Your Brand

Creating a resume is often a dreaded task, but a vital one. A strong resume can make all the difference. In this series of articles, we will provide some tips of how to stand out from the crowd. Whether you’re looking for a permanent job or a contract, a well-crafted resume gets noticed faster, gets closer examination, and provides instant credibility. A disorganized or ho-hum resume – or worse, a resume with errors – may put you at the back of the line or get overlooked entirely. In 2018, an HR Dive study showed that the average recruiter spends about 7.4 seconds scanning a resume to make a go/no-go decision. According to 99designs, this is also the average time a billboard is viewed. Just a few blinks of the eye. If you want to make the cut, think of your resume as a billboard for your personal brand that displays key information to be consumed quickly and easily, like a well-designed ad. Take a look at the guidelines below to create your own compelling, branded billboard.

Branding Yourself

Imagine you step into an elevator with the hiring manager for your dream job and have 30 seconds of their undivided attention. What would you say? This short introduction is exactly what should be captured in your Professional Summary (which has largely replaced the resume “Objective”). This is your elevator pitch. Your brand. Branding yourself differentiates you from the competition. Your brand communicates your value and positions you as an authority in your area of expertise. Your Professional Summary should communicate your brand as a snapshot of your key skills, knowledge and experience.

Tips for creating your Professional Summary or Personal Brand

1. Make it memorable. Stay away from over-used adjectives and terminology like “hard-working,” “ambitious” and “go-getter.” Be creative.
2. Include your why. You may be familiar with the Golden Circle made popular by Simon Sinek. Simon demonstrated how brands with the strongest value proposition offer a simple reason why their product or service is superior. And according to Simon, we should all do the same.
3. Tell a story. Our brains process information in the form of stories faster and more efficiently than data or facts – such as a list of attributes parading as a sentence. Provide a “plot,” which is how you overcame a challenge or provided value.
4. Short paragraph. Your elevator pitch (Professional Summary) should be a short paragraph, somewhere between 1-3 sentences. It does not need to contain information about your entire work experience (that’s what the resume is for). It is merely a teaser for further conversation.
5. First person implied. Resumes are appropriately written in first person implied. This means you should not use “I” or other pronouns such as me, my, our, etc. This enhances readability and demonstrates professionalism.
6. Examples. Take a look at the Professional Summary examples below. Notice the impact of incorporating your why and telling a story.

Be sure to check out the next article in this series about creating your Work History.