Building in Personal Branding and Your Value Proposition
If you’re just joining in, you may want to start at the beginning with
Think Like an Executive Resume Branding Expert, Part 1 — Understanding the Importance of Personal Branding in Your Executive Resume
A caveat: Keep in mind that every job seeker is unique. The strategies that will work best for you may vary some from those that I outline here, depending upon your unique situation, job target, and other circumstances.
Tap Into the True Measure of Your Brand
Ask the people around you for feedback about your performance, leadership talents, and strengths. Pay attention to the words they use to describe you when they introduce you.
They are the ones who can verify your unique value and what they say is likely to be consistent and reliable. After all, your own assessment of what sets you apart is just one person’s opinion.
For guidelines, see Tune Into the True Measure of Your Brand.
Craft a Stand-Alone Value-Driven Brand Statement
Truly a cutting-edge strategy, a designated brand statement placed at the top of your resume, in itself, is a powerful differentiating feature. It should vividly announce what you’re offering and how you’re different from others who do the same work. A dramatic element like this will immediately draw in the reader.
Fashion a statement of no more than 4-5 lines that captures your style, comes from your own voice, and lays out your brand attributes. Just as you are unique, your brand statement should be unique to you.
For deeper information, see Executive Personal Branding Statements: Broadcast Your Unique Promise of Value.
Link Vibrant Branding to Your Value Proposition
Showcase the monetized value you’re offering. Build in proof (with figures, percentages, and dollar amounts, when possible) that you have a history of impacting bottom line and will do so for your next employer too.
Send a strong message by crafting several achievement statements. For best impact, introduce the contribution with the standout result(s) first, then concisely explain how you got there:
“Accelerated revenue from $500K to over $18M in 16 months building full life cycle venture capital solution for start-up service provider.”
I know that not all of your achievements can be anchored to dollars. If so, indicate how you improved processes, communications, team performance, etc. Try framing this as a comparison of how well things were running once your solutions were introduced to how it was before.
Again, lead your achievement statement with the stellar results first:
“Reduced turnover 50% while greatly improving metrics by innovating value-added staff models to incentivize and engage everyone in the mission.”
Develop a Few Defining Career Success Stories
Draw out your top career accomplishments. Zero in on critical contributions that were the most valuable to your companies and that will most resonate with the reader and make a connection. Your “stories” will provide clear on-brand evidence of how you tackle and overcome challenges and make things happen.
Illuminate these accomplishments using the C-A-R (Challenge – Actions – Results) or the S-T-A-R (Situation – Task – Actions – Results) framework.
There may only be room in your resume for one or two concise stories. Keep the rest ready for interviewing and/or use them in a separate Leadership Initiatives Profile.
For more information on developing C-A-R or S-T-A-R stories, see Power Up Your Executive Career Portfolio With a Leadership Initiatives Profile.
Finish up with Part 3 – Putting Together Your Executive Branded Resume
