Your Resume is Your Personal Brand- Career Series Part I

Hello rocket50 Followers,

By popular request, we are going to begin a series of articles focused on “Careers 50 and Beyond”. The majority of people I have spoken with who are in this age bracket and don't own a business, are either questioning their current roles or looking for new ones. In our series, we will explore the questions and concerns of looking for a new job when you are in your 50s and 60s.

Today, we are going to focus on the topic of a resume or CV. Most people assume that a resume is a document that shows a potential employer all your past work experience. This may have been true in the past, but not today.

To be effective.

Think of your resume as a marketing piece, or an employment branding statement. No one wants to know or even cares about everything you have done over the course of your long career (if you are over 50!). What they want to know is, can you do the job they have open today, or better yet, can you do something for them that they haven’t even described in a job description?. 

So, here are the steps to take when putting together your resume.

Steps to create your own branding document.

1. Research the company in depth that you are interested in.
2. Talk to people who either work there today, used to work there or know someone who works there to gain critical insights into the company culture, current challenges and decision-making style.
3. Craft your resume starting with your first role in such a way that it addresses the skills and knowledge that the current opportunity is looking for.
4. Don’t write too much, save most of your word count for your most recent experiences and make the link between your past and the role you are looking for. 
5. Use action verbs to describe your experience and link this to accomplishments as much as possible.

What companies really care about.

We all think that companies really care about what we have done, but as an HR professional for 30 years, I can tell you, all they really care about is – Can you do the job we have open today and why? Explain this to me in such a way that I get it in a 5 second scan. Sound brutal? Ask anyone who regularly screens resumes!

Lastly, submitting resumes to posted openings is time consuming, as well as depressing and highly demotivating. Focus on networking, networking, and networking whenever you can!

Stay tuned for more tips!

Your rocket50 career advisor, Marie