Say what you want about Hip-Hop music but it is arguably the most confident of all the music genres by far. Whether it’s a poignant reflection of current events or the new summer jam turned club anthem, rappers seldom finish a flow without letting audiences know that they are and will continue to be the best that has ever touched a mic. As bombastic and narcissistic as some artist may sound explaining for the umpteenth time why they sit on the proverbial throne of rap, there is a lesson to be learned from how MC’s distinguish themselves from others on a track, especially when updating a resume. Here are my five tips on what I believe a resume should always have in common with rappers: 1. Don’t Be Too Humble“Being humble don’t work as well as being aware.” – Drake ‘0-100’ It is important to strike a balance between confidence and conceit, but your resume and job interviews are not the time to play down your skill set and achievements. If you were going to have major surgery and during the consultation your surgeon told you that they were “alright” or “have a pretty good idea,” about your surgery, you would make an Olympic sprint towards the nearest exit. You want a surgeon who can put you at ease and make you believe them when they say that they have performed this surgery hundreds of times with a high success rate for recovery. This is how companies feel when it comes to hiring people into their organization. Hiring managers want to hire someone who can articulate and assure them on paper and in person that they are the best candidate for the job. Have you ever heard a rapper say, “I think I'm okay.” NO! Update your resume with pride and tailor your skill set and achievements for the position you are looking to apply for. Save the humble card for when family starts bragging about you in public. 2. Numbers Don’t Lie: Quantify Your Efforts“I smarten up, open the market up. One million, two million, three million, four. In eighteen months, eighty million more now add that number up with the one I said before. You are now looking at one smart black boy. Momma ain’t raise no fool put me anywhere on God’s green earth, I’ll triple my worth.” – Jay Z ‘U Don’t Know’ Summing up what your job description says you do, what people think you do, and what you actually do in three or four bullet points can be difficult. This struggle often makes it easy to simply copy and paste your job description and assigned duties to a resume and call it a day, however, this is a missed opportunity to set yourself apart and show what you bring to the table. While numbers and data can be intimidating, for many people, finding a way to quantify your work is easy. Whether you work in business, social services or customer relations you can still use data to illustrate your work, especially since this is the information your managers are keeping track of anyway for your performance review. To figure out ways to quantify the work on your resume, ask yourself questions like:
There is a big difference between the candidate that is, “Responsible for customer engagement” and the candidate that, “Chaired a customer engagement committee of 10 and planned customer-appreciation programs that resulted in a $20,000 increase in quarter sales.” While person A and person B may have the same role in a company, person B’s ability to quantify their work can make the decision on who will be called in for an interview a no brainer. 3. Show Off Your Leadership“Yep I’m a top leader. I got that Martin Luther King fever. Imma feed ya what ya teacher need to preach ya.” - Missy Elliot ‘Wake Up’ More and more companies are continuing to look for leaders to hire and build within their organization. Save an exceptional few, people do not often go from college senior to the C-Suite or higher level management very fast, but just because it may take time to advance in your career does not mean you cannot be a leader in your current role. Leadership can be practiced and noticed in nearly every aspect of any job. Have you ever spearheaded a projected and led a work team? What were the results of your work? Do you mentor and/ or train new staff? How has this affected employee retention? Are you so good that you have been asked to train a significant number of people? Have you ever taken initiative at your job to improve a practice or a policy? What was the impact and outcome of the changes you helped bring to light? How confident are you at creating and leading presentations? The answers to these questions represent the tasks that millions of people do at their job every day that adds value to their company, and yet they forget to bring them to the forefront come resume and interview time. Rappers often boast of how their style of flow, creativity and their impact on Hip-Hop is what makes them the best in the game. It is okay to speak proudly about your work achievements and your ability to contribute and work effectively in teams. Hiring managers should know the legacy of your leadership too. 4. Think Like a Recruiter or Hiring Manager “Congratulations on your graduation. Oh now it’s time to hit the real world, filled with all them resumes and applications.” - J. Cole ‘Just Like a Star’ From wearing the hometown sports jersey of the night’s concert location to pumping up the crowd by using local slang, artists know the importance of catering to their fans. The way an artist tailors their performance to their audience is how your resume should be tailored to the position you hope to have. The best way to do this is to think like the person who will be reviewing your resume. We have all heard that hiring managers and recruiters spend seconds on a resume before moving on to the next one. What can set you apart from the stack the recruiter may have received that day is how easy your resume makes their job. Ways to enhance the readability of your resume is to give top billing to sections like your contact information, education, and relevant experience. You do not want a recruiter to have to search high and low for the information they need about you the most. While a patient recruiter may take the time to comb through your resume or ask pointed questions to better understand your experiences, an electronic applicant tracking systems (ATS) is not as nice. Many large companies use ATS to sift through resumes before they reach human hands. Here are my tips on how to get your resume passed to the yes pile:
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