Why You Need to Brand & Target Your Resume

  • 1 min read

Today, we’ll find out why making a safe resume just won’t cut it in today’s job market.

Spending lots of time tweaking and perfecting your ultimate resume or resume may feel productive and good, but it isn’t where you should be spending your energy.

Having one safe resume is not enough

What is enough? Taking the time and the care to craft every application you send out perfectly for the company and job that you are applying for. It may sound like a lot more work, but you’ll have to apply for a lot less jobs!

Lots of job applications have acceptance rates lower than Harvard. Yes, you heard that right! Think about it, if more than 15 people apply for a job, the random chances of you getting the one position is below 7%. Crazy, isn’t it!

And this is why we can’t leave getting picked to random chance. We need to increase our odds and our opportunities at every corner! And your application, that is a big corner.

It needs to tell ‘Your Perfect Story’

Your perfect story is unique to you — and unique to each company. You need to spoon feed potential employers how you will solve their problems and what experience you have that proves that.

And, while a portion of your resume will likely stay the same for each application, in order to optimize it for the position, company and specific word choice of each posting, you need to make custom applications for each job opportunity. Your perfect story isn’t about you or the job. Its about your effect in the job.

The fallacy of a safe application

Safe is another word for not-hired. You can laugh, but, seriously, you need to make a claim, take a stake and invest in an opportunity to have the best chance in today’s world. That said, there are safe ways to make a standout resume.

In some ways, it won’t be safe because it will require investment, trial and error, and your absolute best effort. But, it will be extremely safe because it will stand out just the way your potential employer wants it to and drastically improve your likelihood of getting a job offer.

In other words, your goal is to find a safe way to really stand out! And, I’ve figured it out for you: use marketing, branding a sales techniques in the job search. Doing it right enables you to stick out from the moment they open your application, it shows that you go above and beyond and, above all, it demonstrates your commitment to this specific job opportunity. Which just makes them far more likely to invest their time in you!

Ditch the idea of one safe resume.
Embrace the idea of personalized,
co-branded applications.

Picture of Rebecca Rapple

Rebecca Rapple

Rebecca Rapple has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, Keith Ferrazzi’s My Greenlight and more. Your can learn more about the fundamentals of a remarkable job search on her site, The Resume Revolution.

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