5 Personal Branding Resume Techniques You Must Try
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.
2. 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 team leader that resulted in record revenues. It’s good to list at least four highlights, but make sure they’re tailored to the job for which you’re applying.
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 created 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 to 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 in your resume.
For additional tips and advice on resumes and cover letters, follow us on Twitter @GreatResume or visit our blog.
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About the author
Jessica Hernandez, President, CEO & Founder of Great Resumes Fast
Hi, I’m Jessica. I started this company back in 2008 after more than a decade directing hiring practices at Fortune 500 companies.
What started as a side hustle (before that was even a word!) helping friends of friends with their resumes has now grown into a company that serves hundreds of happy clients a year. But the personal touch? I’ve kept that.
You might have seen me featured as a resume expert in publications like Forbes, Fast Company, and Fortune. And in 2020, I was honored to be named as a LinkedIn Top Voice of the year!
I’m so glad you’re here, and I can’t wait to help you find your next perfect-fit position!
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[…] the Author: A nationally recognized resume expert, Jessica Hernandez is President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast and a former human resources manager and recruiter. With more than ten years’ experience […]
[…] 5 Personal Branding Resume Techniques You Must Try […]
Hi Jessica,
Great blog! I am loving it and you have given me many useful tips. 2 questions:
1) Where does the title/job target go on a resume? Is this the same as an “objective” section? If you can provide an example that would be great.
2) Can you give me tips on how to write a career summary section? Perhaps you have already written an article on this.
Thanks so much. Looking forward to your future articles! Keep up with the great writing.
Annabelle
Hi Annabelle,
Thank you!
The job title/job target isn’t the same thing as an objective. It’s just the title of the position you’re applying to or a quick one line branding statement at the top of your resume. I suggest following up with a branded career summary that is customized to the position you are trying to get. I would look up career summary on the search bar of our blog we have lots of articles about career summary sections and you’ll probably find what you’re looking for and a whole lot more on the blog!
Thanks so much!
Jessica