Branding Your Resume and Cover Letter in A Compelling and Creative Way |
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Posted By: Jessica Holbrook In: Job Seeker - Resume
This week I got a call from a friend who’s a hiring manager at a technology company. He received a resume that was so creative that they decided to interview the candidate immediately.
Knowing what I do for a living, friends sometimes call me when they see particularly outstanding resumes—good or bad. This week I got a call from a friend who’s a hiring manager at a technology company. He received a resume that was so creative that they decided to interview the candidate immediately.
This candidate had packaged her resume in a box about the size of a cookie container. The front of the box showed her name, an interesting graphic, and her branding statement. On the back was her cover letter. The sides of the box included interesting statements about her previous accomplishments.
Inside the box, the job seeker placed her resume and a bag of candy. She explained in her cover letter that the candy was meant to entertain the employer while they reviewed her resume. Both her resume and her cover letter had the polish of professionally written documents.
The hiring manager absolutely loved receiving this package. He told me that he decided to interview the candidate before he had even looked at her resume! Her inventive but professional marketing told him that she not only possessed the creativity her resume claimed but a good eye for design as well.
Creative resume packaging like this doesn’t work everywhere. It’s important to know your audience and to target your resume appropriately. That being said, if you’re applying for jobs that require creativity, graphic design, or originality of any sort, feel free to switch it up like this. Your resume then does more than just talk about your capabilities—it actually demonstrates them!
An important point to remember when creatively packaging a resume is that the content of your resume still needs to look very professional. The candy box candidate presented a cover letter and resume with personal branding and effective keywords. Nonetheless, it was her interesting approach that got her the phone call she was hoping for.
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Comments
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Posted by: Vickie Burnside
Very creative! I am looking for library work, and it immediately made me think of doing my resume in book form. On the cover would be my branding statement. On the front inside where the "blurb" goes would be my bullets. The "pages" would be my experience and education, etc. But how would I submit it? Most of the jobs I apply for are not close enough to hand deliver it. Also, I can see how it would work for a marketing job, but any thoughts as to whether or not a library committee would think it was "corny?"
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Posted by: Victoria
I enjoyed the article very much, because it gave me some insight on how to write a resume that will capture the person that is doing the hiring interest.
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Posted by: John
Wow that's great and i like it.
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Posted by: Nicholas Miranda
Very unique story as well as being accepted prior to be interviewed.
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Posted by: Lori
I'm curious what was the position the candidate applied for in this story? I'd assume a marketing-related position?
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