The A+ Application: Tips to Make Your Superintendent Résumé Top of the Class

Welcome to School Leader Soundbites, a podcast dedicated to empowering K-12 leaders with the latest insights and strategies in marketing and communications! Today, we are discussing The A+ Application: Tips to Make Your Superintendent Résumé Top of the Class.

• How do you know when it's time to update your Résumé?
  • Résumé should be looked at and updated at least twice a year so you aren't scrambling to put it together if you need it
• Résumé essentials:
  • Highlight your impact not just your experience, your achievements- let the data tell the story
  • Make sure to use action-oriented language (like led, innovative, increase etc)
  • Focus on relevant skills that demonstrate your values and things you are passionate about
• Crafting a compelling cover letter:
  • Address the districts' needs right off the bat, share research you have done on their needs and how you could help them
  • Highlight your leadership philosophy
  • Demonstrate emotional intelligence
  • Include a call-to-action at the end
• Portfolio:
  • Share a case study and initiatives that you were part of 
  • Showcase your communication style
  • Include photos and quotes from stakeholders

If you need any assistance with this, head to veronicavsopher.com. If you want more info, please contact me or drop questions in the comments and be sure to share this episode with your colleagues! If you have any questions or suggestions for future topics, I'm here to listen. Thanks for tuning in to School Leader Soundbites.

Find me at: https://www.veronicavsopher.com/

Social: @VeronicaVSopher

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Transcript

Veronica Sopher: 0:07
Hello Hello and welcome to School Leader Soundbites. I'm your host, Veronica Sopher And I have the honor of coming to you every week, dropping new episodes of our podcast where we talk about school communications, public relations, marketing and advertising. So if you are looking for some content on how to improve your school district's visibility strategy, you have found the right place. I come to you every week with more than 20 years of experience in school communications, and I love talking about all the things you need to know to improve your school district's presence in your community. So let's go ahead and get this episode started, but before we do, don't forget to hit subscribe. We don't want you to miss any episodes of School Leader Soundbites, and if you're watching on YouTube or Facebook, drop us some comments. So let's go ahead and dive into this week's episode. Now, some of you ask me how it is you know it's time to make sure your resume has been updated, or it's time for you to go out there and start finding the next challenge. Well, really, the question is always, your resume should always be looked at and updated at least twice a year, and all of your content should be reviewed, because oftentimes, when you find that perfect job or the next district that's right for you, your materials aren't ready, so you're working at the last minute to put together content that is not readily available. So here are some things to be thinking about. These are some resume essentials. Go beyond the title and the date. On the first page, you should show your impact, not just your experience, immediately highlight the things that you have done that are just stellar and that are going to set you apart. Identify those achievements, those graduation rates, community engagement metrics, budgetary accomplishments. Let the numbers tell the story. Data is really important, especially as recruiters are sifting through some of those initial packets. So you want to make sure that you are showcasing your impact, not just your experience, because if your resume on first glance, on the first page, shows some data that is really impressive, and they look at the next couple of applicants who just have where they went to school or where they worked, I guarantee you they're going to give your resume a little bit more eye time, and that's really important. Now, when you're also working on your resume, make sure you're using action oriented language, words like lead or innovated or increased, convey proactive leadership. Avoid generic terms and focuses. Focus really on what sets you apart. So you led this initiative. You created this opportunity for your district to use action oriented language and really focus on the relevant skills. That's going to be really important. The districts wants to make sure that you're a good match for them, and you want to make sure that you're that they're a good match for you. So make sure you talk about the things that you value and the things that you're that you're passionate about, whether it's crisis management, curriculum innovation or team building or fiscal stewardship. Make sure you focus on those relevant skills and always keep it concise. Recruiters often prefer two page resumes. But that doesn't mean you can't have a three page resume. If you are, what I like to call seasoned in this space, like many of us are, you really might have a three page resume, but try to be concise, and if you need help with that, find a professional who can help not only with the formatting, but the graphics and the language, because it will make a big difference. You don't want people to get bogged down in the details, so make sure your resume is concise. So now let's talk about crafting a compelling cover letter, because they always want you to put together a cover letter too. Address the district's needs right off the bat, do your research. Look at what their challenges are, what some of their goals are, some of the changes that have happened in that district, and align how you can support that or grow it, or even improve it. So don't be afraid at the very beginning of your cover little cover letter to talk about some of the research that you've done and why you think that you would be a good fit for them, because every district is unique, and you want to make sure that you're highlighting that. And when I talked about your philosophy, what I really mean by that is highlighting your leadership philosophy. Share what your values are and how you approach leadership, give them a glimpse of who you are, what you've done and how you've made a difference in the districts that you have been in. Right? Because we all have individual leadership styles, and you want them to get a sense of that from the beginning. The last thing you want to do is to pretend to be somebody that you're not. You want to show up authentically. And your leadership philosophy really needs to be evident, not only in the materials that you present, but in your digital footprint. Are Social media posts- is your website or blogs that you contribute to or professional articles that you write in professional journals? Are they all aligned and do they compliment each other? That's going to be really important because your leadership philosophy, they need to be able to see it threaded through all the different ways that you show up as a leader and make sure that you're demonstrating emotional intelligence, and what that really means is demonstrate some empathy and understanding, especially if the different district has faced some challenges. Maybe they've got a population that is one that you've served as well, and so share some of the insights into how you have utilized your emotional intelligence and improving a district you have been in that is similar. Now, if you haven't been in a district similar to theirs, that doesn't mean you can't express empathy. You just may have to go about doing it in a different way. So think through that and be responsive when you see some of the things that that district has posted or has made available to some of the candidates, and make sure the end of your cover letter has a call to action, a really strong call to action. Close with some enthusiasm for the role. Leave a strong impression and something that you know will really speak to their listening. That's going to be really, really important as you think about putting that cover letter together. We all know that we are stronger when we've got a team supporting us. And if you're a new superintendent without a communications team or someone dedicated to the communications function of a district, then reach out and see how my team and I can help you. We can serve as thought partners. We can provide you a la carte services such as graphic support, copywriting, speech, writing, all those things are going to help you communicate more efficiently and effectively with your community. If you want to learn more, click the link below and schedule a time to connect. So now let's talk about a portfolio, because sometimes you're going to want to go in with a strong portfolio, right? So we want to do some case studies, some evidence of success. Share some of your case studies. Share some of the initiatives that you've put together, whether it's bond campaigns, crisis communication management or curricular improvements. That's going to be really important. Showcasing your communication styles. How do you make sure that things are included in newsletters, community engagement pieces that you've put together, social media posts. I've talked a lot about making sure that your digital footprint is important, so let's make sure that we are doing all of that in in a place that they can easily flip through and take a look at. And sometimes you might want to do it digitally, or sometimes you may want to do it in hard copy. So if you are doing it in hard copies, work with your recruiter to make sure that it is aligned to what they might be looking for, or that it includes the number of copies that they requested. That's going to be really important too, and make sure you also include what you've done in terms of community engagement. So if you've got photos that illustrate that, make sure you include them. We want to definitely see some of those events that you've attended, parent forums, partnerships, outreach events, those kinds of things. It will make a huge difference. And you want your portfolio to really encapsulate not only the photos and the images, but quotes from stakeholders, maybe letters of thanks or appreciation, as well as awards that you've received, right? So you want to give them a whole list of look at who you are as a leader, and your portfolio should demonstrate all of that. Now, some of you might be wondering, gosh, that seems like a lot of work. I'm not a graphic designer. Well, there's lots of resources out there. If you are quick and savvy with Canva, that's a great way to put together some content. Now, if you're looking for someone with some real strategic graphic skills and maybe some words, word smithing skills, that's a mouthful. Make sure you check out my website, Veronica V sopher.com I've got some phenomenal graphic designers, and we work with aspiring superintendents and superintendents all the time who are working on their resumes, their cover letters, their digital portfolios. We even help with websites and social media content, because when they go and look at your digital footprint, they're not just gonna be looking at what you've been posting for the last couple of months. They're gonna go back a couple of years and see what you've been doing. So if you are an aspiring superintendent, start thinking about your digital footprint today, and the posts that you are sharing on social media, the blogs that you are writing, and if you have your own website, how you can keep it fresh and current. That's gonna be really important. And so a question I often get asked is, What are recruiters looking for, right? How do you how do you make sure that your materials are on point? Well, I've talked to a few recruiters nationwide, and I've asked for some tips and strategies so that I can help my clients make sure that their materials are really standing out. And some of the things they've told me Are you need to beclear and focused. You have to have clarity in your materials. Recruiters prefer well organized, clean materials that tell a cohesive story about your leadership and who you are and who you want to be for the world, right? And they also want proof of adaptability. Districts need flexible leaders. They need to be able to see how you've led change, managed diverse teams, or tackled some crises or issues in your previous roles. Now, if you have not served as a superintendent yet, and you might be in the principal ship, but you are aspirant, share some of those stories that you are comfortable sharing from the seats that you did serve in, right? Be a strong leader in the seat you serve. You don't have to have been a superintendent to be applying for some of these superintendency jobs, but you do have to have proof of adaptability. That's going to be really important. And then one of the other tips that they share is that they want to see results driven evidence. In other words, they personality is definitely a plus, and that's what they're looking for. But they want to see concrete outcomes, like academic performance, budget successes and other operational efficiencies. So if you have served on any task force, tasks force in your district, then make sure you share those and what your role was, maybe as a building principal you served on a boundary committee, or maybe as an assistant superintendent, you served on some hiring committees. Those are going to be really important. So you're going to want to share data once again and show that you have results that have been driven by evidence. Those artifacts in your portfolio really need to speak to that community centric perspective is also really important. Superintendents need to build trust in the communities that they're in. So you want to highlight how you've prioritized these relationships throughout your career, especially starting from the campus, if that's where you started your career at. Now bonus tip, make your submission stand out. Personalization is key. Tailor each resume cover letter and material specific to that district when you can, but don't lose sight of who you are. Now, I always encourage my clients to brand you as a leader first. Do not just use the colors for the district you're applying for, because everyone's going to be doing that, but you also want to make sure that your brand is not necessarily associated with your last district in a negative way. In other words, stand out and make sure the colors speak to who you are, and that you are putting together materials that are more personable for who you are, as a leader, but that can travel along with you. Use a professional design whenever you can. Now, sometimes I get asked, should I include my photo? Should I not include my photo? Quite honestly, I would defer to the recruiter's preference, because some districts say yes, some districts say no. I'm of the personal belief that they can look you up online and take and see what you look like and how you come across. So if they're already doing that, then why not put your photo, the photo that you pick out that best represents your style on your materials? But again, sometimes we have recruiters that advise against it, so always have two versions, one with the photo and one without the photo. Regardless, at the end of the day, you want to be authentic. Let your personality shine. Be genuine, be passionate about education. Make sure you share examples of why you think you are a good fit for this position. And my last piece of advice is triple check for perfection. Small errors can make a big impression. So proofread everything again and again, and give it to three other people to proofread as well, because if we start proofreading our own materials, we will miss some of those errors. So hire professional proofreader whenever you can. But if you are ready to put together that packet or that resume and cover letter, or maybe you're just ready to start that website or putting together some professional branding. Make sure you give us a call. I've got packages available for people at all steps in their journey. You can learn more about that at Veronica V sopher.com so with that, I'm going to wrap up this episode of school leader sound bites. I want to help you make sure that your resume gets to the top of the class. So use some of these tips to improve, and at the very least, check your materials twice a year, because I guarantee you you've got successes that you haven't thought about that you need to add to your materials. So with that, I'm going to wrap up this episode of school leader sound bites. As always, if you are listening on the podcast, make sure you hit subscribe. We don't want you to miss any episodes of school leader sound bites, and if you are watching on YouTube or Facebook, drop some comments. I want to make sure that I circle back with you. Until then, we'll see you.