Speaker review written by Cory Edwards of Partnering for Success

As usual, Jack Chapman was full of innovative and creative ideas to help us grow our business while challenging some of our deep held beliefs. This interactive and informative session was one of my personal highlights of the conference. I immediately saw the logic and benefits of this new tool and immediately imaged new ways to use it to grow my business.

Jack shared with participants a creative, practical, interest-generating, strength-showcasing way to get hiring decision makers interested in our clients and their accomplishments without the use of an historical résumé or boastful cover letter. Participants were challenged to consider using Special Reports as a networking tool for our clients. This innovative approach has been reaping significant results for Jack’s clients. And he willingly shared this technique with CDI-goers!

We talked about what a Special Report is; how it’s different from a résumé; why it works so much better for networking; what goes into a Special Report; how to use it in a job search; and how we can use this technology with our clients. Jack shared with us how this technique can be used and how effective it is in positioning our clients as experts in their field. Needless to say, I immediately saw the value and left with a wealth of possibilities.

Jack ended his presentation with a surprise from CDI. President, Laura DeCarlo; and Cory Edwards joined Jack in instructing the group in the Hawaiian Hand Dance learned the night before at the luau. Afterward we again recognized Jack as a "CDI Ambassador of Excellence" and gifted him with a souvenir photo from the luau with him beating the drums. We told him that he truly was a "Chief Empowerment Officer" and then all laughed over, "Who says CDI doesn't empower their members?" Thanks Jack for being a good sport!

Speaker review written by Cory Edwards of Partnering for Success

With an arsenal of over 13 different interview types, session-attendees were challenged to identify them all, as Laura DeCarlo demonstrated challenging interview situations. From cattle calls to videoconference interviews, conference attendees learned how to competently coach clients through them all.

This session provided comprehensive information on a wide variety of interviews such as; psychometric testing, speed interviews, puzzle interviews, and lunch interviews. For each interview situation a clear purpose and strategy was discussed. This highly interactive session demonstrated different interviews that our clients may experience and provided information on how to coach our clients to navigate these unusual and unpredictable interviews.

One particularly interesting interview is the travel interview. Used by some airlines, job candidates are provided an airline ticket to travel to the interview. Their ticket is flagged so that all corporate employees know to observe the job candidate. By the time the candidate gets to the interview the potential employer has been provided a comprehensive report about the candidate’s travel behavior. How he/she interacted with gate attendants, customer service representatives, airline hostesses and others will be reported and documented. Details like drinks ordered consumed and special requests made will all be reported.

Session attendees were provided clear notes, valuable discussion, a lot of laughs, and demonstrations to fully understand and prepare their clients for these tricky interview situations.

Speaker review written by Freddie Cheek of Cheek & Associates, LLC

Presenting on the last day of the conference, after a tasty and filling lunch, and with Mickey and Cinderella beckoning from down the road, is probably the least desirable slot for a business discussion. However, executive-résumé guru, Louise Kursmark, not only held the attendees’ attention, she provided 90 minutes of advice, wisdom, techniques, and sure-fire tips for us to take home and immediately implement.

The overall message was: you too can attract and meet the needs of executive clients. But, her suggestions and information are applicable for any level of client and are geared to helping clients attain their career goals AND enabling us to build a lucrative business. I am always amazed at the generosity of the most successful members of our profession. Louise willingly shared the wealth so we, too, could “do less and earn more.”

It all starts with our presentation and overall image. We need to position ourselves to appeal to senior- level candidates. We must be solution providers, sharing our expertise, understanding their professions, presenting a professional image in print, on the web, and on the phone, giving a good ROI, and demonstrating the value and benefits we offer. When we can do all of this, clients will willingly pay at a higher price point, will opt for expanded services, and will typically trust our suggestions since they are accustomed to delegating.

Louise discussed a broad range of cutting-edge documents, including executive bio, specialized one- page networking résumé, PowerPoint résumé, leadership addendum, reference dossier, brochure, job proposal, and interview portfolio, among others. Each of these can be presented from a menu of services and should be priced based on time and effort to produce.

In her mix of résumé and business advice, she suggested tips on a variety of writing plus coaching services, including when to offer them, how to price them (executives want to pay a premium price since they feel they are worth it), how to recommend them, and methods for presenting them. One great tip: when you send the résumé draft (which she makes sure is perfect the first time the client sees it) and review it, ask, “Have you thought about how you are going to use this résumé?” Then, present or email the information regarding résumé distribution, web portfolio, interview prep, company and industry research, etc.

Louise’s presentation was jam-packed with useful and applicable information, covering how to promote our business (gain visibility in the general and careers communities), how to solicit information for a powerful résumé, how and when to quote and collect fees (get a signed contract before sending questionnaire or files), what to put on our website (samples do generate business), and how to politely turn away or refer people who cannot afford our fees (never discount or negotiate price). After the 90+ minutes flew by, we were all better informed, energized, motivated, and confident to go forward and improve our services and business model. Much thanks to Louise for, as always, delivering an exceptional and worthwhile presentation.

Speaker review written by Malloy W. Lacktman of Sage Resumes

Initially, Tracy Parish of Career Plan, Inc. was unsure what to think when a client compared her resume strategies to those employed in competitive hog shows. Tracy now credits that client for pointing out that, whether human or swine, success occurs when one is distinguished from the rest of the crowd. Tracy shared the following tools for doing just that, while increasing profit with add-ons and upgrades:

Add PowerPoint resumes to your menu of services.
The PowerPoint Resume is a powerful new tool to consider adding to the standard package of cover letter, resume and reference page. A 60-90 second PowerPoint teaser acts as a preview for the resume and an innovative way to distinguish and spark interest for your client.

When creating a PowerPoint resume, consider including snippets from the cover letter, quotes, professional endorsements, an outline of the applicant’s employment history and his education. Pay particular attention to designing and timing the presentation so it can be easily viewed. The last slide should thank the hiring authority and provide him with the candidate’s contact information.

A PowerPoint resume can be e-mailed with the traditional resume, saved on a CD and sent alongside the hard copy resume, or brought to the interview as a leave behind favor.

Provide clients with hard copies of their resume.
Remember paper? In an electronic age, time-honored snail mail can both differentiate an applicant and increase the likelihood the resume reaches the potential employer. Consider providing clients with high quality 9x12 envelopes to mail their paper resumes. These larger envelopes are less likely to blend in with bills, especially when they have stamps instead of metered postage.

Paper resumes also provide the opportunity to showcase fancier formats and fonts that do not e- mail well. The printed resume is an appropriate place for a splash of color. Used sparingly, a sophisticated color can enhance the document. For example, try a single hunter green line under the header.

Offer portfolio upgrades to your clients.
The Portfolio resume, which is printed on 11x17-sized paper, is a favorite among Human Resources professionals for their own resumes. When folded in half widthwise it can accommodate a graphic cover page on the exterior, a cover letter on the left-side interior, and a resume on the right-side interior. The Portfolio resume offers countless options for designing and formatting a resume as unique as the applicant. It is particularly valuable for the “cattle call” interview.

A variation of the 11x17 version is the 11x14 version, which can be folded to create an abbreviated cover and showcase a vertical column on the page beneath it. Since this column is visible when the pamphlet is open or closed, it is valuable real estate on the document and should be used accordingly. Key words and phrases, as well as professional endorsements, work well in that space.

Be aware of the limitations of the Portfolio resume. It does not scan, fax, or copy easily and, accordingly, should be included in addition to the traditional application documents.

Everyone donned their finery for an extraordinary closing banquet with new friends and family. A buzz was in the air as each table simultaneously received their 2007 Conference Goody Bags and the announcement was made, "Next Year we are going to San Antonio, Texas to stay at the Historic Menger Hotel next to The Alamo and just one block from the Riverwalk."

Don Skipper, Master of Ceremonies, regaled us all with jokes, taking great pleasure in introducing the 7 Laura DeCarlo's who direct our association and introducing one of her hilarious 12 rules of grammar (as created by Don). Here they are:

1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague (they’re old hat).
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
9. No sentence fragments.
10. Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
11. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
12. One should NEVERR generalize.

Then, there were so many CDI Ambassadors of Excellence to recognize for their many contributions. We surprised Don Skipper with his President's Choice Award, thrilled Sharon Pierce- Williams with her two TORI Awards, awed many with the sweeping impact that the New Beginnings Foundation and CDI will have through the new Corrections Career Transition Certified program, and brought tears to many while Grant Cooper and Nona Pratz thanked the individuals who helped them through the challenging period following Hurricane Katrina. It was truly a night to be remembered!

While the hats and flowers started as decorations, many were worn by the end of the night as the excitement grew about going to San Antonio. Before the night was over seven attendees had already registered to do it all again next year!