What's in Your Resume Branding Stack? 8 Pros Share Ideas.

What's in Your Resume Personal Branding Stack?

The resume is the universal marketing and personal branding tool for job seekers and career professionals. 

Everyone needs one.

The resume is the gateway for productive employment and is the price for entry into the job search process. Without one, you will not get past the gatekeepers within the corporate world or electronic systems that categorize you as a "go" or a "no go" in the hiring funnel.

So, why not present your best self on paper, PDF, or Word document? When competition is fierce, your resume must possess powerful branding substance. Humans on the hiring front will spend seven seconds or less to decide on whether to consider you as a viable candidate.

I remember writing my first resume. It was an exercise in drafting a list of jobs, tasks, and duties with roles listed in reverse chronological order. As a newly-trained graphic designer with a design degree, I spent more time on choosing the font, layout, and paper stock, than creating substantive content.  

With the advancement of technology and digital tools in the mix of resume evaluation by recruiters and hiring managers, the resume writing craft now requires smart content and expert organization. 

And busy people who read resumes have high expectations of "content in context" of all that is important to them. Yes, your resume is as much about them as it is about you.

I recently introduced the personal branding stack, the tools, platforms, and practices used to design, build, and manage your personal brand. I also included the personal brand principle a resourceful strategy for career branding—profiled in Activate Your Agile Career.

With some modifications, I offer a definition of the resume personal branding stack.

What is a Resume Personal Branding Stack?

Definition: A resume personal branding stack is a combination of tech tools, platforms, and practices used to design, build, and manage the branding elements of your resume. Making full use of your resume branding stack elements enables you to create the essential marketing tool required for employment consideration. You will be able to attract the attention of those who matter most in the hiring process: your market, hiring managers, recruiters, coworkers, decision makers, and key influencers.

The idea for this stack is influenced by the tech stack. Companies define a tech stack of tools and services, so they can build their product. The stack represents their architectural design and building savvy in the business and product development world. 

Resume Writers as Brand Advocates

With a deep appreciation for how resume writers and LinkedIn profile creators help their clients with brand presence, I reached out to 7 resume specialists. They have written hundreds of resumes and LinkedIn profiles to get the attention you deserve in the job market.

Here is what they offered:

1 Triple S System©

Claire Davis 💥 Medical Sales Resume Specialist & Career Consultant💥 Land your next role in biotech, diagnostic, device, or pharma sales with my Triple S System → Send me your resume to get started 📧 [email protected] ✍️

Statistics

You must develop, focus, and call out the specific, relevant, quantitative metrics you’ve generated to capture the attention of your ideal hiring manager. Pro tip: Use Canva.com to whip up graphs and stats, then restate the graph info within your copy.

Style

Everyone needs a formatting upgrade. Elevate your branding for a more modern, industry-focused look, calling out key information that sets you apart as a major player in your field to attract the right audience. Pro tip: Use MS Word and convert to PDF.

Story

Tell your story and translate why your experience is a great fit for the industry you desire. There are lots of meaningful ways to do this that speak directly to the hearts — and bottom lines — of employers. ProTip: Visit the company website for inspiration. 

If you want to go pro, add Social Proof and SEO language that directly relates to the opportunities you desire next. This will greatly enhance the effectiveness, clarity, and (again) relevance of your resume.

2 LinkedIn is a Power Tool in the Resume Branding Tech Stack.

Barbara Schultz ⭐Career Coach & Founder of The Career Stager ⭐ Nationally Certified Résumé Writer at the NRWA⭐Mid-Career Job Search Expert@ job-hunt.org

Where the Talent Search Starts  

89% of recruiters use LinkedIn to identify candidates. They often start a search before a job is posted by using the LinkedIn Recruiter tool. Sometimes they conduct a LinkedIn search concurrent with a job posting. In either event, keyword-rich profiles are critical to showing up on their radar; those words will serve as the criteria to find you. 

Algorithms and ATS

Both algorithms and ATS are gatekeepers and job seekers may be more familiar with how to format a résumé and less aware of how AI (artificial intelligence) works on LinkedIn. Not all areas of a LinkedIn profile are created equal. The headline, job titles, and skills sections are indexed higher by LinkedIn’s algorithms (i.e. they have greater value). LinkedIn affords greater freedom to personalize your story and showcase your brand, but it’s equally important to pay attention to these technical aspects.

How Else Should Resumes and LinkedIn Work Together?   

You’ve now “set off the flare” on LinkedIn and the recruiter is interested in pursuing you by requesting a copy of your résumé. Ensure it aligns perfectly with your profile. Fact check for employment dates, job titles, education, etc. If there is conflicting information, correct it or that could be the end of the road.

Why it Matters How the Talent Search Starts.  

If recruiters initiate a search using LinkedIn, here is the size of the talent pool they will be drawing from:

• 1/740,000,000= LinkedIn Members…. and your chances of being selected: .000000001
• 1/290= the average number of resumes received per job posted and your chances of being selected: .003

Have a great LinkedIn profile- that’s where recruiters start to “fish.” Jump the queue with a compelling and keyword-rich profile as résumés start arriving through a job posting and move to the front of the line.  

3 Make it Easy to Read & Review.

Virginia Franco I Write Resumes that Help People Land Interviews Fast ✍️ Executive Storyteller, Resume + LinkedIn Writer ✍️ No Worksheets/Prep ✍️ High-Touch + Turnkey ✍️ Host of Resume Storyteller Podcast ✍️ Former Journalist

Get Your Resume Ready for its Screen Debut. 

While content should always be king, a resume written in a format that isn’t easy to read will likely not get very far. When it comes to resumes, today’s readers might read yours in print, on a laptop, desktop or mobile device. 

While documents designed for the screen can be printed out and read beautifully, those written specifically for print don’t convey well to the screen – with mobile reading being the most brutal. By taking two key digital reading principles into account, you can facilitate an online skim read of almost any document but most certainly a resume. 

#1 Avoid Dense Text.

Large paragraphs (think longer than 3 lines on a laptop) or several bullets crammed together can be tough to read online. Avoid this by keeping paragraphs and bullets to 2-3 lines and adding at least .5 points of white space in between every bullet/paragraph.

#2 Front Loading 

Unlike print reading where the human eye travels from left to right, on screens we’re all a bit “jumpy.” This means that although someone might begin a sentence, there’s no guarantee they’ll get to the end before jumping to something more interesting. 

Make sure they get the good stuff by placing it at the beginning, not end, of each sentence or bullet.  

Templates & Resume Tools: Eliminate Formatting Guesswork.

Take the guesswork out of writing a well-formatted resume by using a template written by someone who writes resumes for a living. Job Search Journey, a marketplace for job seekers, features low-budget, high-quality templates written by Professional and Certified Resume Writers. 

4 It's Not All About You.

Wilma Naschin Certified Career Coach & Resume Writer | Career Exploration & Assessments | Job Search Strategies | Outplacement Services | Retirement Coaching | Feel Hopeful, Design Action Steps, Get Noticed, Get Interviews, Get a Job

Apply with a Targeted Resume - Create a “Master” Resume (for your use only).

What if you are interested in applying for two or three unrelated positions? Create a “master” resume that includes all of the jobs you’ve held and what you’ve accomplished in each of your roles.

When you apply for a specific position, pick and choose the most relevant highlights and achievements. Your qualifications need to meet the requirements of a given position, the same way we put the pieces of a puzzle together to complete the picture. Targeted resumes work because you’ve connected the dots for the employer and hopefully earned a coveted interview.

Success Starts at the Top

While writing your resume, try to think like a hiring manager with twenty jobs to fill and department managers beating down the door seeking help. Most hiring managers don’t have time to read every resume that crosses their desk. Instead, they skim the information, starting at the top. Make sure that your most important information is there. And remember to customize your resume for each position you pursue. 

Your Superpower: Professional Branding

To be memorable to an employer, capture their attention in the top section of your resume with a powerful branding statement, letting them know what separates you from the pack, and what you will bring to the company or organization. Then highlight some of your key successes and strengths in bullet points, all in the top one-third of the page. This is the most valuable real estate on your entire resume, so make sure it’s the most hard-working.

It’s Not About You

It may sound strange, but your resume is not about you, it’s about the value you can provide to the company where you want to be employed. Before you start your resume, research the organization where you’d like to work. Investigate the company and several of its competitors; understand the business and its challenges. Then connect the dots to clearly demonstrate how your talents and achievements align with their business objectives. Don’t make the hiring manager guess!

5 Refine The Content Sections of the Resume.

Matt Warzel 🤘Helping Job Seekers Find Their Next Career Move 20% Faster 🔥 With A Pay Increase of $15K on Average 🏆 Award Winner ✏️ Jobstickers.com Blog Writer🤘Spread Joy, Be Empathetic, Make a Change, Then Make Your Impact🤘

Summary

This is the first section that a hiring manager sees; make the most positive impression possible. Establish your brand and showcase how you offer value as it relates to the role. How can you be their Tylenol to the pains they have due to the opening? How can you make them understand that your intention is to make their lives easier if they were to hire you? This is a major part of your messaging! WOW them!

The Summary should be made up of around 3 sentences (written in one paragraph) that capture the best of what you have to offer an employer. Consider it your “elevator pitch,” or what you would say if you had 30 seconds to sell yourself for a job.

Sentence 1 (Who You Are): Overview statement including years of experience and career focus (your brand).

Sentence 2 (What You Can Achieve): Results you can accomplish for a company (your value offering).

Sentence 3 (How You Can Achieve It): Your unique skill sets or areas of expertise (your unique selling proposition).

Skills

Next, you will need a resume that is packed with qualifications proving you as a competitive candidate. Include a summary, key skills/buzzwords, key contributions, experience section, education/certifications, and affiliation/volunteerism.

If needed, use transferable skills! What are transferable skills and how important are they when writing a career change resume? Think of these skills in terms of what you are currently doing at your job that can relate to what you would be doing in the new role. Key proficiencies that can help the hiring manager see your ability to slide into the role with minimal training. Display on your resume to demonstrate your fit into the new role, showcase your keywords so you are being discovered by the hiring team in their respective applicant tracking systems, and help win over the readers to receive that interview request.

Experience

To position this section towards the hiring team's preferences of that ideal candidate, internalize and visualize what you want to do. What tickles your belly and gets you excited at the opportunity? Look at 5 job descriptions and highlight the skills and tasks mentioned that you can perform. Add the skills into the skills section of your resume. Convert tasks into matter-of-fact statements on your resume that focus on your onus of that task. Make it personal.

Show them that not only can you handle the task, but you have before, and here was the action-result of you accomplishing said task. Your operational impact. Brand yourself as a problem solver and continuous improvement manager. You're not a clock watcher. You aim to help alter the company's processes to better position them and you for success.

6 Your Resume is a High-Value Marketing Tool.

Ana Goehner Bilingual Career Strategist helping people on nonlinear career paths take charge of their careers 🦋 | Resume Review & Training | LinkedIn Review | Skills & Self-Development | New Hire Onboarding

• Avoid generic resumes because you can’t be everything to everyone. Learn new job search strategies besides large job board applications.
• Search for niche job boards or choose a few companies and check their careers page.
• Resumes are a marketing tool and a niche document tailored to the job description.
• You are targeting one job description and hoping to land one interview at one company. Your resume is about branding or rebranding strategies.
• If you want a new job to level up your career and get better pay, you create a resume for branding. You build a resume with quantifiable accomplishments, targeting that next role.
• You create your resume backward as if you were already in the position. You describe your experience and skills targeting the job description. Use actionable verbs in your bullet points.
• If you are changing careers, your resume must rebrand your skills and experience. You build a resume using your transferable skills.
• The recruiter wants to see how the candidate achieved a goal and how they can use that same skill in the new role. They usually spend seconds skimming over the resume.
• Incorporate keywords from the job description into your resume. Tell a quick story with your bullet points on how you solved problems based on the job description.
• Here is an example of an impactful bullet point. It shows adaptability, technology, and communication skills.

Taught 20+ colleagues how to use Zoom and Slack features, set up coffee breaks with remote and on-site employees, improving effective communication by 20%

7 Resume May Precede You in the Recruitment Process.

Varshaa RT Spinning magic with words is my superpower and if you have it in you, I'll nail it for you 💥 | LinkedIn Top Voice 2022 💎 | Resume Writer | Military Spouse | Military Resume | CV | LinkedIn | Content Writing

• Your resume enters the recruitment process way before you do (if called for an interview at a later stage) so keep your best foot forward with a targeted resume. It paints a picture in the eyes of the reader so that it interests them enough to call you for a conversation.
• It should highlight what are you good at, what difference have you brought in the previous (relevant) experiences and why should they hire you?
• Particularly for career changers, don't ignore your previous experience but bank on transferable skills to say that you've got all that it's needed for the job and rather more because of hand-on-experience in cross-functional environments.

Tools:

MS Word

Not only does it help you maintain consistency of format but gives you heads up on the possible typos.

Grammarly

Errors that are not visible to eyes are caught here, sometimes so tiny that it might not strike the reader too but no harm owning a career document that's literally 'shiny' neat.

Online Word to PDF converter

You can use any of the free online resources to convert the word doc into pdf or vice versa. I have been using ilovepdf.com and I like the option to convert any number of documents without registering at all.

ATS compatibility

Last but not the least, if you want to proof check your resume for keywords, use free ATS compatibility tests from websites such as jobscan.co or resumeworded.com. The latter gives you option to review your LinkedIn profile too and I use either depending on whether I have a job description to match with or without to check for a generic fitment.

8 There is Job Seeker Gold in Your Resume.

Erica Reckamp You won't BELIEVE what they'll say when they see your new Executive Resume & LinkedIn Profile | Find the Job Search Strategy that works for YOU | 2Book: jobsearchlikeapro.com | 2Shop: jobsearchjourney.com

Brand Your Keywords

From a resume/LinkedIn content perspective, use JobScan or ResyMatch to run raw content through the system. If reports come out with on-theme keywords, you’re probably in good shape in terms of keeping the narrative aligned with your brand. If not, you have some work to do!

Opening your resume with a target title and including a keyword bank can solidify your brand. Consider adding subtle shading to reinforce brand colors, while remaining ATS friendly.

Brand Your Online Footprint

Potential partners and hiring authorities will search for additional social proof beyond LinkedIn to find out more about you and what you bring to the table. Creating your own online portfolio or website can elevate your standing significantly.

Wix and WordPress are free and easy sites that can quickly improve search results. Make sure the web content and themes reinforce your brand messaging, including color schemes, photos, video excerpts, and more.

Add to the Branding Stack Series

The branding stack articles are part of an ongoing series. If you have more to add, please email me at [email protected].

----

Keynote Speaking & Workshop Facilitation

My presentations and training are virtual AND live! If you are interested in a keynote, panel participation, a workshop or training on the topics of agility, career agility, personal branding, or future of work for your organization, check out the topic list here for speaking and training.

Contact me: [email protected].

Ready to Decode Your Mid-Career Job Search & Create Your Career Brand?

Join other mid-career job seekers who want to find the right fit role in 2022. Translate your experience into an in-demand portfolio of skills.

Contact me: [email protected]

• 1 to 1 coaching
• Single session - discounted price
• Job search agility masterclass

Website | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn