Outside of a referral from your business network, your rockin' resume is the only way to get an interview (The really good news: most resumes suck). If your resume is one that shows what you did and the results that came from that work, it will stand out from the crowd and give you a better shot at getting in the door.

 

Take the Resume One Step Further

With hundreds, or even thousands, of resumes being submitted for one position, and with recruiters searching resumes to find candidates, it's really helpful to take yours to the next level. That level is to have your resume become a marketing document. Most resumes aren't even good fact sheets, much less a marketing document. While results are facts, the resume orientation can use those facts to support marketing your skills.

Let Me Objectify You

People are people and I get queasy when I start talking objects instead of people. This is necessary, however, so you can look at what is working and not working about your resume. The objectification is this: Your job skills and talent is a product that needs promoting and selling to prospective employers. People who talk about your "personal brand" are just using a polite way of saying you are a product. I am more straightforward about it and just call a product a product. If you consider your skills and talents a product, what product is it you are selling? Is it your creativity in your particular area? Is it providing excellent customer service in your work? My little mantra is "rubber meets cloud." What I sell as a product is that I can take a situation and create structure from the chaos using creativity. You can't talk in big, broad terms; Rubber meets cloud means I'm going to get to the bottom of what you want to do and then build some structure to make it happen. That's my product and that is what I'm marketing.

Discover Your Mantra and Market it in Your Resume

You can't be a "results-oriented professional" and get away with it. Everyone is a results-oriented professional. Instead, you need to dig down and figure out how you, uniquely, bring a difference to your work. You need a personalized mantra. Then, you take that mantra and update your resume to show what you did and the results you achieved to match up with it.

More Focused Resume

A more focused resume is the result. You may be passed over a few more times when a recruiter reads your resume because the company isn't looking for someone with the product you are selling. But when a job hits your sweet spot, recruiters will jump at the chance to speak with you. You are selling the very product they need to help their customer. Turn your facts and our results into a marketing message. It will make your resume jump out of the trash pile and into the interview pile.