Black In Business

In our last post we discussed “executive profile statement vs. objective statement.” I prefer the profile statement because it provides the reader a sense of you the canidate, and your skills. Think of it this way, the reader can determine what is in it for them, the hiring company. The objective statement is all about you, the job seeker and what you are seeking.
As you publish the rest of your resume, you will discuss your job history and education. For recent graduates with out a lot of professional work experience, it is suggested you start with your education. You want the reviewer of your resume to see the thing you are trying to sell in a resume position of prominence; in most cases it is experience or education.
Most resume experts suggest keeping your resume short. Years ago it was thought 1 page was the most appropriate. That became difficult for most to adhere to. It is suggested here to use 2 pages if needed.
When you are selling your experience first, list out your most recent or current position first. There are 2 effective approaches; 1.name the company and offer a description of their market segment. “Company ABC is a world wide manufacturer of health care products in business for 120 years, and enjoys world wide sales of 23billion US Dollars. The other option is to just list the company, ABC Company; and your position. You offer a description of your position responsibilities. An example of this approach is; “Molecular Sales Specialist- 2003 to present.”
“Responsible for the sale of DNA sequencing, real time PCR, genetic analyzers and reagents to targeted markets within a geographic territory.”
Your choice has a lot to do what is more impressive to the reader, a description of your company or your position. Keep your descriptions short because you can go into more detail in the interview.
The meat of your resume has to be what you accomplished. Think how you can quantify your accomplishments into dollar growth or cost savings. An example is, By segmenting my marketplace into a call frequency pattern based on opportunity resulting in better time mangement my sales grew 25% and 600,000 dollars. My company asked me to train the other sales people on my business growth strategy.”
You will need to list out 2 or 3 solid accomplishments for each position. These are things you are most proud of and things that made your boss look good. Your goal is to have the person reading your resume want to place your name on the top of the pile.
You should never claim accomplishments you cannot prove, or never should you make stuff up.
My next post will offer a little more on resumes and then we will address the interview.

Well, we are not in a recession yet, The GNP shows growth of just over .005%. In order the have a recession you have to show 2 quarters of negative growth in a row. For many a recession is when their neighbor loses their job. A depression is when you lose your job. There are many people looking for jobs and some are finding it difficult to land a job for the first time in their life. Economic theory aside, most of us are feeling pain due to the economy.
Recently I have had a couple of experienced executives’ approached me regarding their resumes asking for feed back. These were director level people with staff’s of their own. These 40 something business people had been with their previous companies for several years and had contributed to the success of their organizations. They never expected to be on the market. They do not know each other but had aligned their resumes in the same fashion.
Each had an objective, “To be a director of programs,” was one. The other was to be a marketing manager.
My recommendation is to use an executive profile statement. Here is an example;
“A senior sales and marketing executive with a proven record of accomplishments managing in complex and fast paced business environments.Entensive career success provides unique insights to raise levels of team performance. Solid interpersonal, communication and team leadership skills. A change agent and collaborative business who builds and motivates high performance teams that consistently achieve aggressive revenue and profitability goals.”
This statement introduces you and speaks to your dimensions of skills that contribute to your success. It is different than an objective statement because it sell you and dose not limit what you can interview for. The company may decide your skills in leadership and communication can be used for other positions.
In my next post, I will get into the meat of the resume and discuss what works well and what you should think about prior to publishing your resume. At blackinbusiness, we have a community of winners nearing 400 community members, what are your thoughts, position objective or executive profile?

I said the race was over after the Potomac Primary. I understood why Clinton stayed in the race, to see how Texas and Ohio went. She did well and appears well positioned in Pennsylvania. She had the audacity to mention Barack as her VP. All the while she is behind in popular vote, states won and delegates. I still understood her staying in the race, wishing for a blunder. She thought she had her wish when, Reverend Wright’s controversial few sentences uttered, after a 30 plus year run of being a respected Preacher and church leader, were made an issue. Barack’s brilliant speech on race despite a luke warm response from pundits has moved his poll ratings back up. “So,” using Dick Cheney’s charm, there has been no blunder by Barack.
There has been a blunder of a high magnitude by Mrs. Clinton that the Democratic Party and the American people should shout out against. I would like to use the word bitch but I cannot disrespect the Senator, so I will not. Senator Clinton lied about her trip to Bosnia. Her fantasy of arriving under sniper fire is being spun as a misstatement. I have been around gunfire, I have taken a friend shot to the hospital, 2 of my college roommates were shot, I have had a gun pulled on me. Those types of episodes are not to be forgotten. So far the white media is letting her off the hook. Hillary said she visited 79 countries, and misspoke. Ok, Hillary, which country did you face sniper fire upon arrival? Let us know. It will be hard because it only exists in your head. Hillary, I question 2 things, your judgment, several people on your trip to Bosnia have said you are full of BS. If you have to lie, make sure no one can refute your fantasy. If you lied about something so trivial, what else have you lied about? How can we trust you?
The Afrosphere Action Coalition has an online petition urging Hillary to step down now. I have signed and urge you to. I am experiencing difficulty in linking, so I would like my friend Yobachi to comment and leave us a link. Visit Black Perspective for more insight as to why Hillary must step down!

I have posted plenty about the democratic primary lately. Electing a black President could represent the biggest gain for black business people in many years. This could be bigger than Affirmative Action. Hillary’s case with the super delegates is she is the best choice for November. Her implication is the big states she has won provide her with momentum in the states the democrats have to win in order to regain the White House. The Electoral College has been fairly consistent in terms of how states vote in Presidential elections since 1964. It is logical to evaluate the most recent Democratic Presidential election win in the popular vote to establish trends.
This Study is done by Jesse Jackson Jr., National Co-Chairman of the Obama campaign and Congressman for Illinois 2nd Congressional District. His enlighten analysis offers compelling evidence that Obama offers the Democratic Party it’s best chance for victory in November. Please see below.

Clinton’s “Big State” Theory
Obama Campaigns for All Americans, Not Just Some

By Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.

In the 2000 election, the one that created the red/blue map, Vice-President Al Gore was officially credited with winning 20 states plus Washington, D.C. Had he captured the electoral votes of even one more state, even one as small as New Hampshire, he would have been sworn in as President instead of George W. Bush.

So it make sense to look at who is winning the “Gore” states, the “blue” states, the states that Democrats carried in 2000, rather than focusing on some new argument about “big” states?
After all, one of the biggest states is Texas, Bush’s home base, which Gore never tried to carry. The point is, one key to winning is your ability to carry “blue” states first (plus at least one more!).

Barack Obama has won more “Gore” states so far, by a 2-1 margin.

Obama has won 12 Gore states:
Maine Vermont
Connecticut
Delaware Maryland
Hawaii
Illinois Wisconsin
Washington, D.C.
Iowa Minnesota
Washington

Clinton has won 6 Gore states:
New York Rhode Island
Massachusetts
New Jersey California
New Mexico

There are still 3 Gore states to go (plus we could mention Florida, which Gore really won!):
Michigan Pennsylvania
Oregon

Isn’t it at least possible that the ability to carry these “Gore” states is more important than the ability to carry “big”
states?

Let me make one more point related to this whole Clinton argument about the “big” states—as Bill Clinton himself proved in his 1992 victory, the ability to win a Democratic primary or caucus is not directly correlated to your ability to carry that same state in November.

Guess how many states Bill Clinton won in the fall that he had lost in the Democratic primary and caucus process? I counted 13.

Of the 33 states he carried to win the Presidency, Clinton lost
2 states to Tom Harkin—Iowa Minnesota. He lost 5 states to Jerry Brown—Nevada, Colorado, Maine, Connecticut Vermont. And he lost 6 more states to Paul Tsongas—Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington.

The conclusion is obvious—losing a state in the primary/caucus process to a Democratic opponent does not mean that you cannot win that state in the fall against a Republican opponent. Bill Clinton disproved that theory in 1992—13 times.

Both of the points I made above—that Obama is winning the Gore states, and that losing a state in the Democratic primaries does not prevent you from winning it in the fall against the Republicans—cast further doubt on the Clinton campaign’s newly-invented “big state” theory. It may well be true that the Clinton strategy for trying to win the Democratic nomination was based on a group of big states—but that strategy has not only fallen behind the Obama campaign strategy of treating all the states as important, it is not necessary to win in November.

Al Gore showed us that in 2000. And Bill Clinton showed us that in 1992.

(To confirm, contact Ken Edmonds at 202-445-1484. Feel Free to POST.)

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Jesse Jackson, Jr. - Congressman Second District of Illinois http://www.jessejacksonjr.org

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What a day yesterday was! It has to potential to become a historic day in our history or it could end up as just a nice speech. According to white journalist, there was a lot riding on Obama’s speech. I often watch early morning news cast on CNBC. Most of the journalists are white and many of the few blacks are hand picked and safe Negros. One pundit whom I respect said Obama would have difficulty addressing this issue. This pundit of politics stated, if Obama did not hit a home run speech, he needed to get out of the race. Senator Obama leads in popular votes, delegates, and states won, but if this speech could not be delivered to the satisfaction of white folks, he should step down. This was one of the more open minded commentators, and he still drew a line in the sand. Senator Clinton had a major speech on Iraq, the basis of her recent proclamation that she is best suited to answer a phone at 3 am. She has the experience and knowledge to be our best choice as Commander and Chief. There was no line in the sand for her even though she is loosing by all measurements, except skin color. Have you heard anything about Clinton’s speech, me either, it must have bombed.
Barrack hit a grand slam. At the end of his speech, I text a messaged to one of Senator Obama’s co chair of the national campaign. I text this super delegate, “A speech for the age of change. 5th graders need to memorize this speech instead of Gettysburg.” The reply was, they need to motorize both.
I will not get into the high points of his speech or the conservative spin on why Rev. Wright should be shot, and why Barack must be a hate monger. I will simply state, of all the people involved in this discussion, Hillary, Bill, Limbaugh, other conservatives, newspaper owners, Rev. Wright and Senator Obama, clearly Obama’s speech is from the heart and is sincere. The rest, are spinning according to their personal interest and how they want to race to turn out.
Will this speech help to elect our President? This speech as been described as the most important speech on civil rights since the “I have a Dream Speech,” 40 years ago. Will it move our nation closer and help us conquer problems. It depends on who you listen to. My advice is listening to Senator Obama.
This racial divide is a terrible thing. My life experiences have taught me; if you take the time to learn a person, regardless of your and their fears and resentment based on color, you can find trust and respect. I have seen that fact work in business and sociality.