Beware of Using Unfamiliar Terms and Brands On Your Resume

Résumés are supposed to communicate what you do and what you have accomplished.  As I have written before, in advertising, when seeing your résumé the first time, all anyone wants to know is where you worked, what you worked on, how long you were there and whether you were promoted.  

I see résumés all the time with what I call “client speak” in them.  People use terms which are meaningful within the context of their own company or client but which have little relevance on the outside.  You must be aware of these terms and the fact that people don't necessarily know what you are talking about.

People from abroad often list unfamiliar brand names in résumés; they may be big and important in their country, but are unknown here and therefore meaningless in terms of a US job. You cannot assume that people who will see your résumé will automatically know what you are talking about.

One of the best examples of this actually happened to me. When I was an account person, I was telling a commuter friend that I was in the process of launching a new product.  He asked me what kind of “module” I was using.  I immediately replied that I didn’t think I should discuss it.  However, the truth was, I didn’t know what a module was. I had never heard the term. I called everyone I knew in the business and no one else seemed to know what a module was.  I finally called a friend at this person’s agency and asked him and he didn’t know either.  He researched it and called me back to tell me that it was a term used on this person’s account – in those days Coca-Cola at McCann-Erickson. It was client-speak.  A module was Coke’s way of describing a marketing roll-out plan; it was a term only used at McCann on Coca-Cola.

This kind of client speak is meaningless outside of that particular client, especially out of context. It does not belong on a résumé. When creating your résumé, you must be sure that it is understood by anyone reading it.

People who have worked abroad should not assume that everyone outside their markets knows their brands.  A lot of educated and sophisticated people do not know that Ariel is Tide in Europe.  I saw a résumé of someone who worked in England on BskyB.  I haven’t a clue what that is.  A small parenthesis explaining it would have been useful.  

That also  goes for smaller companies.  A small hot advertising agency in, say, Seattle, may be unknown outside of the market.  A parenthesis saying, “Seattle’s hottest digital ad agency” could go a long way towards getting you an interview.

In addition to unknown brands or companies, I see initials all the time which have no relevance.

Here are some terms and expressions I commonly see (all picked out of recent résumés I have received).  If you know what they all mean, you are better than I am. I can often figure out the initials in the context of the résumé, but sometimes not.

ATL, BTL, BAL, OCH, LOB, ITDM, SOV, 3BL, LOHAS, SME, ARPU, SOX, LATAM, APAC, Leveraged Marketing, Orgullosa.

I got an email recently from a CEO asking for an NED job.  I had to ask her what that was and when I was told, I am still not sure I know what it really means!

The issue here is that these terms and words are so familiar at work that everyone assumes everyone else knows them.  The best thing you can do is show your résumé to a friend or neighbor who is not in your business and ask them if they understand every term you have used. 

           

Six Lies Told To Candidates While They Are Interviewing

Companies and hiring managers often don’t tell the whole truth to candidates while they are interviewing.  Often the lies are unintentional, merely a convenience.  For instance, when a person resigns and gives two weeks’ notice; the easiest thing to do is to dust off the old job description and use it without thinking of how the job (or the company) may have changed and evolved since the job was last filled. 

Sometimes the lies are told to try to quickly attract people to an open job.  Sometimes companies believe their own B.S. They really do. Like the president of a well-known sweat shop who told me, with a very straight face, that people at his agency were so turned on and happy that they actually wanted to work late and on weekends.

Here are some of the common lies I have heard. I am sure you can add to the list.

 Our clients loves us

We have heard this story too many times.   We can only guess that it is said because the hiring company or hiring manager likes the candidate and does not want to scare him or her off.

The truth is often quite the opposite.  Corporately, the client management  may love the agency, but it turns out that the brand or day-to-day people really do not like the agency or the work.  This clash between corporate and operations is very common and makes the account difficult.

We rarely work too late and we have summer Fridays off

I had one candidate tell me that a noted sweat shop actually said this.  The truth was people rarely left before 9pm, often worked in the office on the weekends and, while the office closed on summer Friday’s at 1pm, they were still there most Fridays at dinner time. And on the rare occasions when someone wanted totake the afternoon off, it was discouraged.

We are like a family here

Oh, yes, we all know that family. It is the one where no one talks to each other.

We have several candidates interviewing for this job

This is a favorite ploy of many hiring managers and human resources people when the candidate it is said to is the only one interviewing.  I suspect the reasons are two-fold.  First, they don’t want the candidate to know that they may have salary negotiating leverage and second, they think it gives the agency the upper hand when making an offer.

Business is really good

This has been said to many a candidate immediately following massive layoffs due to loss of business.  Worse still, many candidates have been hired to work on an account which is practically out of the door.  Often, people are hired to try to shore up a weak piece of business, but the new person is not told that the account is on shaky ground.

There is about 20-40% Travel

I once placed a candidate who was a newlywed on one of the largest accounts in the world. As an account supervisor she was told there would be a lot of production, which she loved, accompanied by twenty percent travel.  Once she was hired, she discovered that the account was in production virtually all year and she was expected to travel at least three to five days a week.  She left at the end of six weeks when she had not been home for a single weekend.

The truth is that there are lots of people who love difficult situations. They actually thrive on the adversity.  If a recruiter knows, they can screen for it.  If there is no recruiter, candidates should be told the situation on the first interview.  It saves a lot of aggravation later on. 

Being honest with candidates up front, saves a lot of problems down the road.

Creative People Are The Soul Of Advertising

I am shocked at the number of account people I see who never mention creative work or creative people they have been involved with.  I guess it is very easy to forget that the engine that runs all of advertising – traditional, digital, media, planning, etc. – is the creative department. Without them, the business doesn’t work. 

With few exceptions, creative people work longer hours than others in the business.  It is your friendly creative director, who, under deadline pressure, edits commercials until four in the morning.  It is the creative team who must have the work done for tomorrow’s presentation and they haven’t gotten enough input from their account group. Consequently, they are on their own.  As a result, and I am not supposed to be saying this, they create their own strategy to fit the brief and then they do the work.  And it is usually the creative team that presents the work to the client.

It is they who are standing in front of the room, naked, so to speak.

Writers and art directors are demanding, because, sadly, few account people fully understand what information the creative department needs to do their work. I once had a creative partner, who couldn’t do  anything until he fully understood every nuance about the company and the assignment.  Sometimes the smallest detail would affect his ability to do the work well.  But once he understood, the work was magic.  (I wrote a Tribute to Ned Viseltear several months ago.)  He really taught me, after many years in the business. how to motivate and work with good creative talent.

Creative people take pride in their work.  After all, the results of their work is the public face of the business.  It doesn’t matter if they can’t work without proper input. It doesn’t matter if the planner’s insight and direction is slightly off.  It doesn’t matter if the client pushes them to do less than perfect work. It is still their work.

Some creative people are more difficult than others.  Some are totally committed to winning awards at the expense of selling.  Some are just pig headed and some are both pig headed and brilliant.  

The rest of us feed the engine.  Our feelings matter less. I remember once working at a highly creatively driven agency.  The ECD (executive creative director) once said to me as I was going out the door with a portfolio of photographs from a shoot, “Don’t come back unless you get the client to buy our recommended choice.”  It was a really great comment because that portfolio contained his soul.

Media people just don’t feel the same attachment to their media plans.  Few account planners care as much about their insights. And account people learn not to have big egos attached to what they do.

Once upon a time, and it was a long time ago, the creative department was loaded with eccentricities.  Creative people had water fights.  They had dartboards in their offices. Creative people came in late to the consternation of clients (it still happens).  But all the while they were thinking about their craft and trying to make great work for their clients.

It may not be what the rest of us do, but it is the most essential part of the business.

Leaving Gracefully After You Have Been Let Go

Companies terminate employees for all kinds of reasons.  Budgets get cut, accounts get lost, new people come and they want their own team; sometimes business is just bad.  Sometimes the cutback is foreseen and occasionally it is a complete surprise. But if you are terminated, for whatever reason you are given, you must leave gracefully. Never lose your temper, no matter how angry you are.

There are two critical factors in a termination.  The first is severance and the second is references.  Both are usually negotiable to some extent.

Most larger companies have policies which govern the amount of severance allowed.  Sometimes an outgoing employee may be able to negotiate for more, depending on the circumstances.  Companies will generally stick by policy, at least initially, but, if pushed, can be persuaded to grant a longer period of pay, especially if they are approached in a friendly, non-confrontational way. 

 

For some senior employees, a friendly, non-threatening lawyer’s letter may do the trick (A lawyer’s letter is a lawyer’s letter, no matter how nicely it is written.  There is always an implicit threat in a letter from a lawyer. However, what is not wanted is to push the company to the wall because the company inevitably has deeper pockets than you do).  The truth is that corporate management actually understands this tactic.

But, in the long run, upon exiting a job, the most important thing may be negotiating for references.  References may determine your ability to get your next job.  Even if you have not liked the job or liked the person you reported to, asking for a reference should be something which every departing employee does, regardless of the circumstances of the termination.

Now, there is actually some legal mumbo-jumbo which, in New York State, prevents a reference of any kind.  The law basically says that you cannot prevent someone from obtaining employment.  So the way companies handle that is that they periodically tell their staff that they may not give references of any kind – good or bad.  Most managers disregard that entirely, especially if they know and like the person asking for the reference. 

However, a departing employee must negotiate with former associates and managers for references, regardless of the corporate policy about giving them. 

The time to do it is while still physically there, if possible.  It is important to have a face-to-face meeting to determine what people will or will not say about your employment and your skills. 

Regardless, it should be done immediately, not weeks or months later.

The one thing which is most essential is not to ever trash the company or its people.  I just heard a story about a gentlemen who was terminated. His firing came as a surprise to him.


So, when he was being terminated, he lost his temper with the president of the company.  Rather than smile as best he could, he proceeded to yell at the president and spew out all the venom which had built up during his employment. The result of the tantrum was that he was not given planned severance and he certainly will not get a good reference. 

I know this happens with some frequency, but allowing your temper to get the best of you, is career suicide.  People have long memories.

The best policy is to swallow hard and suck it up.  Your well-being is at stake.  If, in the case just mentioned, the fired employee had discussed the situation in a calm and friendly manner, he might have been able to determine what would be said to potential employers.

Also remember, while people will call your list of references, they may also just call people not on your reference list, including your previous employer.  And one of the most important references may be your previous company.

Leaving gracefully is smart business.