Write Your Resume to Showcase Your Professional Brand

As you can see, the list is the same, just reversed. Group 1 read the positive attributes first and group 2 read the negative attributes first. Asch asked the participants to form impressions and write characterizations of the person who the list described. Participants who read the list where positive traits came first formed more favorable impressions than those who read the list with negative traits first.

The primacy effect can be seen in many areas of our lives. However, we can use it to our advantage when writing a resume.

When a recruiter or HR person first looks at your resume, they will usually scan it. I hate to admit it, but it’s true that a scan will only take 6 seconds. If they don’t see the words that they are looking for or if they see words or misspellings that turn them off, your resume will probably go in the virtual “no” pile. As you can see, this first impression is vital.

So how do you make sure to make a good impression? While every inch of space on a resume is important, the top 1/3 of the first page is like Park Place. Here are some tips to make sure you get the most out of it:

START WITH A BRANDING HEADLINE

The Branding Headline is the title at the top of your resume. Instead of starting with “Summary” or “Professional Experience”, specify the title that you want the reader to see first. Again, it’s the primacy effect in action. If you are applying to a position for Director of Client Services, your headline could be “Client Services Leader” or “Director of Client Services” or “Director Client Services  |  Customer Happiness Leader”. By having your branding headline at the top, in the most noticeable spot on your resume, your reader will see it first and it will create an immediate focus.

NO OBJECTIVE!

Change is hard. Resumes have traditionally had an objective. But this is old school. At some point, your potential employer (if they’re any good) is going to want to know what your career aspirations are. But at this point in the game, your resume reader doesn’t really care that you’re “seeking a position to use your customer service and management skills”. Instead of telling your future employer what you want, tell them what you can do for them.

INCLUDE A BRANDING SUMMARY

The Branding Summary should be at the top of your resume. It can be in summary form or, I prefer, in bullet points. The Branding Summary describes what makes you special for this job – why should they want to meet you? You may be an awesome Project Manager. But if you were in a room with 10 other Project Managers, what would make you stand out? This is your brand. It’s the unique combination of skills, experience and personality that makes the “professional you” exceptional. This is where you highlight your brand.

SKILLS SECTION

Another important section to put near the top of your resume is the Skills section. The skills section is important for two reasons:

1. It’s a way to place the most important keywords in your resume to trigger search results.
2. When a recruiter scans your resume, they’ll easily see the keywords that make them want to take a closer look.

If you are applying for technical positions, it’s great to add a technical skills section here also.

Tip:  It’s tempting to put your skills in an MS word table to make it look nice – don’t do it! Applicant Tracking Systems usually omit content in tables.

CUSTOMIZE!

The best part about these sections of your resume is that they make it extremely easy to customize your resume for different positions. 

Change your Branding Headline to match the role that you’re applying to.

Change the skills section to match the exact skills that the job ad has listed.

Change your branding summary to speak to the attributes that the job ad is looking for.

 Even if you don’t change anything else on your resume, if you customize those three sections for each role you will have a much better chance of getting interviews!