#Resume Tip | Be Personal

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What’s a resume? A resume is your personal highlight reel that captures your greatest moments. It’s mostly focused on your professional career but can (and should) include other things as well! The key to creating any excellent resume or highlight reel is the personal touch. Without it, your resume becomes one long, boring laundry list. Remember, your resume is a marketing document that gets others to buy into you!

Think about a news show focused on sports or entertainment for a moment. Many of the resumes adcoms will see are comprised of a plain-vanilla listing of dates, companies, titles, and job responsibilities. That’s the same as watching a monotone sports broadcaster read off the scores and stats of today’s games or an entertainment anchor list celebrity activities. Not very exciting, right? Now consider a resume that integrates impact and scope into a compelling story punctuated with adjectives and verbs that make it leap off the page. That’s like watching SportsCenter or TMZ! You not only get the facts but also the backstories, drama, and colorful commentary! That extra “oomf” is what captures the reader’s attention!

How can you tell if your resume has that personal touch? Take your personal information off your resume and give the anonymous resume to a friend or relative that isn’t familiar with your work history. Tell them it’s someone else’s resume. Ask that person to read it over and describe the personality and traits of the person in the resume. Is the description that you hear back a positive representation of who you are trying to portray in your applications? Or are you getting a very generic description that describes any other stereotypical applicant coming from your background?

When you have your resume drafted, remember – an experienced 2nd perspective can go a long way! At Critical Square, Our Resume Editing service marries your story, messaging, and accomplishments into a narrative that’ll leave the adcom wanting more! Learn more [here]!

Bhavik