The IT Executive Resume
Building a strong IT resume for executive positions is still important. No matter what someone tells you, at least for now, at 4pm on Monday, April 9, 2012, decision makers (HR managers, IT executives, and technical recruiters) will want to see, touch, and feel your resume. to Determine if you are a good candidate for a possible opening. However, how your resume got to your inbox or your desk can largely depend on your personal branding strategy. Additionally, how an employer or recruiter views your capabilities and their perception of you as they go through the post-resume review process also depends on your personal branding strategy.
Personal branding strategy: what does that mean?
All that personal branding strategy means is the way it is presented or “packaged” in your professional life. For example, if you are an IT manager looking to advance to the position of vice president of IT, you will try to identify yourself as an IT executive, not as an IT manager. Another example would be if you were a technical consultant who has worked with clients in all industries, but would like to work for a company in the healthcare industry. You would package yourself by highlighting your commitments to health and medical services clientele.
The difficulty with branding lies in considering how you position yourself all the time, not just when searching for a job. Understandably, the job search, and this job search in particular, is what motivates you to think about how you are graded. You may be wondering if it has a mark. Well yes, you are. You may not have defined it, it may be very diluted and it may not be very effective, but each of us is marked in one way or another. Just look at your resume and any other communication you send to a potential employer. If you pretended to be someone else, what would you say is that person’s core message? If there is no central message or the message does not correspond to the types of jobs you want to do, it will not be very efficient.
How else can I “bookmark” myself?
As I mentioned, personal branding goes way beyond just looking for a job and your resume. Let’s mention some of the most obvious traditional forums for you to broadcast your brand:
- Presentation letter
- Visiting card
- Executive bio
- Elevator pitch
And here are some of the social media forums through which you can broadcast your brand based on your content, what you like, what you retweet, what you repin, etc.
- Google+
- Stumble upon
Don’t forget about these other forums where potential employers can learn more about your:
- own blog site
- specialized sites that you comment that go with your brand
- in-person networking events
- community affiliations
- industry conferences
How do I put it all together?
You want to make sure your branding is consistent across all of these forums. I’m not saying copy and paste your resume information to all of these other sites and chat with people face-to-face on the resume. Each one should have its own unique flavor depending on the audience and their expectations … but the same brand and theme should shine through in all of them.
