Introduction to The 1-Pager Executive Brief

“Please allow me to introduce myself…”

-       lyrics from The Rolling Stones

We will talk about networking next, but when you go to network with someone what do you take to that meeting?  Nothing?  Nothing doesn’t seem like a good idea. 

You can bring them a copy of your resume.  What’s wrong with that?  Nothing specifically, but resumes are for interviews.  When you are having a networking meeting, you are talking with people that are not actively hiring, so handing them a resume will feel awkward to both of you.  The resume can also be fairly long and involved.  It isn’t great to look through at a glance and is more information than most people want.

So we are back to the question…what do you bring to a networking meeting?  My suggestion is to bring ‘The 1-Pager’.  The single page ‘Executive Brief’ is a concept that I first heard about while working with Navigate Forward.  Navigate Forward specializes in assisting people through the job transition process, and I very much appreciated their assistance. https://www.navigateforward.com/

This is a fun twist on a resume.  The target audience is someone that is willing to help you make contacts in your job search that ultimately may help land you in your next role.  So, the focus is fairly different from your standard resume. 

Here are the major components:

• Key contact information.  Always make it easy for someone to find you.

• A photo of yourself that is both professional and positive.  Smile.  The photo is really not allowed on a resume, and you may have reservations here, but the focus is to make you memorable, recognizable and approachable.

• Your career and educational background is going to be reduced to a series of bullets down one quarter of the page.   Big change from the resume.  Just the facts.

  • Name of company

  • Title(s)

  • Years at that company

  • Location

• Most of the page is devoted to bullets on your ‘Expertise’ and then on ‘Key Successes’.  Pull higher level phrases and sentences from across your career to put into these two areas.  Things that readers can connect with and help them understand what you have done, do well and could do for someone in the future.  This is a tough section to write.  Spend time on this area.  I found myself writing out many things and some in quite a bit of detail.  I had a helpful coach go through and help me distill this down into sentences that were impactful and concise.

• At the very bottom of the page your final section is called ‘Target Opportunities’.  This is the spot for you to list out a few general ideas about the types of attributes that you would like to have in your next role. 

  • List out a couple possible titles of jobs you would be interested in.

  • What geographies are you open to living/working in?

  • What size of business might suit you?

  • Do you want to lead a team or be an individual contributor?

  
  

Remember to think of you audience and intent with this ‘1-Pager’.  This is your sales brochure on yourself.  You are trying to spread this around your industry, your city and your friends to help you connect with the next opportunity.  You should feel proud of this document and what is inside it.