Page 32 - Marky Stein - Get a Great Job When You Don't Have a Job-McGraw-Hill (2009)

Fearless Résumés

The “Seven-Second” Zone

Psychologists say that we “know” in a split second (about 1/16 sec-
ond, to be exact) whether anything that comes into our environ-
ment is going to help or threaten our instinct to survive.
This split-second test of whether something is good for us or
bad for us is a top task of our brains and nervous systems because
it governs our very survival. Say that it takes only 1/16 second
(what psychologists call a “slice”) for us to tell this. Whether it’s
an object, a car, a person, climate change, or even a piece of
paper like your résumé, it will be evaluated by your brain at light-
ning speed.
Compared to 1/16 second, seven full seconds seems like an
eon! Yet, that’s all you have to snare the survival instinct of
your reader and get her to salivate over the contents of your
offering. If you miss that chance, you may never be able to
recover it.
During this critical “seven-second zone,” the brain is bom-
barded with impulses whose only purpose is to determine one
thing: is this (object, person, situation) going to pose danger to me or
help me?
You know yourself that a feeling of friendship, affection,
intense dislike, or even “falling in love” can happen the moment
you lay eyes on someone or something.
We’re going to capitalize on those powerful feelings in the
next chapter with something that I call a power proposition. Your
power proposition, which the reader will see in that crucial seven-
second zone, will rivet her to your résumé.

• With only the words in one powerful paragraph (about
four to seven sentences), you will infuse the reader’s
nerve cells with energy and curiosity. In brief, you make
the employer “fall in love” with you!

So just how are you going to strike up a “romance” with the
employer that has the potential of blossoming into a long-term
love affair (your new job)? Well, as with most romances and even
great friendships, it’s essential, as we’ve said, to make a good first
impression.

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