Signature Block Modern Resume Made Easy

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hey badasses welcome back to the badass careers youtube channel which is all about helping you to figure out what you want out of your career and then to go out there and get it now a question that i get sometimes is do i always need a cover letter the answer is a big fat yes so having a well-ridden powerful cover letter together with a standout resume it's just a dream team it is a guarantee of more and better quality interviews and job offers and yet these professional documents are not the same and in today's video we're really going to deep dive into what's the difference what goes on my resume what goes on my cover letter how can i differentiate these documents you've got two chances here to market yourself to pitch yourself to sell yourself so you don't want those to go to waste i mean trust me from an ex-hr manager recruiter's perspective they just go together like macaroni and cheese like bonnie and clyde like batman and robin like peanut butter and jelly whatever it is let me know the comments that are coming to your mind of like famous dream teams that go together that's that that's the resume and the cover letter and the reason cover letters often have such a bad reputation is because they're not done correctly they basically just put words to your resume and they're like oh i did this and then i did that and then i did that and it's like no they've got your resume they know that tell them something different tell them something human show some personality make a connection you can use a bit of emotion like there are so many things you can do in a cover letter that you can't do in a resume so that's what you need to know in this video so i'm going to dive into the tips there's going to be loads of examples i'm going to be using this example application of a client of mine for chanel so we'll be using that quite a lot as well as some others that we'll be bringing in as well so i'm really excited for it and without further ado let's jump straight into it [Applause] cool so let's jam on three major things that you can do to differentiate your resume from your cover letter so that you can be more strategic in your job applications but just before we do i did want to let you know for job hunters out there i have pulled together a free one hour resume master class that i know you're gonna love it's called five keys to badass your resume so that you can land more job offers not just more job offers but better quality job offers too so if you're job hunting at the moment in this hyper competitive environment definitely go check that out the link is in the description box down below or you can head to www.badasscareers.com badass masterclass so i'll see you over there so my first differentiator between the two documents is that you can pitch yourself from different angles so this essentially comes down to format so as you know cover letters are letters you get an entire page like hundreds of words to describe in your very own words and to explain why you're an amazing fit for this role and for the company as well now we are in the modern age so you don't necessarily need to address it as a formal letter with like their address then your address and all that kind of stuff and you're sincerely down the bottom however it is still a page is still a letter to the hiring team that allows you to pitch yourself you get to show a bit of passion and personality which are things that are quite hard to get across in a resume you get to talk about what makes you you how you like to do things weave in some values there as well just essentially connecting all the dots to the recruiter and the hiring team so i am going to give you a couple of examples here this comes from the second paragraph from the application for chanel so this is in the cover letter and it says something like this fascinated by the interplay of creativity and business throughout my eight plus years in project management i pursued a fashion styling certificate at the fashion institute of technology and completed a course in fashion and luxury management at institut francais de la mode a creative at heart i spend any spare time i have obsessing over my passions in fashion music and photography pursuing creative side projects in an effort to combine these two worlds my diverse experiences revolve around what matters to me most fashion creativity sustainability and business growth so what specifically could i bring to chanel as a lead project manager and of course at this point she's going to talk about all of her evidence and proof points of where these two worlds can really combine so her love for fashion in that industry but then her business happiness and her project management skills it's just like boom boom boom boom but as you can see in that paragraph she offers a lot of personality you can tell what matters to her as a person and this is amazing because it builds that human connection as well in a way that sometimes your resume just can't do now here's another example from someone else's cover letter and this paragraph is actually right towards the bottom of the cover letter in this particular case so it says while my passion for and experience with data analytics connects me closely to avp's line of work as an amateur painter dancer avid reader expert museum goer and moma member and ui alum go hosiers i also have a deep and personal connection with your client base so in this case their clients were for example moma and actually the university which the specific person attended i'm so excited at the prospect of serving the very organizations that have been so pivotal in shaping my authentic and creative self so you see how here they're able to elaborate on the connection to the clients of this particular firmware consulting firm and actually say you know what this is really important to me it matters to me and connect those dots as well now you will very very rarely have the opportunity to do this kind of thing in your resume the only block of text on your resume should be your summary or your profile and this is very very short it's an elevator pitch it is not meant to go on and on and as we can see as you skim down this resume even just from face value for the chanel application it's tight it's concise it's succinct it's designed to be sped red because as we know recruiters only spend six to seven seconds on average especially in hyper competitive companies like this scanning the resume so you don't have a lot of time to build that rapport and to explain these kinds of connections and things like that so that's where the cover letter comes into play now i'm going to give you the example of the profile that we wrote on the chanel application so you can get an idea for the kind of text that does live on your resume people centric diplomatic project manager with 8 plus years of experience spanning digital luxury retail and design with an aptitude for managing multiple complex projects simultaneously my expertise in project management methodology ensures consistency and process creation effective prioritization and efficient delivery on time and within budget i pride myself on my ability to quickly build meaningful relationships with internal and external stakeholders and have led and empowered diverse cross-functional teams to successfully execute 50 plus projects within the past five years achieving an 80 plus success rate now i'm seeking a role where i can lead and deliver on projects that add immense value internally and positively impact the end consumer so you see how that basically sums up this person in a nutshell for this specific role there's not a lot of room there you don't go of course you don't be like oh by the way i'm actually a major fan of chanel i've been shopping with you for like 20 like you don't do that stuff that's the kind of stuff that might go in your cover letter now if you would like more examples on how to shape a really powerful resume summary i definitely recommend checking out my free one hour master class five keys to badass your resume so you can generate more job offers i've dropped the link to that just down below i'm sure you're absolutely gonna love it it's full of value and we do actually talk about personal branding and powerful summaries in that very master class so either click the link below or head to www.badasscareers.com badassmasterclass to go and sign up now the second main way you can differentiate your cover letter from your resume is through your storytelling let's take a look at the resume and specifically a snapshot of the experience section here so the fact of the matter is is even though you're going to customize and you're going to tailor the bullet points that go under your experience sections your key accomplishments and achievements for each role that you go for and you're going to order them differently depending on what's most important for the specific role that you're going for at the end of the day on a resume you do still have to provide that sort of chronological overview of your employment history with some key accomplishments and achievements and of course you need to provide the full picture the helicopter view of who you are so yes each of these experience points are a mini story right you know executed 20 high profile building openings over 385 000 square foot accommodating 7 000 clients on time and within budget in san francisco like wow that's a story to tell that sounds interesting but it's high level ride just gives you a taster another bullet point managed a multi-project budget of three million dollars wow that's huge what did you do with it what did you learn tell us more about that that's a story too that evokes you to want to know more it's the teaser trailer right which is exactly what the resume provides it's that teaser trailer and you in the interview you're the feature film so it does a good job of that now the cover letter though you can really give them some context some details talk more about the stakes talk more about what you achieved and how you went about doing it and why you did it that way you can give them more information so the cover letter i really recommend you know picking out the three career stories you have as in what was the context what was the action you took what was the result you got what was the learning you got from that take that career story choose your top three and actually share them in the cover letter so while the resume zooms out gives you the helicopter this is all the things i've done i've done loads of great things i've got lots of stories to share the cover letter can deep dive and really show it off now i'm going to give you an example from a recent graduate going for a role in the tourism industry for example so on their cover letter they had this as a story so the headline and bold wide-reaching industry knowledge with a hunger to design exceptional customer experiences and their proof point or their mini career story goes as follows as an international student at victoria university i uncovered a need for helping international students and their families get to know wellington the local universities and the new zealand culture i initiated and piloted a tour guiding project targeting this niche market sought to understand the needs of each group equipped them with information to ensure that they were prepared and created customized itineraries with positive feedback from the 35 people that traveled within the first month so that's just a really great example of taking maybe an accomplishment an achievement that just gets lost as a weird bullet point on your resume expanding there and you don't even need to say in that situation like i'm a good communicator i collaborate i'm good at project management and stuff the story says that about you they're able to infer the kind of person you are from that initiative that you took and the way you went about doing it and that's where the magic can lie in the cover letter now the third major differentiator is that the resume is all about the what and the cover letter is more about the why and the how so what i mean by this is that your resume covers off the what is very factual what you did you know really summarizes your work history your qualifications it focuses on this is what i've done i can do the job basically being like a snapshot of your professional self now the cover letter actually allows you to more so sell yourself because it talks about why you do what you do it talks about how you do it and it really helps to build that connection so i talk quite often about the importance of nailing the hook the opening paragraph with a real connection about why this company what's your motivation how do you align how do you connect and if you wanna i do have a free guide which is called nail that hook down below as well and it helps you to really brainstorm on how to open a cover letter in a really compelling way because it really helps you to say why i want to work at this company like when you're showing those career stories we were just talking about it talks about how you go about achieving something it shows your values it shows the kind of initiative you take it shows the way you work with other people it says so much about you so it's all about how you get the job done now when you're nailing the hook it's all about why this company as well i'm going to give you one example of this so this is one of my clients who is going for a role at message bird and she says dear message bird hiring team with online communication more crucial now than ever before message bird's fierce commitment to transforming the communication landscape is an exciting mission i can definitely get behind further as an innovative go-getter driven by doing work that makes an impact i can definitely relate to the message bird ethos of get done by combining my expertise in account and community management customer support and crossteen collaboration plus my experience improving processes and writing technical documents i'm energized by the idea of delighting customers and driving business growth with message bird so this is basically like this first paragraph it's like a mini love letter it's like why message bird it's like well there's this and there's this and we're a perfect match because i've done this and you need this and it's like all coming together and it's all very exciting so again resume is more black and white it's more factual it's more sort of like here's what i've done here's a summary here's the snapshot i can do the job whereas your cover letter allows you to bring in the why them how you do work and really help them to connect with you as a person showing off some of your personality and that's the cool thing in a competitive market no one can emulate your personality no one can be you and that's your unique factor so when you can sell you when you can package you when you have your personal brand that's oozing through these documents no one can compete there's no such thing because you're not comparable anymore and i say that especially to graduates all the time who feel like their experience can't be differentiated the differentiator is you and the way you get things done anyway i could go on about the stuff forever and over i'll leave you here i hope that these tips are able to give you that first step forward and help you to write the most powerful cover letter and resume documents that you've ever had and again don't forget that i have an entire one hour free resume masterclass so definitely go and check that out down below because i think you're gonna love it it's really gonna help you to take your resume to the next level as well if you have any comments or questions about the difference between a resume or a cover letter please let us know down below i am checking those comments and replying to them all the time and otherwise don't forget to subscribe to the tribe we drop new videos on this channel every single week so until next week i will say stay badass and i will see you here soon bye