Pitch Botoxing

I came across the practice of 'CV Botoxing' the other day.

The preserve, shall we say, of the mature job seeker. It seeks to remove the wrinkles from a resumé.

Allowing the two stones thrown of heading off potential albeit sadly prevalent ageism as well as forcing an often apposite pruning of activities.

Even though age is no longer a feature of such trumpeted work histories, the game can be somewhat given away with endless listed roles stretching down the years.

I learn that recruiters don't care about anything before 2010.

Which astonished me. Yet did not totally surprise.

If you entered the workplace as bright-eyed, bushy tailed grad back then for instance, you'd be nearing forty as I write here.

When I last had to provide a potted profile of achievement - still commonplace when part of a potential, specific project team - from a couple-dozen options, I summarised three similar-ish previous pieces of work, with one left-field added to check it got read. Sans timestamps.

A CV it was not, though.

Yet this approach feels close to how testimonial citations work best.

In my experience, what resonates are those tales of wonder where our clients have, if not right now, then fairly recently, made hay.

Something that pre-dates the previous financial year even might not register.

It is the hear-and-now to such extent that what clients are doing this very day captures most attention. Despite no results fully yet flowing. Less recency bias, more right-now-only frame. The plans and decision to 'go' somehow seemingly outweigh that lavishly produced Marketing glossy from eighteen months ago.

When selling a new ware too, this is relatively straightforward. For all we tend to have are vision and deep insight into what potential clients want around that which we freshly provide right now.

With a customer secured, regardless of being akin to a 'development partner' or alpha customer, there's already a (killer) story to tell.

Likewise, we may well have happy outcomes up our sleeve, yet people finding themselves in the possible position of buying this very moment, do seem receptive to why those further along in their position made their call to buy immediately prior to your current conversation with them now.

How those in similar boats think can hold greater sway, no matter the magical numbers a slightly distant success may have brung.