Anatomy of a Winning RésuméMichelle Robin, CPRW

Who are you?What makes you different from other candidates? What are you passionate about? How does that fit with the employer?

6-10 seconds

Generating Attention

A = Attention

I = Interest

D = Desire

A = Action

A

I

D

A

Formats & Formatting

• Functional vs. Chronological

• Consistency

• Color

• Visual Center

Visual Center

This is the VISUAL CENTER of the page. Place your

strategic selling features here.

Source: Résumé Magic, Susan Whitcomb

Header

Title & Summary

Personal Brand“Personal brand is what people say about you when you leave the room”— Jeff Bezos, Founder, amazon.com

• What word would people use to describe you?

• From the perspective of your customers, what personal quality do they expect from you?

• What do others in your field respect about you the most?

Summary• Incorporate who you are and the value you bring to

an employer

• If someone were to rip off the top 1/3 of your resume, would they know who you are and what you offer?

Work Experience

Professional Experience

• Linchpin to success

• Action verbs

• Highlight achievements

• Create desire

Responsible for…

Employment Gaps• What did you do during that

time?

• Focus on volunteer work, freelance, classes

• Use only years

• Use a career highlights section to bring relevant experience up front

• Tell the truth, but don’t dwell

Impact or ContributionsCareer management file!

• Notes — handwritten or emails

• Performance reviews

• Job descriptions

• Project summaries, or notes from post-mortem meetings

Impact mining questions!

• Did you improve processes? Did you save the company money? Did you increase sales?

CARChallenge – Action – Results

Challenge: Hired to increase acute care referrals.

Action: Created business development plan to build new relationships with physicians, hospitals, and clinics in Cook and Lake counties and promote high-end care.

Result: Increased census for acute care 60% within first 5 months – highest census ever achieved.

Challenge: Drive attendance to annual user conference.

Action: Developed integrated marketing plan along with event website.

Result: Decreased marketing budget 40% through implementation of digital marketing efforts. Increased attendance 15% over previous year.

Before and AfterBefore: Designed and developed advertising and collateral materials.

After: Increased occupancy rate 15% by leading marketing campaign to rebrand and promote high quality facility.

Before: Led CMS Business Unit sales teams to best BU performance in 2011 in US organization.

After: Outperformed other 10 U.S. business units by at least 5% in 2011.

Education & More

Education• Placement

• At the top for recent grads

• End for everyone else

• Leave off the year, unless it was recent, last 2-5 years.

• Include GPA if 3.5 or above

• Bachelor of Arts, not Bachelor’s

Tidbits

• Volunteerism

• Associations

• Technical Skills

• Certifications

• Languages

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)A.K.A. The Résumé Black Hole

Keywords

Text Version• Put your name, phone, email

and other contact info all on separate lines

• Use regular characters like * = or + to separate out sections

• List multiple positions at the same company separately

• Use common section headings

• Length doesn’t matter

5 Quick Tips for1. Use a photo, preferably a professional headshot

2. Change your headline

3. Personalize your URL

4. Write your summary in first person, show your brand

5. Don’t cut and paste your resume into the experience section

Cover Letters

How to keep your cover letter from hitting the trash

• Salutation – get a name

• Grab attention

• Hook ‘em

• Close strong, not hopeful

Photo source: Winnond/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

ContactMichelle Robin 773-531-3457 michelle@brandyourcarer.com www.brandyourcareer.com Twitter: @BrandYourCareer LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michellerobin