Remember the days when you would find yourself sifting through hundreds of resumes and they all seemed to blend in together? As a previous hiring manager and recruiter, I remember getting lost and uninterested by line three of the long, 12 line introduction paragraph at the top, if there was one at all. It's time you enhance your personal brand!
Related:8 Easy Ways To Put More Power Into Your Resume
Quite often it seemed as if the old fashioned word documents were cranked out in less than two hours, they all had the same Times New Roman font, and all had the same top with name, address, phone, and email centered underneath each other.
If your resume still appears anything like I have described above, it is time to make a significant revision – especially if you are in the job market! Competition is fierce out there candidates, and you only have one chance to present yourself at your best. Time to bring your resume up to 2014 standards!
I understand that sometimes hiring a professional writer is just not financially feasible, especially if you are unemployed and trying to watch expenses. Here are ten awesome tips that will be helpful in creating a resume and personal branding package from your home while on a tight budget:
1. Use Dashes
Try putting your name, address, email and phone on the same line at the top separated by dashes. Use a different font and color for your name.
Don’t forget to add your LinkedIn profile link at the top. Don’t have a LinkedIn profile? Run, do not walk, to the LinkedIn site and start typing. Recruiters look at LinkedIn immediately to review your profile. You can easily download a LinkedIn badge or logo and insert a hyperlink with your profile link.
3. Create A Logo
What is one of the first things that you do when you start a new company? Create a logo for branding. Why not do it for yourself? Consider hiring a graphic artist to create a simple design with your initials and color. The cost should be minimal and the impact is well worth every penny. You should use the design with your cover letters and reference page. The top of all three documents should have the same top two – three lines including your personal logo, name, contact information, and LinkedIn profile.
4. Lose The Long Introduction Paragraph
Many companies and hiring boards use applicant tracking systems to screen for keywords. Instead of the paragraph, include six to nine core competencies at the top under your name that are relevant to the job description and your background.
5. Add Soft Skills
If you are a recent college graduate, include some “soft skills” in addition to your core competencies. Examples of soft skills are Passion to Succeed, Motivated, Intelligent Fighter, Empathic, or People Person.
6. Separate Sections By Clean Lines Or Text Boxes Filled With Color
Color is perfectly acceptable, even in the most conservative culture. Adding dark colors with white font make your resume pop when opened. Navy and dark gray are my favorites, although sometimes I use burgundy or green. I have even used red and black for a C-level executive that created a sleek and modern presentation.
7. List Your Biggest Accomplishments
The most important part of the resume is the top half of the first page. This is the time to sell yourself and entice the reader to continue reading. List your top three to four biggest accomplishments in bullets.
8. Add Quotes
Include some quotes from your LinkedIn recommendations in the top half of your resume. Quite often, I also strategically place quotes throughout the document in quote shape text boxes.
9. Personalize
Speaking of quotes, add some warmth and personalization. Try including your favorite professional quote at the top of the resume near your name in a text box. Some of my candidates have creatively written their own quote and the exercise proved to be very effective. An example is a quote that a recent college graduate wrote for his entry level sales resume: “I believe that the key to a successful sales career is humility. One must embrace teaching in order to be taught.” Fill the text box with a color to make it pop and draw the reader’s attention.
10. Add Charts And Graphs
If you are in sales, please utilize charts and graphs with color to reflect your quotas vs. production.
Your resume is your one shot at landing that interview. Dare to be bold, be different, and be successful!
This post was originally published at an earlier date.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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