The Unwritten Resume: The “Real” You Others See

We’re all familiar with the written resume; it’s where we record our educational and professional history. It's what we hope makes us stand out from the crowd somehow.

But, after more than 25 years of reading resumes I began to notice something. After a generation of bright, talented students competing their way through graduate schools and top-flight management training programs with solid companies, the written resumes began to look alike. Resumes were beginning to lose some of the differentiating qualities we all relied upon in the past. Now, many people had solid undergraduate credentials and MBA’s from good schools.

I began to wonder if the written resume wasn’t losing some of its power of persuasion to clearly identify someone as a key prospective candidate and help them lock up those highly sought-after promotions and jobs.

So, how are senior executives making hiring decisions today? When talented, qualified people are vying for the same jobs and promotions what is it that sets the one who’s been chosen for the coveted slot apart from the others?

The question I recently asked 11 senior executives was this: Assuming you have a management position of critical importance that is vacant in your organization and you have more than one qualified person to choose from to fill it, what are the key selection criteria you use in picking the person you will either promote or hire to fill it?

Their answers were truly illuminating. There was broad agreement that someone’s written resume was only a door-opener, an introduction, if you will. When it came time, however, to make the decision of whether to promote or hire someone they all agreed, with one exception, that their decision was based on something else. It was based on a collection of insights, impressions, instinct and chemistry. In other words, it was a collection of things that weren’t written down anywhere.

This “collection” was based on their interpretation of what I call “The Unwritten Resume”. Why is this collection so important? As one chief operating officer put it, “Because the written resume is what you want me to see, how you want me to see it and the “Unwritten Resume” is who you really are.” He went on to add that the written resume can be stretched and exaggerated at times, but the look in someone’s eyes, their body language, the inflection in their voice and the quality of their observations—the elements of the unwritten resume—are very hard to fake. Doing references and degree checks on candidates are important parts of the process, to be sure, but, the unwritten resume is the single most powerful and compelling element. Why? Because, without a good unwritten resume, you won’t make it as far as the referencing or degree check stage. It either validates or causes one to question who your written resume says you are.

Listed below are the 10 elements of an “Unwritten Resume”. Look at them as a whole, not disparate pieces. “It’s the stew and how all the pieces come together, not the individual ingredients that are important,” according to my friend Allan Cox, author, executive coach and head of Allan Cox & Associates.

1. Attitude
Attitude tells a senior executive a lot about someone’s resilience, flexibility and commitment—it’s a reliable predictor.

“Attitude creates a ‘life-force’ and style that is a clear differentiator,” says Cox, “It is what converts a skill or ability to completion. It’s the difference between being able to run well and being an Olympic athlete.”

In other words, it’s the difference between someone who excels in life versus someone who is going through the motions.

2. Intelligence
Intelligence is often revealed by how well you prepared for the interview and by the quality of your questions and observations. Scanning easily available information about a company, its competitors and industry sector can trigger some great questions and insights. Or, as another CEO told me, “Precociousness that’s in perspective, novel solutions and ideas are all proxies for intelligence.”

3. Communication Skills
There are people who listen and there are people who are just waiting to talk. Yes, communicating is a two-way street. What better way can you demonstrate that you “hear” the needs of others than to show good listening skills?

Eye contact was also an element of communicating that received unanimous support among those interviewed. Maintaining appropriate eye contact sends a message of veracity and confidence.

Another “primary screen” in communicating is the written form. Believe it or not, a common complaint from senior executives is that people can’t write a letter today. Email and text messaging have done a lot of damage when it comes to syntax, punctuation and grammar—all of which speak volumes about who you are to someone who is considering how well you might represent the company to the outside world.

4. Passion and Balance
Being passionate about what you do and what you believe in is a two-edged sword. On one hand it is recognized as being that special something that drives people to win. But, on the other hand, behavioral extremes are a major red flag to a savvy interviewer—that’s where the balance part of it comes in.

5. People Skills
People skills represent the foundation of trust, relationship management and leadership and are displayed in a wide variety of ways.

People skills also involve ‘peripheral observation skills’ according to one former CEO. Whether it’s picking up on the death of a pet; a favorite author, whose work is represented in a bookcase, or a cuff link that tells a story; noticing these things and making an appropriate comment makes a “human connection” that is hard to duplicate in normal conversation.

Most of those interviewed spoke of the concept of investing in a relationship. The degree to which you will inconvenience yourself on behalf of another is an investment that has an incredibly high return.

6. Ability to Execute
This is where the rubber meets the road. To many, it became the most important element of the unwritten resume after the Internet flameout. To a venture capitalist, ideas are like belly buttons; everybody’s got one. It’s the people who can convert ideas into results, people who know how to prioritize and tune out the static, who are in demand. The real emphasis here is on how it was done.

7. Honesty
In the post-Enron world of today this is sacred ground. This trait is seen by senior executives and Boards of Directors as the bedrock of character and integrity. It is an absolute sine qua non, period. CEO’s and Boards don’t want to go into battle with people they can’t trust.

8. Humility
The act of remembering that other people are involved in every success, or to acknowledge that luck played a big role in that particular accomplishment being discussed, or to be genuinely self-effacing at times, sends a powerful message of maturity, ego-balance and authenticity.

9. Self Confidence
There is a fine line between self confidence and arrogance and it’s an easy line for many to cross. Overuse of the first person singular, interrupting others, always being the first to offer an opinion—these are the fingernails on the blackboard of conversation. People naturally are drawn to those who display self confidence. Arrogance, on the other hand, can close more doors more quickly than any other trait.

10. Manners
Manners show sophistication, understanding and respect for those with whom you are dealing—pretty important things if you’re being considered for a position that requires you to interact with other people.

For those who know how to construct, polish and present their unwritten resume and understand the powerful lasting impressions it creates, the future is bright no matter what the economy’s current cycle is or where their global employers send them. For those who don’t understand the concept of the unwritten resume and the power of its subtleties the future will be made up of what’s left over.

What is your Unwritten Resume telling others about you?