Matthew Warzel Featured in an AgilityThink Newsletter

Please check out this fantastic article by AgilityThink’s Marti Konstant with our president, Matt Warzel, as a contributor – What’s in Your Resume Branding Stack?

I was fortunate enough to be featured in an AgilityThink newsletter by Marti Konstant about 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚁𝚎𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔?

The resume is the universal marketing and personal branding tool for job seekers and career professionals.

Everyone needs one.

The resume is the gateway for productive employment and is the price for entry into the job search process.

Without one, you will not get past the gatekeepers within the corporate world or electronic systems that categorize you as a “go” or a “no go” in the hiring funnel.

💥 𝗦𝗼, 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿, 𝗣𝗗𝗙, 𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁? 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

💥 Humans on the hiring front will spend 7 seconds or less to decide on whether to consider you as a viable candidate.

I remember writing my first resume. It was an exercise in drafting a list of jobs tasks and duties with roles listed in reverse chronological order. As a newly minted graphic designer, I spent more time on choosing the font, layout, and paper stock, than creating substantive content.

What is a Resume Branding Stack?

Definition:

𝘈 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴, 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴: 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵, 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘴.

𝘔𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦(𝘴)?

Refine The Content Sections of the Resume.

Summary

This is the first section that a hiring manager sees; make the most positive impression possible. Establish your brand and showcase how you offer value as it relates to the role. How can you be their Tylenol to the pains they have due to the opening? How can you make them understand that your intention is to make their lives easier if they were to hire you? This is a major part of your messaging! WOW them!

The Summary should be made up of around 3 sentences (written in one paragraph) that capture the best of what you have to offer an employer. Consider it your “elevator pitch,” or what you would say if you had 30 seconds to sell yourself for a job.

Sentence 1 (Who You Are): Overview statement including years of experience and career focus (your brand).

Sentence 2 (What You Can Achieve): Results you can accomplish for a company (your value offering).

Sentence 3 (How You Can Achieve It): Your unique skill sets or areas of expertise (your unique selling proposition).

Skills

Next, you will need a resume that is packed with qualifications proving you as a competitive candidate. Include a summary, key skills/buzzwords, key contributions, experience section, education/certifications, and affiliation/volunteerism.

If needed, use transferable skills! What are transferable skills and how important are they when writing a career change resume? Think of these skills in terms of what you are currently doing at your job that can relate to what you would be doing in the new role. Key proficiencies that can help the hiring manager see your ability to slide into the role with minimal training. Display on your resume to demonstrate your fit into the new role, showcase your keywords so you are being discovered by the hiring team in their respective applicant tracking systems, and help win over the readers to receive that interview request.

Experience

To position this section towards the hiring team’s preferences of that ideal candidate, internalize and visualize what you want to do. What tickles your belly and gets you excited at the opportunity? Look at 5 job descriptions and highlight the skills and tasks mentioned that you can perform. Add the skills into the skills section of your resume. Convert tasks into matter-of-fact statements on your resume that focus on your onus of that task. Make it personal.

Show them that not only can you handle the task, but you have before, and here was the action-result of you accomplishing said task. Your operational impact. Brand yourself as a problem solver and continuous improvement manager. You’re not a clock watcher. You aim to help alter the company’s processes to better position them and you for success.

Check out the article link below! 👇👇👇

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-your-resume-branding-stack-7-pros-share-ideas-konstant-mba/

What would you add to your resume’s personal branding stack? Join the conversation here as well, leave some thoughts!

💰PS – I want you to know that referrals from satisfied clients are the lifeblood of my business, so I greatly appreciate anyone you send my way. As a bonus, for any referrals you send that purchase services from me, I will send you $25 for each! Thanks again for your continued support!

📰 PPS – Also please subscribe to our monthly Jobstickers newsletter (https://mjwcareers.com/newsletter-signup), Spotify Podcast (https://open.spotify.com/show/4BdzyZsOtgbEtNRTRgbTLi) and Facebook Live group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/455474262138280) to stay up to date on job hunting industry trends, resume and social media profile and networking techniques, recruiter insights, promotions, discounts, and freebies.

✅ PPPS – follow the hashtags #Jobstickers, #ThePragmaticResume & #UnUnEmployed on LinkedIn for other daily insights that can help you in your career or job search!

💻 PPPPS – Thank you for reading! Please visit www.jobstickers.com to keep up with all of MJW Careers’ content, and visit www.mjwcareers.com or email warz65@gmail.com (or call 855-YES-EMPLOYEES) to learn more about our resume writing, interview training, career coaching, or outplacement services and solutions.