BuiltEnvironment

Project descriptions for resumes

A/E/C industry chat spaces frequently include questions about what projects a person can include in his/her resume and how much detail to provide as description. And at least half of the base resumes I see when my clients ship a batch of them to me for a proposal include things I believe with all my heart should NEVER appear in a person's professional resume.

The table above shows what I believe constitutes good content for a project description on an individual's professional resume. This is enough information to show the client/owner that you have done a project similar to their's at some point and served in a similar role to that which you will fill on their project.

Here are two samples of project descriptions I believe work for your resume.

New Big Box Store with Grocery, Anyplace, State. MEP Task Manager. Project involved planning and design for a big box store with a grocery and a variety of departments with different design requirements. Scope of work included mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design for the grocery, electronics, garden, and pet departments. Managed the team providing MEP design for the four specialty departments mentioned and interfaced with the rest of the design team.

Major Freeway on New Alignment, Anyplace, State. Engineering Manager. Project encompassed design and construction phase services for extension of a major freeway. The 15-mile long project traverses urban and suburban areas, and includes one bridge over a river and a number of overpasses crossing other roadways and railroad lines. Managed the civil, structural and electrical engineering teams providing design and multiple plan packages for phased construction. Also coordinated with the team performing environmental studies and providing permitting assistance.

Your resume is YOUR professional history. It is not about your current firm, or any other firm you worked for in the past.

No project description on your resume should ever have a sentence that begins "XYZ Firm," "XYZ Firm provided," "XYZ Firm performed," or anything else about your firm. The description of your firm's scope of work belongs in the "Firm's Relevant Experience" section of the proposal, not in your resume.

In addition, you can include any project in which you participated, no matter who your employer was at the time of that project. In my almost 40 years of managing and working on proposals for A/E/C firms, the one question no client has ever asked was, "Who wrote your paycheck when you worked on that project?"

In other words, the client doesn't really care whether you worked on that project in your current position or for some other employer some years ago. They just want to know that you have already worked on at least one project similar to their's, and hopefully in the same role you fill be filling on their project.

One final thought: I believe the SF 330 form got it right: only one page allowed per individual, with a maximum of five projects. This forces you to identify the projects in your portfolio with the most relevance to the project being pursued, and to keep the descriptions brief enough that the reader doesn't lose interest in how wonderful you are.

Marketing planning — it's a process!

The development of a firm's marketing plan is an activity that many firms just don't undertake. Of those firms that do, many firm leaders dread the activity. Not because the activity is that difficult compared with other things they do every day, but because it has consequences — often unintended consequences.

Many leaders are afraid that they will have set goals they can't reach without miraculous intervention. On the other hand, many are afraid of setting goals so low that their colleagues will wonder why they bothered, or whether they just don't have a lot of faith in the firm, its staff, its structure, or its reputation.

For those with the courage to face this empty-page analysis and fill in the blanks, the development of a marketing plan should be a four-stage process.

Strategy — This is a session (or a few sessions) of brainstorming to determine the firm's goals for the current planning period. It may involve only the firm's officers and other shareholders; it may also include office, market sector, technical discipline, and department leaders. Since markets change over time and everything old seems to become new again, planning sessions should also involve some staff who weren't in previous sessions, who won't know what was considered and rejected in the past, that now may very well be the proper time for such a direction.

Tactics — Without a step-by-step implementation plan, a set of strategies is just a wish list, nothing more. The tactical plan also shows the person responsible for the activity and the deadline by which each step must be completed so each person responsible for the next activity can succeed in his or her assignment.

Review — Once the draft Marketing Plan is complete, it needs to be put through a thorough review, including some people who were not part of the strategic and tactical sessions. Every goal should be reviewed, considering its real need or justification, the consequences of its success (or failure), and the cost and return on investment of its implementation.

Based on this review, any "tweaks" that seem appropriate should be implemented and the Plan finalized.

Share — Many A/E/C firm leaders seem to believe in keeping the finalized Marketing Plan close to the vest. There are two very good reasons why that is not advisable:

1. If the firm's staff are kept in the dark regarding the firm's goals, good opportunities may be missed. If someone a bit lower in the hierarchy happens to hear about a project being contemplated, but doesn't know your firm wants to work with that owner, or doesn't know your firm wants to broaden its portfolio by working on that kind of project, they may not mention it to anyone in a position to make a pursuit decision.
2. If a staff member hears about a kind of project or facility with which your Plan says you don't want to get involved, time may be spent chasing information on that project, even though it is guaranteed to end in a "No Go" decision.

I even know of firms that keep their Strategic and Marketing Plans from their marketing departments. If their marketing director or manager gets to participate in the planning sessions, he/she is instructed to NOT share the completed plan with his/her staff.

Ridiculous, isn't it?

Your firm's Strategic and Marketing plans are definitely confidential, but only to outsiders. Anyone in the firm who can make a contribution toward achieving your goals, and that is pretty much EVERYONE in the firm, needs to know the Plan.