Creating A Standout Personal Branding Statement for Your IT Resume

Information technology is a unique field that has the privilege of being both highly-specialized and broad in its scope as new technologies develop and evolve. As a member of this field who is also seeking employment, you are likely to face candidates who bring a lot of expertise to the table. So how can you ensure you stand out from other candidates? A great way is to develop your brand, then write a resume incorporating a quality branding statement that solidly defines your role as an expert IT professional.

What is a Personal Brand?

A personal brand is not unlike a brand used by a company to associate a product with a business. For instance, in order help customers remember the McDonald’s company name, owners developed Ronald McDonald who represented a fun way for people to identify the company, its name, and its food.

Many professionals have searched for similar ways to make their names synonymous with a specific field or job position, which they’ve been able to accomplish by creating a personal brand.

As an IT professional, a personal brand can ensure that others quickly associate your name with your specific role in the world of information technology—so when a person says, “I’m looking for a quality programmer, developer, etc.” someone can immediately say, “I know the perfect person: [insert your name here]!”

Branding Yourself in Your Resume

There are a number of ways to brand yourself as a specialized IT professional. One of the easiest is by using the Internet. By setting up professional profiles that incorporate your title and resume/bio via sites such as LinkedIn and Google Plus you can effectively associate your name with your field.

But if you’re actively applying for jobs, another way to brand yourself is by creating a branding statement. This statement is used to define a product similarly to a company’s use of branding to define its products. The only difference is that the product is you.

Here are a couple of great examples of branding statements you might use as an IT professional:

APPLICATIONS DEVELOPER
10 years of success developing, testing, implementing, and enhancing numerous applications to meet and exceed diverse business objectives.

NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR with eight years of experience managing hardware and software, providing expert troubleshooting and problem resolution, and utilizing a diverse technical skill set to successfully manage shifting business priorities.

Branding statements are almost always listed at the top of your resume beneath your name and contact information. In other words, you want this statement to impressively summarize who you are and what you can contribute to a company in an amazing first impression.

There isn’t a specific formula you need to use to create a branding statement. So take time to think about your role as an IT professional and what contributions you want to make to the field, then creatively define how you will make a difference for any company that hires you.