Over in Grammar Chic’s Resume division, we’re always telling people that a resume and cover letter are both examples of personal branding—marketing collateral that you use to sell yourself and get a job.
Today, we’re flipping the script: We’re going to show you the marketing lessons that can be learned from a good, solid resume.
We’ll show you what we mean.
Essential Resume Component: A strong job title, positioned at the top of the document and intended to immediately convey who you are, what value you bring, and what kind of position you’re looking for.
What Content Marketers Can Learn: You always want to open with some of your strongest material—specifically, a zippy headline that immediately draws the reader in. A resume that starts off slowly or vaguely will get thrown in the trash, and a blog or press release that lacks a persuasive hook simply won’t get read.
Essential Resume Component: A career summary, explaining in 3-5 sentences or so the basic narrative of your career and the benefits you bring to an employer.
What Content Marketers Can Learn: Resumes need summaries because in many cases, hiring managers and recruiters simply don’t have time to read the entire document. Similarly, it’s important to always be mindful of the time constraints your readers have. Make your content easy to skim—use subheadings and bullet points—and always have a good “elevator pitch” for your business that you can share as needed.
Essential Resume Component: A list of core competencies and basic skills, which can easily be scanned by humans or by resume-reading robots.
What Content Marketers Can Learn: Keywording matters. Don’t overdo it, don’t force it, and don’t put keywords over quality—but do ensure that you use a few strong terms that search engines and readers can easily grasp.
Essential Resume Component: A career narrative that includes specific numbers, achievements, and measurable results.
What Content Marketers Can Learn: Everything has to come back to value—to the real-world benefits that your readers can gain from your content, your product, or your brand.
Essential Resume Component: Contact information. Don’t blank on this: If recruiters like what they see they must be able to reach you!
What Content Marketers Can Learn: Your content isn’t complete unless you guide readers to the next step—and that means a strong yet simple call to action.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: How Content Marketing is Like Resume Writing
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