Why Its Important for Your Resume to Tell a Story - Your Career Intel

Why Its Important for Your Resume to Tell a Story - Your Career IntelStandard resumes are a dime a dozen. Thats why resume storytelling is essential to stand out. But how? I know, I know, spending more time and thought on your resume is bedrngnis exactly how youd like to spend your next free evening, but now that youve updated it with the basics (jobs, dates, etc.), take a second look to add some more flavor. Great resumes tell a story about you.1. Capture attention. One way to do this is to give it a professional design. Have a graphic designer buddy? Ask them to take a look to organize the copy in an attractive way and add a little color even (dont go overboard with the color, but an accent hue reveals something about you research the meaning of color to select a color).2. Stand out at the top. At the beginning of your resume, feature a compelling work statement. In three concise sentences or less, tell the person reading your resume where you are in your career, your most importa nt qualities and what your goals are for your next step. Rewrite this several times to refine it and have a friend or family member who is a good writer/editor take a look as well.3. Describe, dont just list. Under each position youve held, tell the story of what you did in that job. This isnt a bunch of boring bullets about your work duties. Give them the juice what project did you nail and make sales numbers fly? Did you reorganize your team and boost everyones morale and productivity at the same time? Thats resume storytelling.4. Tweak the resume content for the job at hand. In the spirit of resume storytelling, create multiple resumes or tweak your current one to specifically highlight the type of jobs you are applying for or position at hand. In a way, you can look at this as similar to book categories (i.e. sci-fi, biography, etc.). Meaning that, if you are applying for a data analyst role and you have worked with data analysis (no fibbing), then make sure it is highlighted a nd detailed in the job descriptions, where it is applicable. HR and Hiring Managers open a resume looking for the ideal fit with keywords that match the job description as close as possible. Just like, in the bookstore, no one goes over to the sci-fi section looking for teen romance they go looking for light sabers and space ships.5. Proofread. Any professional storyteller will tell you that youve got to proof it. And while youre at it (especially if spelling and grammar is not on your forte list), have a skilled friend or professional take a look at the whole thing to make sure its error-free and flows well.Armed with these tips, youre ready to rock your personal resume story