Résumé and Job Search Help

While I don’t always trust Wikipedia, I do like their definition of the word brand: a brand is a name, sign, symbol, slogan or anything that is used to identify and distinguish a specific product, service, or business. It’s become a very popular term used in the world of résumés. Basically what it means is you want your résumé to distiguish you from all of the other job seekers out there. To do that, you’ll need to identify your brand. This includes more than just your experience and education, this described the very essence of what you have to offer.

Your branding statement answers the questions: who are you? why are you special? what makes you stand out above the crowd? It should capture all of this and your career history in a few brief, succint statements.

Objective statements were focused on what the employee wants, branding statements (sometimes called: professional profile or professional summary) are focused on what the employee has to offer.

Branding essentially communicates value, and that there is something unique about you and what you have to offer. You can create a brand for yourself a few different ways.

First, the appearance of your résumé should be unique, professional, and clean. Everytime I see a résumé developed by some auto-formating program, I cringe. That is definitely NOT a way to stand out! Each person is unique and so is each résumé. There are so many free samples online now, there is no excuse for an unattractive and difficult-to-read résumé. Along with that, your cover letter, business cards, thank you letters and entire portfolio shoul be consistent with whatever format and design you choose.

Once you determine your branding statement, everything that follows should support that statement. This statement is usually found at the very top of your résumé. It defines who you are and what you are offering. It should be written like an advertisement, every word memorable and poignant.

Here are some great ideas to get you inspired. Ask yourself…

~What sets me apart from others in my field?
~How am I different than the next person in line?
~What special things have I done?
~What is it about me personally that is noteworthy?
~What kind of problems have I solved?

Brand Yourself, a book by David Andrusia and Rick Haskins provides a method for writing a branding statement: Skills + Personality/Passion + Market needs = Branding Statement.

Here are some examples of how you could use their method:

PROGRAM MANAGER
Exceptional, forward thinking leader with keen problem-solving skills to advance any environment in a competitive market.

HEALTH CARE TECHNICIAN
Certified, with five years of specialized experience in providing compassionate and thourough care to elderly.

SPECIAL EDUCATOR
Delivering innovative and creative teaching methodologies to modify curriculum and meet the individual needs and learning styles of every student.

In this article you’ll find some quick, do-it-yourself tips to ensure you have a résumé you can be proud of.

Don’t let your résumé hold you back from getting that long-sought after interview!

For the past three years I have been working as a résumé writer and I have seen many résumés! I’ve rarely seen one I thought was perfect even when offering free critiques at a job fair. I’m always amazed at what people will bring to a job fair, actually thinking it represents them in a positive light.

Now that the jobs are fewer and the number of employers at most job fairs has dwindled considerably, a job seeker can no longer get away with a mediocre résumé.

1. Résumé as Ad. If you’ve ever studied marketing or advertising, you’ll know that most consumers only glance at an ad for a few seconds. The advertisers must capture the consumers attention in that time so that they will keep reading and spend more time on their ad.  This is the same concept you can apply to your résumé. The top 1/3 of the page is what will grab an employers attention. You must use that space very wisely. It must be attractive, but it must also give the employer enough information to capture their interest and keep them reading. This is where you should have a very concise professional summary or what some like to call a “20 second commercial” about yourself.

2. Target. When someone picks up your résumé, it should be very clear what kind of position you are interested in. Many people have complained to me that they prefer to keep it open because they are “willing to take ANYTHING.” So then I ask them if they are willing to work at the local burger joint. They usually just scoff at me as if I’m being extreme. But the truth is, there is always something particular they are interested in. Here’s the thing, I don’t have time to try to dig through your Résumé to try to find out what position you want. Spell it out at the top and make it clear. Compose several different résumés if you’re experience is so broad that you can’t narrow it into one field.

3. Keywords. For every profession, there are keywords. It’s not as if they are magical, but they are terms that are frequently used in the field. If you have enough years of experience in any field, you know there are terms that are unique to that field. Often, you can find them in the job announcements themselves. This is one reason I like federal job announcements. The keywords are always clearly identified. Once you determine which words you should be using, you can either pepper them through the content of your résumé or you can simply make a bulleted list of them. Either way is fine and the scanning software will pick them out.

4. WIIFM? If you haven’t heard this acronym, it stands for: What’s In It For Me? This is important because when you are proofreading your résumé, you need to ask yourself this question regularly. If you put yourself in the shoes of the employer, you’ll understand that they want to know straight up what YOU can do for THEM. They want to know why they should hire you. What makes you different or special? A lot of people may have your skill set, but what is it about YOU that makes you a better selection. If you have an issue with bragging about yourself, get ex-supervisors or professors to write letters of recommendation for you. Then cut and paste a quote or two onto your résumé.

It’s so important to be competitive today. There are tons of free, high quality résumé samples online. The résumé won’t get you the job, but at least it can get you an interview. Using these few tips can help you craft a better résumé and get you noticed by employers faster!