How to Positively Brand Your Experience in Your Resume
Posted July 23rd, 2015
Many job seekers operate under the mistaken assumption that their past experience is something fixed and single-natured. The reality is that there are lots of way to frame your experience, and you have control over how that experience is perceived by your potential employer. Make the right choice and you can frame an incomplete or lackluster set of experiences as something better. Make the wrong choice and you could waste one of your biggest assets. Use these tips to help you brand your experience in a positive way on your resume.
Group Your Experiences
One problem that many job seekers run into is that they have worked in many different fields and taken on lots of different responsibilities. This can make it difficult for hiring managers to identify their core skills and true competencies. Resolve this issue by replacing a chronology of your experiences with groupings of similar positions/responsibilities. This helps highlight what you have spent the most time doing and makes your career trajectory appear less scattershot.
Name Your Experiences
Once you have put together the groupings, it is time to brand them and take steps to guide the way a hiring director will perceive them. Start by giving each grouping a heading that is clear but also attention-grabbing. For example, rather than naming a grouping “Coding Experience,” try something like “Development Expertise.” If you have positions/responsibilities that you can’t fit in elsewhere, put them all in a grouping labeled “Professional Development Initiatives.” This is a simple but effective way to take control over how your work history is understood and evaluated, so pick your words wisely.
Critique Your Experiences
Remember that your end goal is to brand your experiences in a way that makes sense to others, and especially people that have never met you before. For that reason it’s best to seek out an objective evaluation of your resume before you submit it anywhere. Enlist someone you trust to give you an honest opinion, and ask them to read over your resume and give you feedback. If a concept is confusing or you’ve done something to raise red flags, this early evaluation process can help you make informed revisions and submit a stronger finished product.
Your resume is the first impression a potential employer gets of you. You might be a stellar candidate, but without a stellar resume, you can’t expect to get called in for an interview. No matter what kind of experience you have, make sure that you’ve organized and presented it strategically. To get more resume-writing tips, contact Bayside Solutions.
