Even while channels proliferate to communicate your passions,
position and career preferences, the resume remains firm as your calling card
and one of the essential documents that helps you define who you are, what you
do and the value you bring to the table.
I know, there is much talk today about the importance of the resume or
the declining value of it. The fact
remains that the resume is still used by the majority of talent hunters in
today’s hotly competitive job market. It
is what can get you in the front door, if done well, or prevent your entry, if
not.
I have written extensively about the resume over the years
including these posts, It's
About the Accomplishments, Is the Resume
Dead, Constructing a
Compelling Resume , Rebooting
Your Resume, among others. I have also advised employing your resume as
the basis for your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. This assures consistency, repeatability and
better search engine optimization by focusing on your essential and core
competencies.
So given the continuing importance of the resume, it is vital
to keep the resume fresh, vibrant, interactive, enticing and engaging. The following simple techniques can help to
accomplish this and serve to electrify or bring your resume to life with your
legacy, life and professional longings.
Opening Salvo. Include the urls to your Google+, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles at the top of
your resume along with your email address.
Make certain they are hot links so the hiring manager can easily dive
into your data that resides on these social infrastructure platforms.
Link it live. Use your summary or qualifications statement to
bring your elevator speech to life. Make
it a live link to either an audio file of you reciting your elevator speech or
an on camera rendition. You can
accomplish both tasks using the video function on your smart phone or other
tools such as Skype for the desk top or Google+. Upload the resulting audio or video file to
your YouTube channel allows you to
institutionalize it for all to see and hopefully marvel. If you do not have a YouTube channel create
one. It is on this platform that you can
create and store original video and audio content for immediate access through
links in the resume.
Embed links to owned/earned
content. Employ direct links to your
online content within your experience section to provide evidence and validation
of your accomplishments or contributions to your employers. For example, if you wrote copy for an online
annual report or the script for a mini documentary, provide the direct “hot”
link in the description of the accomplishment.
If you have quantitative data
showing the result of a campaign or increased revenues link to an infographic
that visually tells the story. This will
help you keep the copy succinct on the resume while providing an easy way to
see the full content. Even if your
contribution is a successful pitch to a journalist, provide the link to the
actual story. Adding links to content
enhances your resume without needlessly making it lengthy.
Don’t Forget School. Live linking to your education and
professional affiliations can also add further dimension to your background and
experience. When listing your academic
credentials, make hot links to your university and degree so that with a simple
click an interested hiring manager can see directly the detail about your
credential and the curriculum you mastered.
The same is true for professional affiliations you maintain or
certifications you hold. Make those live
as well to the associations web site and the detail of your certifications .
