CHAPTER 4

       WRITING YOUR INDIANA JONES BIO

       Definition of an IJ Bio and its Purpose

      Before you produce a final resume, consider first writing your IJ Bio, especially if you haven’t looked for a job in a while. Making the effort to complete your IJ Bio can help you conduct more effective networking and PEG job interviews. Our PEG clients liked the due diligence aspect of the IJ Bio. Our C-Level candidates grew to appreciate it after completion. I discovered years ago that a significant number of our A player skin in the game C-Level search candidates from the Midwest, Southwest, and from manufacturing industries had unimaginative, job responsibility-dominated resumes. Top level candidates, particularly at the full P&L and operations level, found it difficult to legitimately give themselves credit for their major career employment achievements.

      The majority of my PEG clientele for the past twenty-eight years has been the lower middle market, not the billion dollar companies serviced by the big name headhunters. The skin in the game search assignments I fill demand hands-on C-Level candidates able to do more than the job for which they were hired. Their resumes need to demonstrate an ability to wear many hats in small portfolio companies. If you are trying for a job in this market, your resume must show these skills and characteristics. Bringing out such legitimate abilities in your Indiana Jones Bio will provide you with ammunition for a more effective resume that addresses your target audience’s hiring priorities.

      I began calling my candidate bio request the Indiana Jones Bio based on the adventurous Indiana Jones movies, and the bio moniker stuck. Afterwards, our senior level candidates began focusing on their value added achievements and began putting numbers, metrics, EBIT/EBITDA figures, results, percentages etc. into their IJs and subsequently into their resumes instead of just bland generalities.

      Presently there is a tight market with many A player senior executives actively looking for a job for over eighteen months or longer. Other highly qualified senior executives have actually stopped seeking their ideal job and lowered their career expectations.

      When investigating their own possible company acquisitions, private equity firms, including our PEG clients, employ a due diligence screening process before they spend millions in assessing and verifying as much critical, relevant, and confidential information as possible. Some PEGs spend years evaluating a key acquisition. I have always employed that same due diligence approach and investigative detail regarding our executive search candidates. The more the clients know about our finalist referred candidates, the better their hiring decisions. Clients appreciate this opportunity to really know their C-Level candidates and eventual hires. Gilreath Consultancy’s Indiana Jones Bio tool has been well received by our PEG clients right from the beginning.

      My pet peeve with the middle market PEGs in general is their insufficient concern with a C-Level candidate’s “soft skills”. These are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people, encompassing leadership, empathy, communication, and sociability. Too many middle market PEGs focus almost solely on hard skills, defined as a person’s technical skills, and ability to perform certain standalone functional tasks.

      If you have not looked for a management or executive job in many years, the Indiana Jones exercise will be helpful to you in communicating your life and career accomplishments and setbacks. This presentation should be in a “cut to the chase” manner, especially in face-to-face networking sessions and PEG job interviews. You might consider completing an Indiana Jones Bio to be overkill. Don’t. I have found that it strengthens the SITG C-Level candidate’s resume, networking, and job interviews.

      The IJ Bio, done right, is a cathartic, comprehensive review of your career to date. It demonstrates your soft skills and hard skills. The best approach, on a rough draft basis, is to list each employer, company, sales, number of employees, job location(s), parent company, products or services, job title, and key job criteria. Be sure to mention the job challenges you faced. Start getting in the habit of rating your individual job performance (and why) versus the job specs, from one to ten. Concisely explain circumstances, if any, beyond your control for poor performances. Naturally, using the IJ Bio as a helpful tool for a more impactful resume, you should focus on your accomplishments.

      The IJ Bio is to be treated confidentially regarding its distribution. If your first interview has gone well with a PEG and resulted in a follow-up interview, use your IJ Bio as a leave behind with the interviewer once the second interview session has ended positively. Remember, you will be competing for that skin in the game job. Odds are, your competition will only have a resume to leave with the hiring authority. You will have an effective resume, a due diligence-focused IJ Bio, and more. Be sure to mark the top “PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL” before printing a copy.

      The IJ Bio can help you psychologically when fine tuning your resume and for improved interviewing. Most hiring interviewers are not skilled enough to recognize if their interviewee can do the job they seek to fill. They are better at determining whether the interviewee meets all the job specs or not. The IJ Bio can reinforce your SITG C-Level candidacy looking at the entire person, not just what the resume covers. If you have an interview concerning a skin in the game job, give a copy of your Indiana Jones Bio to the PE Partner upon leaving, if he expresses further interest. Use it judiciously, as it’s not for just anybody who gets your resume. The IJ Bio will help you as much as the PEG hiring authorities you interview with.

       Indiana Jones Bio Basic Outline Exhibit:

      Your Indiana Jones Bio can also help with your LinkedIn bio. Here’s how your Indiana Jones Bio should flow according to the many highlighted checklists:

       Early Background

      Include a few words about your upbringing location, your parents (professionally speaking), siblings, noteworthy high school era accomplishments or Eagle Scout achievements, and any significant part time jobs. Also include any college scholarships.

       College/University Years

      This should include your top grades, whether you attended a self-financed college, any noteworthy varsity sports, part time jobs, Co-Op jobs, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), etc.

       Early Employment Years