Career Management Alliance Blog

• As a member of a new community of resume writers and career coaches called the Career Collective, this post is one of many responses to the question, “Are you a cookie cutter job seeker?” I encourage you to visit other members’ responses, linked at the end of my reply! Please follow our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.

Frequently I meet job seekers who think that there is a strict format for resumes and refer to the resume format they used when they graduated from college or find something on Google templates to use as their guide. Some job seekers are fearful of changing up any of the content or adding any type of stylistic design elements to their resume for fear that their resumes will look different from others. Huh? Strong brands have a value proposition, look, and feel that separates them from the pack. Apple didn’t become successful because it was just like a PC and Starbucks didn’t become the powerhouse it is because they are just another coffee shop. Strong brands allow people to experience an important emotion and the packaging of the brand is all part of that emotional connection. A resume is a marketing tool designed to get the job seeker interviews. Every facet of the document needs to exude your promise to deliver, your passion, and your differentiating features. And this can never be achieved with a template resume or one that was created based on the way resumes were written many years ago when you graduated. Develop content and design based on that unique value. Write about your compelling stories of success and validate that success by showing the impact your actions had on the organizations you supported. Doing so will help build trust between you and your reader and solidify the emotional connection to your brand. Use design features such as bold, shading, graphs, charts, and even color if these elements better communicate your key selling points. Don’t be afraid to do things differently if doing so will help you get your message across. Here’s what my colleagues have to say about this topic. Keppie Careers – Conscious awareness and your job hunt The Emerging Professional: On the “Cookie Cutter” Approach to Job Search: Do You Need a Recipe? Sterling Career Concepts: Job seekers: Break out of the mold! Dawn Bugni The Write Solution: Dawn’s Blog Is your job search “cookie-cutter” or “hand-dropped”? Rosa Vargas, Creating Prints Resume-Writing Blog: Being a Cookie-Cutter Job Seeker is a Misfortune Heather Mundell, life@work: How Not to Be a Cookie Cutter Job Seeker Print This Post

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