One aspect we often see clients struggle with is providing our team with up-to-date resumes or CVs for the Senior Personnel Biographical Sketches that are required in nearly every federal grant proposal. We receive outdated information, gaps in information, or information that does not align the team’s experience with the project at hand more often than not. Unfortunately, an inconsistent biographical sketch can undermine the impressive track record and proven capability of a team member.
One reason the resumes we get from clients are so inconsistent is likely due to the mental overload and lack of downtime founders face. Within the startup community, many entrepreneurs are working a full-time job for someone else while they develop their innovation, grow their team, seek funding, etc. This leaves little time for maintenance work, such as updating a resume. There is a simple solution – update your resume or CV as you go using free tools and resources online.
LinkedIn resumes
We all know LinkedIn as a popular social media platform for professionals. We know it can help professionals network, research a company and its employees, or find employment. What many people do not know is that there is a (FREE!) feature on LinkedIn that allows users to download a resume of their experience and credentials on another user’s page.
This means that by simply keeping your LinkedIn profile up to date, you automatically have an updated resume. This is super helpful during proposal preparation and can save clients a step. If LinkedIn is up to date, our team can go online and find the information to create a biographical sketch without needing the client to locate, update, and send us their resume.
We cannot stress the importance of showcasing your team’s expertise and experience during proposal preparation enough. An up-to-date and complete resume or CV is the best tool to ensure competitive team biographical sketches in a grant proposal. LinkedIn’s resume feature is a fast and straightforward way to keep resumes updated and easily share them with the subject matter experts involved in the preparation of your grant proposal.
We work with high-growth startups and organizations that support the startup and innovation ecosystem. We build highly specific non-dilutive funding menus, provide proposal preparation services, and measure outcomes of funding through evaluation. Schedule a consult call with us HERE.