Where Quality Resides

“Quality, relevant content can’t be spotted by an algorithm, nor by AI. You can’t subscribe to it. You can’t download it. You need people—actual human beings—to create or curate it.”

     Kristina Halvorson, “Content Strategy for the Web”

It may be the toughest job you have: making sure you always deliver the very best quality. There are two parts to that challenge.

The first is a seeming paradox. The more clients you have, the bigger your bank account. That would be great…if only it would last. 

Soon, there never seems to be enough time. You knew you should keep up with bios and other advanced documents. You just didn’t have the time. 

You kept meaning to get up to speed on LinkedIn’s ever-changing interface. There were just too many résumés to write.

Then clients start to ask for products and services you’re uncertain about. AI may be the leading candidate. Your business starts to fall off. It’s sliding toward failure.

Volume does not drive quality over time. Not for your clients. Not for you. Not for our industry.

The second challenge can be difficult as well. Which measure of quality is most important? The question is nearly complete. It should read which measure is most important…to the clients. What defines his optimum experience?

The operative words are “most important…to the clients.” They really don’t want a résumé. They want a job. They really don’t want the formula for a great interview. They want careers. They don’t want endless “guidance” on how to find “keywords.”

This is where your wisdom comes into play. Not all our clients really know what it takes to get a job or land a great career. If they did, they wouldn’t need us. 

Making matters worse, some clients think they know what it takes. The executive who initially insists on a one-page résumé fits in that category.

Clients should rely on us to guide them across all the stepping stones to the best possible outcome. 

Consider the résumé, for example. When a typical client comes to you, they often think the résumé is a “magic” document. They’ve heard (somewhere) résumés are somehow influenced by an ever-changing mass of obscure “rules” nobody can define.

When they see the great résumé you wrote, they tell you, “it captures me completely!” They see their true worth for the first time. No wonder it gives them confidence. 

Now we uncover the true definition of quality. Quality appears at the intersection of your wisdom and skills and your clients’ certain knowledge of their value.

Your wisdom about a résumé starts with your knowledge of its three roles and missions: 

• The first role and mission is to prove to the hiring manager (who is rarely in HR and should never be an algorithm), your client will make the company a lot more money than it will take to hire them. This proof should appear in the first line and consist of observable behaviors. 

No room for glittering collections of traits, responsibilities, and minimum standard skills. 

I am privileged to know a hardworking, great communicator, an outstanding “people person,” with wonderful communications skills. That’s my West Highland White Terrier, Archie! 

• The second role and mission is to guide outstanding interviews, enticing the interviewer to ask questions that interest both him and your clients. The challenge-context-action-results stories you write are just what gets the ball rolling.

You’ve given your clients all they need to transform the too common interrogation most untrained interviewers fall back on into the collaboration both parties want.

• The third role and mission is to help your clients negotiate salary, (or commissions), perks, benefits, and severance. Because you have quantified the results in your stories in dollars, you’ve equipped your clients to guide the interviewer to go beyond cost to see value.

Consider the candidate of choice who appears to want $8,000 more than the interviewer had in mind.

If the interviewer is paying attention, he knows your client isn’t just targeting his company. Yes, the hiring decision maker could pick a less qualified applicant who will accept the lower salary. Meanwhile, your client is targeting all the interviewer’s competition. If your client brings in a minuscule contract—say $10,000—the interviewer’s $8,000 “savings” will cost only $10,000!

It will dawn on the hiring decision maker how little time it will take your clients to make up the $8,000.

Use the intersection that defines quality to build tests that optimize the client’s job seeking experience. I suggest these:

• Test number 1: Did I unintentionally give my client too much, or two little, credit for what they have done? We must both stand behind the integrity of what I write. If a part of my draft fails that test, it’s my fault; I must not have taken the best notes. I was sure the client said they saved their company ten million dollars. Turned out, in my haste, I added an extra zero: it was a one million, not ten million dollar savings!
• Test number 2: Has my client thought of another success story? I want them to get credit for all they do.
• Test number 3: Do the words sound like your client? Are those their preferred choices? Do they reflect their philosophy? Did I use their industry’s jargon correctly?

Yes, there are usually minor changes we generally fix on the spot.

Notice how high I set the bar for myself to deliver more than a great résumé. At every stage—from information gathering, to writing, to proofing—I never lost sight of the experience my clients would have when they used the document I prepared.

When you write a résumé, give all your clients more than a Word document. Provide them with keys to memorable job seeking experiences and a great career.

Isn’t that where quality resides?