5 Personal Branding Resume Techniques You Must Try

5 Personal Branding Resume Techniques You Must Try Youve probably heard it a million times: Personal branding is important to the success of a job search.  Why is it so important?  Because as a unique job seeker, it helps define you as an individual and makes you stand out as a prime candidate. There are aspects of your background that make you incredibly unique and highly qualifiedâ€"and your job is to highlight those aspects so that hiring managers dont have to guess whether youre perfect for the job.  To help you get started, here are five personal branding techniques to try when working on your resume. 1. Develop a Strong Title/Job Target Your title/job target is the first impression a hiring manager will have when reading your resume.  This short phrase provides a quick summary of what youve accomplished and why you are the right person for the job.  It helps to set the tone for who you are as a candidate.  This tone should remain consistent throughout the resume and any other information the manager receives about you. 2. Add Links to Your Professional Profiles Another great technique for building your personal brand is to link to your professional profiles.  Keep in mind that, most times, your resume is submitted online and can easily be linked to Web sites.  If you link to your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, as well as one or two other professional sites you have, you give the employer a chance to learn more about the contributions youve made in your field. 3. Summarize Your Career Highlights You can also develop your personal brand by creating a career summary section.  You want the most important moments of your career to stand out in this section.  These moments might include your winning salesperson of the year five times, or your efforts as a team leader that resulted in record revenues.  Its good to list at least four highlights, but make sure theyre tailored to the job for which youre applying. 4. Turn Your Duties into Initiatives Instead of listing the duties you were given on any job youve worked, its great to brand yourself by listing your initiatives.  So if you were in charge of taking phone messages and created a new system that made message delivery more effective, dont just write, Answered calls and delivered messages.  Write a couple of sentences starting with Developed or Initiated, then talk about what you created and how it helped the message-taking process flow more smoothly throughout the office. 5. Consider Testimonials Adding testimonials to resumes is still a unique concept to many job seekers, so taking this route could automatically make you stand out.  Find two or three reputable references in your field to vouch for your greatness in a one- or two-sentence quote.  This could really help to back you up as a strong candidate. Theres nothing better than standing out as the strongest candidate each time you apply for a job.  Increase the odds of being that person by developing your personal brand in your resume. For additional tips and advice on resumes and cover letters, follow us on Twitter @GreatResume or visit our blog.