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The Resume as Personal Branding
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the resume as personal branding tool.
From Editorial Emergency’s newsletter, Editorializing
It’s no secret that competition for jobs is fiercer than ever. And as the stacks of resumes grow taller and the eyes of HR staff grow wearier, it behooves the thoughtful...
Just wanted to let you know how happy I am with my final resume. My resume writer was wonderful – creative in her word choices and very accessible. It was a great experience working with her and your company! I will be sure to pass TKDAResume along to anyone I know who needs their resume revamped.
That’s what prospective employers do – their first stop after deciding to find out more about you is Google. And while TKDAResume can’t do anything about those spring-break-in-Daytona pictures that keep popping up, we CAN make sure your LinkedIn profile and Facebook 411 help you look like a brilliant potential hire.
If you’re reading this, you understand the importance of a memorable resume. Why put time and effort into carefully crafting that advertisement for Brand You and let your LinkedIn and Facebook pages languish, leaving them just so-so (or worse)?
To a hiring manager, your social-media presence is as much a part of your personal brand as your resume and cover letter. Your profiles should work together to express who you are professionally and personally. And it’s essential that they sound like you – only better. That’s where we come in.
Facebook info a bit too casual? LinkedIn profile dry as dust? Disparity between the two akin to Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde? TKDAResume has a fix to fit your style. E-mail us for a custom quote; we’ll turn your online multiple-personality disorder into a compelling, consistent suite of personal-branding platforms.
Don’t forget to ask about our package discounts – if one of our personal-branding specialists rewrites your resume (and rocks your cover letter), it’s that much easier to polish your social-media profiles, and our package pricing reflects that.
Ready to change your status, not just your status update? Reach out to TKDAResume today.
Is your summary good enough to get the recruiter to read on?
Is your resume organized “functionally,” strategically by importance, or is it arranged chronologically, with your most important human-resource equities hidden way down the page?
Does it demonstrate your initiative, problem-solving skills and methods for addressing issues in the workplace?
Does it vividly illustrate how you’ve affected the bottom line with dollar signs, number of hours saved, percentages of efficiency, productivity and/or creativity enhanced?
Does it capture the person behind the data? Is it creative – like you?
Does your resume contain the right keywords, the kind of language a computer would match against a job listing?
Is it articulate and literate? Is it immaculately proofread? Does it fit elegantly on one page? Can you maintain an objective perspective on your skills, experience and personal traits?
Still wondering what might be wrong with your resume?
Is TKDAResume worth it for ME?
Unless you’re a professional writer with years of experience in the business of “selling” personalities, are highly organized, and are able to identify holes in your resume and craft compelling content to fill them, it’s worth it for you.
Unless you know exactly what recruiters are looking for in this historically difficult job market and how to give it to them, it’s worth it for you.
Unless you know how to effectively “spin” your experience to qualify you for your dream job, it’s worth it for you.
But I’m a creative; I get hired from my portfolio.
In this market, a recruiter may not even look at your portfolio unless she already has a compelling reason to do so. Your resume has to not only speak for YOU – it has to speak for your portfolio. Does it? If the recruiter isn’t bowled over by your resume, she may not bother to look at your portfolio.
The first item on your resume should be a COMPELLING SUMMARY — a single paragraph that forcefully, concisely draws a picture of who you are, what skills and experience you possess and (most importantly) what you can do for your prospective employer.
It’s a little-known fact about resumes: Most employers, HR staff and recruiters skim them — and stop reading if nothing grabs their interest. Truth is, you have about 15-30 seconds of their attention; you’d better make the most of it.
The summary is often what makes the employer read on to learn the details of a candidate’s experience — or hit “delete.”
Yet a vast majority of job-seekers either blow off the summary completely, or treat it as an afterthought. Frequently, they fall back on the dreariest cliches (”excellent communication skills,” “out-of-the-box thinker,” “thought leader”), simply list the tasks they’ve handled or insert some obvious objective (duh — your objective is to get a job).
No matter what work experience you’ve had, and no matter how powerfully you performed in your previous positions, there’s a strong chance that those in a position to hire you won’t find out — unless your summary shines.
TKDAResume can buff your summary to a brilliant sparkle — or create a dazzling one from scratch — so you can monopolize your ideal boss’s attention from the get-go. And while we’re at it, we’ll make sure the rest of your resume lives up to that grabber of an introduction.
Based on these summaries, which candidate is more impressive: A or B*?
#1
A: Applicant provided no summary.
B: Seasoned senior executive/company leader with comprehensive experience in apparel and lifelong involvement in action sports (also notable for extensive, high-level contacts in both arenas). Admired for ability to capture heart and soul of expensive items while making them affordable to target consumer. Environmentally proactive real-estate developer; founder of conservation fund, ecological reserve. Veteran of business travel in Europe, Asia and Central America. Enthusiastic advocate of innovative techniques, alternative thinking. Accomplished surfer enjoying worldwide waves. Proficient in conversational Spanish.
#2
A: Graphic Designer/Art Director with diverse experience and a background in photography. Particular interest in fashion, beauty (especially packaging), luxury & prestige products and services
B: Senior-level graphic design, art direction and photo production powerhouse with demonstrated expertise in development of beauty, luxury, fashion and lifestyle brands. Practiced project manager and team leader. Praised for imaginative vision, impeccable taste; gravitates toward clean/modern and energetic/experimental design; inspired by graphically bold studio photography, editorial photography evoking mood or place. Special interest in inventive cosmetics/skincare packaging and avant-garde fashion photography/art installations.
Visit TKDAResume.com now and see how we can help you make an instant impression.
“I’m so excited to begin my career search with my new resume. It SHOWS who I am, rather than just saying it.”
– Jaye Crane, Media Relations/PR/Account Support
*These are actual before-and-after example summaries from two TKDAResume clients.
It’s no secret that competition for jobs is fiercer than ever. And as the stacks of resumes grow taller and the eyes of HR staff grow wearier, it behooves the thoughtful candidate to find a way to make that rectangle of type into something more than a wan recital of past tasks and responsibilities.
That document is your ambassador, so it needs to do more than rehash old job descriptions; it needs to pique the peaked attention of overburdened employers.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the resume as personal branding tool.
“Consider your resume the same way you think of your business card, your website, your interview outfit, your everything. It’s all part of a promotional package that tells me who you are,” insists recruiter Keva Dine of The Keva Dine Agency, Inc., who not only screens candidates for her employer clients but also offers “custom-branded resumes” via the subsidiary TKDAResume* (and whose insights into personal branding for job-seekers could fill several issues of Editorializing). “If I don’t ‘get’ you after reading your resume — skimming it, if you want the truth — you haven’t effectively differentiated, or branded, yourself.”
We’re not talking about getting so “creative,” so brimming with personality, that you obscure your skills or annoy with your preciousness. The degree of individuality on display must be carefully calibrated to the company and the position. (Vying for the Assistant Principal gig at a conservative religious school? Play it straight.)
In fact, your resume should zero in like a telescopic sight on your dream (or dream-like) job, with relevant details front and center and — if only I didn’t have to say this — irrelevant ones removed. What remains is a highly targeted advertisement for the brand that is you.
“If I don’t ‘get’ you after reading your resume, you haven’t effectively differentiated, or branded, yourself.” — Keva Dine, TKDAInc.
The headline of that ad is your summary (by the way, you can bag the “objective” — everyone knows the objective is to get a job). A punchy paragraph preceding the nitty-gritty details of your experience and achievements, this is your opportunity to pitch the fundamental equities of Brand You. Sadly, many job-seekers squander that opening salvo, instead supplying a bland mish-mash of boilerplate phrases. The summary is the written equivalent of your elevator speech. Don’t waste it on the same vague language every other candidate is using, the pabulum that makes recruiters’ eyes glaze over.
Do you really think the folks doing the hiring will find you memorable because you’re a “self-starter?” Will you separate yourself from the pack by claiming to be a “results-oriented professional?” Here are a few other creaky terms, enumerated by HR veteran and former Fortune 500 VP Liz Ryan in her article “Ten Boilerplate Phrases That Kill Resumes“:
Cross-functional teams
More than [x] years of progressively responsible experience
Superior (or excellent) communication skills
Strong work ethic
Met or exceeded expectations
Proven track record of success
Works well with all levels of staff
Team player
Bottom-line orientation
While we’re at it, let’s add the strangely ubiquitous jargon “thought leader” (I got your “thought leader” right here).
If your communication skills are “excellent,” substantiate that by not relying on the tired “excellent communication skills.” Are you an agent of clarion communications? A laser-focused perfectionista? An engineer of consensus? An original turn of phrase speaks volumes. In other words, if you’re really an out-of-the-box thinker, you wouldn’t be caught dead saying “out-of-the-box thinker.”
More resume gold:
Keep it to one page. Any longer and you’re likely to try the patience of prospective employers (many of whom won’t even bother reading to the bottom of the FIRST page). If you can’t dazzle ‘em sufficiently with a single page, two’s not likely to do the trick. And be extra-scrupulous about keeping your cover letter or introductory e-mail tight. “I read enough novels in my spare time,” Dine cautions. “Don’t send me your life story.”
Be precise; make your specialty and talents abundantly clear in your summary and elsewhere. “The frustrating question ‘What does this person DO?’ is heard way too often around the TKDAInc. office,” reports Dine.
Details, details, details! Branding is all about telling a story — people remember stories — and storytelling is all about specifics. Use (brief) anecdotes to illustrate your productivity, your efficiency, your indispensability. Recount how your quick thinking and logistical acumen resulted in the lightning-fast relocation of a Phoenix corporate-retreat’s luncheon after the caterer sent 125 Cornish game hens to the wrong site. Describe how you marshaled your street team to drum up 35% more database registrations than any other division. Give life to the tale of your 11th-hour campaign pitch (illustrated by nothing more than stick-figure sketches), which won your outfit a $12 million contract with ActiVision. Divulge your role in getting Oprah to model the platform gladiator sandals designed by your client. Such yarns comprise the very fabric of your brand; they tell your next boss what you’re made of and exactly what you can do for HER.
Keva Dine on the importance of self-articulation
Forget about listing every job you’ve ever had in strict reverse-chronological order. Do indicate the years you were with each employer, but make sure the “experience” entries most aligned with your current career goals come first. This is sometimes called a “functional” resume. It’s arranged by order of importance. Sacrificing strategy to chronology is so 20th century.
Use vocabulary cherry-picked from the listing for the job you want. Large firms frequently depend on computers to sift resume submissions; the software sorts for keywords that match the listing. Include those keywords in your resume to penetrate the machines’ defenses so you can work your magic on some HUMAN eyeballs.
Don’t make them Google it. Unless your prior employers, clients and partners are so well known that clarifying what they do would be ridiculous, provide a pithy description: Fortress of Solitude, a boutique entertainment-marketing firm. Lithwick, Stahl and Osterman, a financial consultancy. Green’s Greens, the Upper Midwest’s leading distributor of frozen vegetables. If the HR manager has to search for info because you didn’t provide it, consider yourself deleted.
Here’s another one that should be obvious: When submitting your resume electronically, don’t name the file “resume,” or even “resume 2009.” You might as well title it “I don’t really want this job.” Repeat after me: File name equals full name (yours).
I know it seems like everyone’s hocking resume advice these days, but few “experts” we’ve encountered seem to grasp the concept of personal branding. So it’s up to us to drop some recession-resistant resume science on your dome: Telling your story in vivid detail, with all the value propositions, case histories, names and numbers you’d expect of a winning brand, is essential. That stuff is why your future supervisor will hire YOU instead of the other candidates with similar qualifications.
Of course, if you’re stymied by the task, you can always hire a resume writer who understands the importance of branding yourself. That decision alone can showcase a critical skill: the ability to delegate.
Got tips, observations or complaints about resumes and job-seeking? Our in-box awaits: info@editorialemergency.com.
*Full disclosure: TKDAResume is a partner of Editorial Emergency.
Thanks TKDAResume for my review….really great notes. You’ve given me a LOT to work with. I hadn’t considered a separate resume for agency work, but that makes a lot of sense.
“I just started sending out my resume, which I edited after getting TKDAResume’s excellent review comments. I immediately noticed more responses coming in. In fact, I can’t believe my original resume got me any work at all! I’m also applying some of the resume reviewer’s suggestions to my website bio. Thanks so much!”
“I wanted my resume to say more with fewer words. The TKDA writer understood that. She gave it the life it needed and did it succinctly. Before, it was tired and traditional-looking. Boring. But not now. The process couldn’t have been easier, and the end result was well worth the expense.”
Donn Wilson
Senior Buyer, Catalog Director, VP of Merchandising
I couldn’t BEGIN to describe my many years of experience as a creative director and my passion for creative work in a succinct way.
Then Keva came to the rescue.
My TKDAResume writer was fantastic. She was easy to work with, and she really took the time to understand my career and where I wanted to go with it. We collaborated on a resume that is powerfully to the point AND distinctly me.
With so many talented people out there looking for opportunities, it’s critical to have a resume that quickly conveys your strengths and personality.
I’m confident that my new one will help take me from the sidelines to being not only back in the game, but part of a dynamic, thriving, top-notch organization.”
Testimonial from Alena, Creative Director, Product Designer (LA)
Before and after samples available to share, email us your request.
TKDAinc.® sees thousands of resumes a week. We know what gets our attention. We know what gets our clients’ attention. We know what gets you the interview. We know what helps get you the job.
