In following up on my "Marketers and Account Service Pros Need Portfolios Too!" blog posting last week, this is about simply enhancing your resume when you update it. Once again the point is, you need to have a current, effective (if not fine-tuned and impactful) resume, even if you're not currently "looking for a job". Why? So you can respond more promptly when a recruiter (like me) calls you out of blue and starts talking to you about a career opportunity that you think is too good to be true! Yet, it is true!
And, just as Account Service pros need portfolios, Creative pros need resumes! I know, you hate that. You want your work to do the talking . . . recruiters and employers need to know about more than the work, to determine qualifications and potential fit. Great work is a table setter, not the meal!
We need to know things like work history, previous titles (hopefully showing increasing responsibility), previous employers (indicating size/type of company), previous client/category experience, number of direct reports, etc.. There are lots of ingredients in the hiring a great employee recipe! There is generally value in your ability to respond promptly to a recruiter's request for a resume. You certainly should have a link to your work. Don't say, "Samples of Work Provided on Request" . . . Trust me, we want and need to see the work. Just show it to us!!!
I have a couple of very simple suggestions for how to enhance your existing resume and make it more information packed. You need to add hot links, where ever possible and appropriate.
For example, my employer is:
Bishop Partners, LLC St. Louis July 2001 - Present
Specialty retained recruiting firm and sole proprietorship, headquartered in St. Louis with expertise in conducting executive search for Corporate marketing and agency positions nationwide.
By adding the hot link, and short employer description, you can give the resume reader signifcant additional information in a different way, and very conveniently. You could (for example) link your name at the top of the resume to LinkedIn, or you could add a line to your resume asking the reader to visit LinkedIn (with hotlink) to read all your recommendations.
I love those folks who use Dropbox to host files which are then hotlinked to their resumes. Last year I wrote a blog post about "Create Richer Resumes With New Technology". While Dropbox isn't so new anymore, it's still incredibly effective and seriously under utilized! (Great for backing up essential files, too!)
There is more information available at our website Bishop Partners > Candidates > Helpful Articles > "Prove Value" (I especially like this article about what makes a powerful resume). There are lots of other postings in this blog about resumes, cover letters, and how to handle the job application process!
I hope you'll take a couple of hours, and invest them in your future . . .NOW!