Quite often, resume clients ask to have every single detail regarding career history and accomplishments integrated into a new resume. While it is very important to convey your wealth of achievements, you also want to implement impactful language which sells you and the unique value you have to offer a prospective company.
If you do not have this “marketing approach,” your resume swiftly becomes a boring “chronological obituary,” of which is laborious to read and will not set you apart from your competition! It will drift off of a hiring manager’s desk and into the wastepaper basket, or fall into the black hole of cyberspace trash.
In order to immediately capture the attention of a hiring manager and to stand apart from hundreds of other applicants, you want to craft your resume as a marketing document and/or tool instead of an exhaustive biography.
So, you may ask, what are the components of a successful marketing document?
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Is succinct, concise, and uses exciting language.
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Offers a solution to the target reader, of which inspires interest and even urgency.
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Conveys subject matter expertise in order to gain the trust and buy-in of the consumer. However, in this case, the consumer is actually the hiring manager who you need to woo and win over for an interview opportunity.
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It is visually-appealing while also being functional. Meaning, it is designed in a pleasing manner while also serving the purpose of clearly and concisely conveying your message.
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It raises your brand awareness. You may question, “What does branding have to do with my resume?” It has everything to do with your resume! In your marketing document (resume), you are conveying YOUR personal brand and what you have consistently offered to employers.
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The old adage “less is more” holds true with resume writing and other marketing documents. Unless you are a federal employee or in academia, it is not always wise to include the whole kitchen sink in a resume. The recommendation is to include quantifiable achievements showcasing how you have been able to solve problems for your employers. You should also, in brief, include past and current accountabilities that are similar to the position you are pursuing.
Now that you know What content you need, lets discuss How to incorporate it!
By integrating these important dimensions of marketing into your new resume, you will have a resume that is interesting, captivating, and shines above the crowd. One customer went so far as to say, “My resume jumps off of the hiring manager’s desk and slaps him in the face!!!” Of course, this is a bit of an exaggeration, however you get the gist of what we are promoting: your resume is not your life story. Your resume is your 30-second commercial advertising you – your brand, value-added contributions, and competitive edge.
As a side note, many customers confuse an “impactful, attention-grabbing, and exciting” resume to be one with splashy colors, wild fonts, and even graphics. However, such an approach is not recommended, as it detracts from the “meat” of your achievements and it may render your resume as being incompatible with the top 50 Applicant Tracking System (ATS) programs which most hiring companies now use to scan your resume for keywords even before a human eye reviews your resume. Unusual fonts and graphics will catapult you out of the system and into the trash. Thus, your chances for an interview will dramatically decrease if you insert your own logo or comic sans font!
The core of your marketing document comes down to the way you wordsmith your resume and utilize effective language – in a problem, action, and result format – to showcase your unique accomplishments.
You do not need to have a degree in marketing in order to develop a compelling resume (which is your ticket to a job interview). You would, however, greatly benefit from the help of a Certified Professional Resume Writer who stays abreast of industry trends and the methodologies of the National Resume Writers’ Association.
Visit Evolution Coaching to learn more about the niche writing services our Certified Professional Resume Writers have to offer. You will not be disappointed, as our resume writers understand the key concepts of an impressive resume as well as the strategies needed to make your resume the powerful marketing document it should be!