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You’ve probably heard it a million times: Personal branding is important to the success of a job search. Why is it so important? Because as a unique job seeker, it helps define you as an individual and makes you stand out as a prime candidate.
There are aspects of your background that make you incredibly unique and highly qualified—and your job is to highlight those aspects so that hiring managers don’t have to guess whether you’re perfect for the job. To help you get started, here are five personal branding techniques to try when working on your resume.
1. Develop a Strong Title/Job Target
Your title/job target is the first impression a hiring manager will have when reading your resume. This short phrase provides a quick summary of what you’ve accomplished and why you are the right person for the job. It helps to set the tone for who you are as a candidate. This tone should remain consistent throughout the resume and any other information the manager receives about you.
There are aspects of your background that make you incredibly unique and highly qualified—and your job is to highlight those aspects so that hiring managers don’t have to guess whether you’re perfect for the job.
Tweet This2. Add Links to Your Professional Profiles
Another great technique for building your personal brand is to link to your professional profiles. Keep in mind that, most times, your resume is submitted online and can easily be linked to Web sites. If you link to your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, as well as one or two other professional sites you have, you give the employer a chance to learn more about the contributions you’ve made in your field.
3. Summarize Your Career Highlights
You can also develop your personal brand by creating a career summary section. You want the most important moments of your career to stand out in this section. These moments might include your winning salesperson of the year five times, or your efforts as a
“Like it or not, you’re in the business of selling yourself. One of the key aspects to standing out in a sea of other candidates is developing a clear brand. We call it positioning. And positioning is the heart of sales.
Creating more opportunities begins with understanding yourself and your value proposition. What are you the very best at doing? How do you stand apart from other candidates? Who are you, and why should they choose you?” – Developing Your Personal Brand
4. Turn Your Duties Into Initiatives
Instead of listing the duties you were given on any job you’ve worked, it’s great to brand yourself by listing your initiatives. So if you were in charge of taking phone messages and creating a new system that made message delivery more effective, don’t just write, “Answered calls and delivered messages”. Write a couple of sentences starting with “Developed” or “Initiated”, then talk about what you created and how it helped the message-taking process flow more smoothly throughout the office.
5. Consider Testimonials
Adding testimonials to resumes is still a unique concept for many job seekers, so taking this route could automatically make you stand out. Find two or three reputable references in your field to vouch for your greatness in a one- or two-sentence quote. This could really help to back you up as a strong candidate.
There’s nothing better than standing out as the strongest candidate each time you apply for a job. Increase the odds of being that person by developing your personal brand on
