The 30-Day Job Search: Another Guerrilla Resume Success Story

Following seven months of struggle, one Minnesota man made a simple change in his job search in August, and was hired for a new position only 30 days later.

What did he do?

Read on …

Scott Bornstein, from suburban Minneapolis, was using what he thought was a well written resume, but without results. “Every time I sent it out, people would suggest changes to make. When I handed it out at a job fair, they’d say, ‘Thank you’ and file it away immediately.” He wasn’t getting called by employers.

Sound familiar?

But Bornstein found a way to improve his resume, which boosted his self-confidence, which, in turn, led to more interviews, in a virtuous circle that led to a job offer within 30 days.

It all started with a new, improved resume.

“I went to using a Guerrilla Resume. It was easy to write and it gave me confidence, with a resume that I felt positive to hand out to anybody,” says Bornstein.

The Guerrilla Resume is a new style of resume. It’s normally one page long and has two essential components:

      1. logos or graphics from past employers, colleges, or organizations;
      2. quotes from people familiar with your work, such as managers or clients.

Why are these elements so powerful?

Logos and graphics can improve your resume because the human brain would rather look at pictures than read. (What’s worth a thousand words?) So the right logo or graphic on your resume can make a favorable impact before an employer reads one word of your resume.

Can you get in trouble for using a logo? If you print it on a T-shirt and sell it on Ebay, sure. But is it verboten to use a logo in your resume to convey a relationship with an employer, client, school, or organization?

Not in my experience since 1996. Of course, I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. When in doubt, ask permission before using a corporate graphic or logo.

Quotes from past managers or clients are the second element of every Guerrilla Resume.

Bornstein used three quotes on his resume. Quotes get attention because they are third-party endorsements of you, just like testimonials in an infomercial.

Where can you get them? Start with the recommendations on your Linkedin profile. They’re already in the public domain — why not use those quotes in your resume?

Now, here’s what happened after Bornstein revamped his resume.

“The next day I went to a job fair in Minneapolis. I walked up to a recruiter and handed my resume to her. She actually grabbed my hand, leaned in, and said, ‘This is an amazing resume.’ And I knew at that moment that I had something,” says Bornstein.

What he had was confidence, which improved every part of his job search.

Think about how easy it is to do something when you know you can, versus when you’re unsure. It’s the difference that can make all the difference.

“With the new resume, I had complete confidence in what I was doing. As soon as I started handing it to other people – hiring managers, recruiters, whoever – nobody wanted to change it. I felt they all wanted to give me a chance, and that was different,” says Bornstein.

The job Bornstein eventually took came from a contact he made at the Wooddale Transition Group. (If you’re not a member of a high-quality job club, consider joining one. In addition to producing employment leads, it gets you out of the house to meet and help other people.)

“An email went to the group members on a Wednesday and I applied, along with 32 other people. The new resume immediately popped up for the hiring manager,” says Bornstein, who was called on Friday and interviewed on Monday. A second interview followed on Thursday and he was offered a job the next day — nine days after applying.

What did Bornstein do to seal the deal in his second job interview?

He brought a portfolio of achievements, work samples, and comments from others, organized in a three-ring binder. The portfolio, which took Bornstein two hours to assemble, supported his resume and helped him edge out two other candidates for the position.

When asked to describe the difference his new resume made, Bornstein replied, “The confidence was huge for me.”

An eye-grabbing resume can provide the same kind of ego boost you might enjoy after getting a nice haircut or a $1,000 suit. If clothes can make the man, can a Guerrilla Resume make the job search?

In this case at least, the answer is yes.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under resumes. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.