At least twice a week clients will ask me if their resumes have enough branding–specifically, executive branding. Does their resume accurately reflect their expertise and what they are recognized for? Can I tell what their brand might be? Usually, my answer to these questions is NO.
Your executive brand doesn’t always speak for itself, especially if your resume is basically a job description of what you’ve been doing. No, you have to sprinkle aspects of your brand throughout your resume and let your reader know who you are.
How Do You Make Your Brand Stand Out on Your Resume?
Your brand is something that makes you uniquely you. You’ve had a steady career progression and along the way have honed your skills, learned new things, and carved out a name for yourself. You have distinguished yourself from others this way. You’ve also used your qualities to guide you to the next level in your career.
A brand is an evolution of where you are today. It communicates your value to the reader. Have you Googled yourself lately? What comes up in the searches next to your name? That will help you realize your brand.
To represent your brand on your executive resume, make a list of 5-10 strengths and personal attributes that describe you. Are these strengths and attributes on your resume? If a reader were to glance at your resume, would they be able to tell within 10-20 seconds what your brand is, who you are, and what you bring to the table? Is the first half of your resume selling the reader on your brand?
I know sometimes this can feel like a difficult thing to do. Many of our clients tell us they have this information but are unsure of how to incorporate that into their resume. There is help for that. There are many talented executive resume writers who specialize in executive branding and can walk through it with you. Whether you hire someone to help you with that or do it yourself, the most important thing is that your resume is infused with your unique brand.