool.

When you return:

Capitalize on your investment. Refine your notes one more time. Pay particular attention to methods for increasing your productivity, your profits, or both. Moreover, schedule time, even before you leave, to put those methods into action.

It will be easy if you commit to just one action first. That will keep you focused. Later, you can always tackle more.

And don’t forget to update your autoresponder message:

“…I can’t respond right now. I’m helping job seekers like you leverage the very latest information I mastered at the leading professional development conference. They are benefitting from the distilled wisdom of hundreds of years of experience available nowhere else. Now I’d like you to have those same advantages. The first and only step is easy. If you can suggest some days and times for me to listen to your needs….”

I’ll cover the rest quickly for professionals like you:

Of course, you’ll post press releases and social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and others, before and after the event.

Of course, you’ll send brief thank notes to those who helped you. For those that went the extra mile, offer to write a recommendation on their LinkedIn profiles.

Of course, you’ll take the business cards you collected and put them into your organizer (adding special notes about those people with whom you spoke). And, of course, you’ll bring plenty of your own cards.

Of course, this year you’ll have more than just pleasant memories of your trip.

Of course, you’re already anticipating the great ROI Thrive! will deliver.

Now you are ready to earn greater profits that come directly from joining us at Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel. That’s the best reason to attend the next gathering.

Still have questions? Reach out to me before you leave. Do it now while you are still thinking about it. Email me at dorlando@yourexeutivecareercoach.com or call me at 334.264.2020 (central time). I’ll respond quickly.