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Use a branded resume in today’s economy
by Sharon Graham ~ January 16th, 2009. Filed under: $100k+ Job Seekers, Career Practitioners.The current economic turmoil dramatically impacts job seekers. As more people flood the job market, job seekers are facing a new reality. The market is now swamped with more experienced professionals than ever before. These days job seekers are competing with others who have also done their job very well, have the qualifications to succeed, and are now readily available purely due to the economic situation.
There is a subtle change when the market is saturated with job seekers: The old question employers were asking is “Why should we hire you?” The new question is “Why should we hire you instead of all the other highly qualified professionals available in the market?”
This is where an individual’s personal career brand comes into play. If someone can distinguish themselves from the rest of the qualified people in the market, they are more likely to be selected for the job than the others.
Resume writing has evolved quite a bit since the start of Personal Career Branding as a strategy. If you can create a resume that expresses your career brand in an effective way, the resume will stand out from the pile.
In resume writing the concept of Career Branding is broken down into two distinct parts:
1- Your Value Proposition: This is the “sales pitch” that your resume makes. The value proposition must clearly answer the question “Why should we hire you instead of all the other highly qualified professionals available in the market?” This question must be answered early on in the resume so that if many resumes are being looked at, the reader (recruiter or employer) can easily figure out what distinguishes you from all the other qualified applicants. Once your value proposition has been identified, it needs to be fleshed out throughout the resume with achievements that support the message you are sending. The benefit to having a strong value proposition is that if there are many resumes that show similar qualifications, the reader is more likely to select you over everyone else if you show something really special in addition to all those required qualifications.
2- Your Brand Identity: This is the “look and feel” of your resume. For example the logo for “CocaCola” can be considered a brand identity. The design concept of your resume is important because it supports your career brand and helps your resume to stand out against other template resumes. If your resume has a very professional, upscale design element that supports your value proposition, then you show people that you are worthy of the compensation you are asking. More importantly, in our current market, a resume with a distinguishing brand identity will stand out and been seen in a stack of resumes. If your resume is selected first, it may give you the edge you need to be called for an interview.
If you develop a fully branded resume that includes both parts of your career brand, you will stand out from the rest of the job seekers. Your can compare common templates with fully-branded resumes here: http://www.grahammanagement.com/Things_Compare_Resumes.xpg
Thank you for reading my blog! Please email me if you spot any errors in this post.
February 26th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
As an employment resources consultant working with an international not for profit, would question the value of ‘branded’ resumes – too many out there fleecing desperate job seekers and branded resumes are useless if receiving organization is using scanning software.
I suppose there would be industries/situations that ‘branded’ resumes would be suitable for but I would also argue that anyone that would benefit should have the skills to put it together themselves. It still remains about marketing only…
BUYER BEWARE!
Job seekers need to ‘own’ their CVs, not have them created by opportunists, and there is no need to spend $ to have qualified individuals critique your efforts as there are many good community employment centres available to assist at no charge.
Check http://www.asktheheadhunter.com for additional job search advice.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Liz,
You are absolutly correct when you say that there are too many companies out there who are fleecing job seekers.
As an advocate for ethics and integrity in the Canadian Labour market, I have certainly seen that more than once.
This blog is designed to inspire and drive results for six-figure professionals. As you may be aware, posting haphazardly on internet sites and in databases is a very poor strategy for such level professionals. Taking a much more targeted networking approach and branding themselves to show their unique, distinguishing value is a much better tactic.
Of course, if you are developing a fully branded resume and intending for it to be read by scanning software, you must address the readers needs. You must address the employer’s buying motivators and fulfil the recruiter’s needs. Make sure that the document is rich with key competencies and phrases that are useful to the organization being targeted.
If you are a $100k+ professional and you want to use a free service — best of luck. If you can afford it, investigate services carefully as most of the ones out there do not specialize at the six-figure level.
If you really want to stand out, find the right service and leverage their expertise. As Liz mentioned above, it still remains about marketing only…Buyer Beware!
If, after all this, you still want to create a homemade resume, don’t use the silly “rules and guidelines” you learn on most of the internet sites. If you want to do it yourself, start here. Learn more about how to create a branded resume and trash the templates forever:
http://www.grahammanagement.com/Things_GMGArticles_TrashTheTemplate.xpg