Career Tip for Week 4 in Sept: Build YOUR Brand into YOUR Resume
As we wrap up the lovely month of September, the final tip of this month is to leverage your brand and have a resume that sets you apart. Know your "brand" and uniqueness and build that into your resume summary at the top and your accomplishment bullets in your experience section. Assisting you with resume building is one of my specialty areas so I'm glad to work with you. A resume that "promotes" you and sets you apart will often land you an interview. In a good market, over 90% of my clients receive more interviews and resume notice after we work together.
At the end of this week's blog, you will find additional resume tips that will also beef up your resume. Once you have a well branded resume that has a nice use of white space, or "resume real-estate," you will receive more attention when you send it out to your network or post it on line.
If you have questions, I'm here at marianne@designyourdirection.com.
Have a great start to your fall and success on updating your resume!
~ Marianne
Resumé Tips
Whether
looking for new work or not, it is recommended that you update your resumé
every year to keep current with your accomplishments and skill sets. It is a way to remind yourself of your
competencies and value.
Below are 10 tips on how to target and structure
your resumé to make it effective.
1.
Always have a particular job in mind when you update your
resumé. Most often, you will be
updating your resume relative to the skills and background of your current or
last held position. When you forward your resumé to a company, put the
position job requisition number in the subject line. Forward both an attachment
and a left justified version pasted into your e-mail.
- Write a strong
Summary Section at the top of your resumé that reflects the unique
contribution that you bring to the position. Be specific enough so that the reader
can distinguish your unique profile from others.
Poor Example: Marketing professional bringing
extensive experience and strong communication skills. Works well independently
and on a team. This statements sounds like many people.
Good Example: Successful marketing
professional with over 10 years experience running global programs in both
bio-tech and high-tech. Reputation for building strong and productive team
relationships with both tech and non-tech members.
- The font should be large enough to be
easy to read and give an impression of a
“confident” professional. A
general rule is to use a minimum font size of 11 or 12. Use of smaller
font size than 10 seems timid. Use
of a larger font size than 12, in the main content, looks “overdone.”
Fonts with serifs draw the reader in. Fonts without serifs are very neat.
- Use bullets and
numbers for impact! Bullets
are easy to track when quickly reviewing a resume. Numbers draw the
reader’s eye to that particular place on the resume. The more numbers
throughout, the more likely your information will be read and of interest to
the reader.
- Write strong
accomplishment statements within your work experience history.
The statements should
both reflect your strengths while targeting the position. The experience
should be listed chronologically. This is the most preferred format by
hiring managers and recruiters in the Bay Area.
6. The resume should only go back
10 – 15 years. There
are times when relevant experience, to the targeted position, requires
including additional years. This experience should be limited or you may include
it in an additional information section. Remember that “less is more” for
impact!
7.
If using a second page, fill a minimum of one-third
of that page or the information will look lost or less significant.
8. Always
include your name and contact information at the top of the page.
9. It is
difficult to be objective about your own resumé. Make a point of getting input from
people who know your work.
10.Be sure you check for grammar, punctuation, and
spelling. Remember
that it’s not enough to use only the spelling checker.
