Posts Tagged ‘branding’

Resume Trends for 2015 and Beyond

Thursday, January 8th, 2015

Resume writing is constantly shifting and changing. Although resumes are only one part of the job search journey, they are still a vital requirement in every job seeker’s toolbox. Compile a resume incorrectly and you could find yourself being overlooked by employers and losing out on opportunities to advance your career.

Yet it can be challenging to know what is trending as ‘current and savvy’ in resume writing versus ‘old-fashioned and obsolete’. In order to increase resume success you need to keep abreast of evolving advances. Here’s some quick advice for the upcoming year.

Resume Trends for 2015:

  • Brevity and more concise content are growing in importance. Even more targeted positioning, messaging, and branding are required to market one’s self. Resumes need easy-to-follow and easily digestible points.
  • Short branding statements are replacing lengthier resume profiles.
  • As ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) continue to advance, so does the need for compatible resume formats. Job seekers must use the appropriate resume format when applying for online positions.
  • Employers spend the majority of time reviewing the most recent role in a resume, so these roles must captivate and pack a lot of immediate punch.
  • With the changing economy it is becoming more common to see short-term contract, multiple part-time roles, or diverse industry experience in a resume. The key is presenting varied work history in a relevant format that still aligns with targeted job requirements.
  • Infographic and video resumes are gaining momentum. When used correctly, for the right industries, these visual resumes can help job seekers stand out.
  • Integrating the right keywords in a resume increases the chances of the document being read – either electronically or by an actual person.
  • Overuse or misuse of keywords is cautioned. Only add keywords to a resume in proper context, supporting them with examples of application and impact.
  • If content is king in a resume; design is queen (for non-ATS applications). Spend equal amounts of time on content AND format. Employ savvy design components to attract attention, make certain elements stand out and, guide the reader through the document.
  • Modern resumes commonly contain hints of color, unique section headers, different fonts, italics, decorative lines, charts, images, testimonials, or boxed text to capture and keep the reader’s eye.
  • Finally, remember that resumes are career story-telling and not career obituaries. Avoid generic tasks or boring job overviews and focus on results, achievements, and accomplishments. Always demonstrate value.

Original from Career Impressions

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Top 10 Personal Branding Blunders To Avoid

Thursday, July 10th, 2014

The world of personal branding has certainly changed over the past decade or so, especially with the impact of social media. It’s no longer enough to make an impression in person or on the phone; now you have to be sure your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and numerous other online presences are all coordinated and professional, to avoid presenting the wrong image to potential employers and clients who might be snooping around.

In this somewhat more complicated branding landscape, there are countless possible brand blunders one can make that detract from brand value rather than building it. Below are ten of the most egregious errors so you can steer clear of them, keeping the brand called you on a smooth path to success.

1. Be fake. Effective personal branding is based in authenticity. You need to be yourself – your best self. You’ll be found out if you try to fool people by imitating something you’re not or lying to your target audience. Just think about Milli Vanilli, Rosie Ruiz, and Lance Armstrong. Faking it is also a waste of energy. Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said, “The most exhausting thing you can be is inauthentic.”

2. Be wishy-washy. Strong brands express an opinion and take a stand. If you are trying to please all the people, you usually please none. Want to inspire people and connect with them on a deep level? Get clear about your point of view and make it public. Be willing to repel some people – all strong brands do. Know your message and be willing to stick your neck out and express yourself.

3. Act first. Think later. When it comes to personal branding, I see people building Blogs, using social media, and joining associations without any strategic plan for how it will help them build their brand and achieve their goals. Successful branding requires having a plan. Don’t act until you think – and make your decisions based on your brand strategy. Start by identifying your goals. Then get to know yourself, understand your differentiation, and discern what makes you compelling. You have to establish your brand promise before you can start to build the brand itself with your target audience.

4. Shoot for quantity. It’s not about the quantity of random LinkedIn connections or the number of articles you write or the number of tweets you post. Don’t seek quantity at the expense of quality. Quality is what will make your communications stand out and attract those whom you need to influence. Quality will get you noticed and help you build the right following. There’s tremendous pressure to be constantly visible in lots of social media, so our instinct is to just post, post, post without regard to the message we are sending or the suitability of our audience. Avoid this trap by focusing on quality.

5. Seek fame and glory. Branding is not about you, it’s about serving others. Fame is difficult to achieve, and if you make it your goal, you’ll focus too much on the attention you crave instead of focusing on the value you can deliver. You only need to be known to the people who are making decisions about you and those who influence them. I call it selective fame. Work to be known by decision-makers and influencers who will help you reach your goals.

6. Be binary. Branding requires a steady and steadfast approach. Being binary means that you divide your attention and run a two-track career, perhaps even thinking of branding as an activity that is separate from your career. Personal branding is not something you do occasionally with bursts of activity – like at the beginning of the year when you begin to work on your resolutions. Have a single, focused plan and act on it daily. Don’t let yourself run out of steam; slow, consistent actions will sustain you for the long haul.

7. Be exclusively virtual. Personal branding actually went mainstream when social media came onto the scene. This left many people thinking that personal branding is an online activity. It’s not – at least not exclusively. Sure, having a digital strategy for your brand is critical, but your actions every day and the things you can do in the real world matter. Shaking hands and scheduling face time (and I’m not talking about an online video meeting) bring your brand to life. You must put your personal stamp on everything you do. Think of your brand holistically, and you’re on your way to achieving your goals.

8. Go solo. Personal branding sounds like it should be an individual activity, and it is “personal,” but it’s not solo. The Lone Ranger syndrome will work against you. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Much of the personal branding process has to do with being part of a community and contributing to that community. This is the key to building your personal brand network. Have a mentor, hire a coach, and reach out to colleagues and friends for their opinions. Don’t go it alone.

9. Be selfish. Personal branding is not about you. It’s about what you’re able to give to others. Generosity is one of the best strategies for personal branding. When you give to your network, you remind them you are there through actions that also demonstrate how grateful you are for your success. When you give to your team, you show them you care. When you give away your services, you let people discover firsthand what you’re great at.

10. Forget to measure. You could be spinning your wheels, but you won’t know unless you measure. That means setting up-front goals for your personal branding activities. Your goals might be the number of thought-leaders in your area of expertise who know you, or the influence you create internally, or being recognized by a relevant professional association. Whatever your goals, document them. Focus on them. And measure your momentum as you strive towards them. Regularly – say quarterly or monthly – evaluate your progress against your goals – and refine your strategy accordingly.

If you avoid these personal branding don’ts, you can make a name for yourself that fuels your success for years to come.

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10 Tips for Writing an Entry-Level Resume

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

Unfortunately, many career centers have misinformed new graduates regarding what a resume should look and sound like. As a result, entry-level resumes tend to be plagued by bland resume formats and poorly-written, outdated objective statements.

Instead, as a young professional, your resume should communicate how you can assist the employer with meeting their needs; it must help the employer see your value by telling them exactly how the company will benefit from hiring you.

How can you do that? Here are ten tips to get you started:

1. Include a Fact-and-Figure-Based Introduction

Fight the temptation to include generic and broad-based objective statements that can apply to a multitude of job seekers. Instead, in five to eight bullets, use facts, figures, metrics, and examples from your work experience to show your value and potential.

2. Maximize Your Experience.

It’s effortless and looks streamlined, but listing only your previous employers and job titles on your entry-level resume can leave potential employers not only unimpressed, but also wondering what exactly you did.

Add two or three bullet points for each position on your entry-level resume, detailing a few of your primary (and most impressive) responsibilities in the order that they apply to the position you’re seeking. You can also include volunteer work on your resume if it shows necessary skills. You’ll expand your credentials while also tailoring your experience to fit the job. However…

3. Do NOT Just List Your Responsibilities

Yes, it’s good to give the employer an idea of what your general duties and responsibilities were, but it’s also very effective to show them what you accomplished and what you can bring to the table. How did you go above and beyond expectations? Quantify whenever possible.

4. Use Their Language.

Incorporating words or phrases from a job listing into your entry-level resume is a great way to catch prospective employers’ eyes. If they’re looking for a “hard-working team player,” you might mention in your resume that you thrive in “team” environments and throw yourself into “hard work.” You’ll leave your employers musing that they couldn’t have said it better themselves.

5. Show Your Range.

“Past experiences” on your entry-level resume can include more than just previous jobs.

Detailing your proficiency in other areas, like specific computer programs or foreign languages, can add a lot of value to your entry-level resume. Even highlighting unrelated but important extracurricular activities on your resume can reflect your commitment to a goal – plus, you never know when an employer might bond with you over a shared love of water-skiing!

6. Add Testimonials

Another great way to give your resume veteran appeal is to include testimonials. This is still a relatively new concept and is something hiring managers may be pleasantly surprised to see. So take this opportunity to add about two or three very short quotes from an old boss, former professors, or other influential people in your field. This approach not only works as a great resume filler but helps make you that much more desirable as a candidate.

7. Incorporate Awards And Recognitions

If you’ve received awards or recognition in your short career span, don’t be shy about listing them. It’s great to be recognized for your accomplishments—and even better when an employer looks upon them favorably and even considers hiring you as a result.

Just because you’re getting your foot in the door at the entry-level doesn’t mean you’re not highly qualified for the job you want. So take time to really think about your accomplishments to date and how they make you an amazingly appealing candidate.

8. Avoid Common Mistakes

No matter how many times it’s repeated, 80% of all resumes are submitted with glaring typos. So, let’s say it again:

  • Proofread the resume
  • Get a second or third opinion
  • Don’t use the personal pronoun “I”
  • Don’t refer to yourself in the third person

9. Put Some Thought Into Your Brand

Consider how you want to brand your resume visually and verbally. Think about how each one of these should reflect you as a candidate, and be strategic about your resume choices. Choose a format that presents you as a professional—not unqualified and unprofessional. Just because you are an entry-level candidate does not mean your resume has to look basic and boring.

10. Sell Yourself!

When writing an entry-level resume, you might not have the experience that other positions require, but you don’t have to apologize or sell yourself short. Even if you can list only a couple of past accomplishments on your entry-level resume, you can describe the skills you’ll bring to future positions.

Remember these tips and strategies when writing your resume, and you’ll have a much better success rate winning interviews!

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How Job Hunters Should Use Facebook To Find Work

Thursday, November 21st, 2013

Thanks to Facebook’s dominance as the leading social network, combined with ways recruiters are using it to locate talent, if you’re serious about finding work, you must have a presence on this site.

There are three reasons Facebook is so essential when you’re looking for a job in today’s social media–focused world:

1. Most jobs come from referrals. If most jobs come from referrals, and most referrals come from friends and family, guess which social network has the highest concentration of friends and family?

2. Facebook has more users than the United States has citizens. The number of interconnections, relationships, and interactions between people in the network are infinitely complex. That presents a wonderful opportunity to meet new connections and expose your personal brand to more people to accelerate your career.

3. You can use Facebook to find out more about a company. Just as firms can get the inside scoop on job candidates by looking at their Facebook profiles, you can discover the facts and vibe about a business by “liking” its Facebook Page. (Find out whether your target company has a Facebook Page by entering its name in the search bar at the top of your Facebook account. If a page pops up, click on its “Like” button.)

You can also research a company from its Facebook Page, using links to the firm’s blogs and websites and seeing information about its benefits and culture.

Sometimes, you can find out about job opportunities through a company’s Facebook Page, too. Many firms are now using that space to attract new talent and interact with potential candidates.

How to Get Found on Facebook

As a job seeker, you want to be found. So be sure the “About” section of your Facebook profile is complete and current; update it if it isn’t. This way, hiring managers and recruiters can learn more about you and Facebook can find new people to suggest you add to your network.

Your “About” section should serve a similar function as your LinkedIn profile summary, communicating who you are professionally and what makes you unique.

Be sure to fill out your Work and Education section as much as possible. This helps Facebook make friend suggestions for you of people you’ve crossed paths with in your career or at school. Who knows what new opportunities old friends can bring?

Don’t Be a Stranger

So, if you consider people in your network to be important for your job search, interact with them regularly. You could comment on their Timeline posts, include them in your Timeline posts with tags or message them.

What Not to Post

Avoid posts like, “Help! I need a job. Can you pass my résumé on?” You don’t want to come across as desperate. Remember, your goal is to provide value and be upbeat.

Instead, post articles with your opinions of them or bring up current events to kickstart conversations with members of your network.

At least once a week, post something on your Facebook timeline that’s related to your industry. Sharing your opinion about professional issues can help position you as an expert.

How to Get Referrals

Nothing’s wrong with asking your Facebook network for a little help sometimes. Because the power of your network is in who the people in it know, the best thing you can do to help yourself is to ask for introductions.

But if you want to ask your Facebook contacts for a referral, be specific. For example, don’t ask: “Does anyone have connections at a CPG company in marketing?” Instead, say something like: “I’m looking for work as a business analyst at a CPG company. Do you know of anyone in marketing at Purina?” You’ll get much better results if you can say the name of the company and the exact role of the person you want to meet.

Don’t Reveal Secrets

Be careful not to reveal something you shouldn’t about the companies you’re interviewing with. For example, if you learn what your salary range might be, keep it to yourself. One woman interviewing at Cisco told her Facebook network the salary the company offered her. She was immediately disqualified for breaking Cisco’s non-disclosure policy.

How Facebook’s Graph Search Can Help

Graph Search is a way to explore Facebook’s network of information about people. It’s the technology behind the big search bar found at the top of your Facebook profile. By using search phrases, instead of keywords, you can discover all sorts of people using Facebook.

Previously, it was very difficult to know which companies were represented in your network and your extended (friends of friends) network. Now, you can see what companies you have connections to, locations you might have acquaintances in and even the brands your network prefers.

This feature opens up all kinds of research possibilities, like finding out if your friends have friends working at your target company.

Original from Forbes

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The Bulletproof Resume

Friday, October 26th, 2012

Bullet Proof

(And no, we’re not talking about bullet points)

Quick object lesson: you’re digging through a box filled with blue-colored blocks. All of them are blue and all of them are the same shape and size. Except for one. As you sift through them, there is a single red block at the bottom (which can itself be avoided, as we’ve explained elsewhere). It stands out from the other blocks; it’s different, unique, especially when seen side-by-side with all of the other blocks. It’s actually using the uniformity of the others to distinguish itself.

Second object lesson: you’re an HR clerk, underpaid, overworked, digging through a stack of resumes that your boss forced you to print (he’s not a very eco-friendly individual, unfortunately). It’s nearly midnight and your company’s Senior Accountant role has secured over a thousand responses within the first three weeks, from all over the world, including a rather shocking number of bartenders, stay-at-home moms, and even a few Pakistani electrical engineers… and they are all starting to look a little bit… blue. Except for one.

OK, maybe it’s not the color in this case (since most of our resumes are monochrome, unless you go the videography route and let the whole world mock your video resume gone viral on YouTube). Maybe it’s the shape or the format or the way it’s organized or, dare I say it, the neatly arranged bullet points.

Or maybe it’s what the resume says: reading like the job description written back to you with examples. No need to squint; it reads loud and clear.

Let’s get a few obvious items out of the way first, quickly: correct grammar and spelling are absolutely essential, length is important (short and concise is best), and that cute font you always use to pretend you’re English nobility when proclaiming your undying devotion to your significant other (since your handwriting is more like chicken scratches) is best left to love poetry and as far from your resume as possible. Kids stuff, yes.

So what makes your resume the red pill in a box full of blue?

Here are a few simple tips to start the process of armor plating and bullet deflecting your resume (if you want to go advanced, then contact us today!):

1. Dressing: You don’t leave your dirty laundry all over the floor when you have guests coming. Similarly, why leave your resume a mess, with bits and pieces of half-formed ideas strewn about? Organize, prioritize, accessorize, and incentivize.

2. Analysis: Just as HR clerks and company hiring managers are investigating your background, turn the tables and perform some analysis of your own. Do in-depth company research and glean the most important points from the job ads themselves.

3. Identification: In tandem with #2, determine what elements of your profile should be emphasized that show how well you match both the company and the role. Whatever problems the company needs addressing, that’s what your resume should be telling the employer. Their eyes should glance back and forth from the job description and your resume, with them getting confused as to which is which (metaphorically, of course).

4. Numerology: Nothing says accomplishment like a $ sign and a bunch of zeros. If all of your achievements are vaguely worded like “I increased sales” or “I helped save the company money”, you’re leaving it up to the HR clerk to imagine you sold the product to your extended family and bought cheaper coffee for the break room. Emphasize the details: if you dramatically increased sales in your division, say that you increased them by $200,000, by 95%, or similar. Bold it, italicize it, blare it on the cover letter.

5. Strategery: Resumes that read like a laundry list of responsibilities and repeat over and over again between different employers are boring, redundant, and inefficient selling tools. Don’t bring a wooden spoon to a knife fight. Instead of just listing your duties, bring your professional achievements to bear.

6. Branding: Stories sell. Your resume is YOUR story. If branding sounds like you’re going to put some pretty watermark in the background of your resume with your signature and astrological sign, then you’ve missed the five thousand Yahoo! articles that have beaten this to death. Your brand sums up everything about you professionally that you want your “customers” (in this case, companies) to think, remember, and internalize when they think of you. So your resume should portray this in as many ways as possible.

This all many seem like play-play still and it is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. If you can turn a pair of glasses into a computer and a Delorean into a time machine, then pretty soon we’ll all be mocking each other’s video resumes and doing tweet interviews with Gallup polls responding via chat forums on their iPhones from a coffee shop in Zurich. And that will be… progress, somehow.

But until that fateful day, don’t send your resume out there defenseless and unprotected. Start with the basics and then give us a call to ensure your resume isn’t just fortified but bulletproof.

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