Why your resume is not enough to get your dream job
Having a well-outlined CV is great. I know this, you know this. It is a no-brainer. If you’re looking for a job, you must have had it drummed into your ears severally, right from the university. Work on your CV. Make it glow. Let prospective employers think you can efficiently juggle ten balls while writing a report with your left toes.
Yes, we all want to appear like badass superhuman professionals on our resumes. But what does that guarantee, really? And what is the best approach that brings you more jobs and fewer rejections?
Many of us have sent off our very ‘impressive’ resumes in the hope of bagging mouth-watering jobs. But the result? Hardly anything.
This tells you there’s more to the game than presenting multiple pages of your academic and professional history. In fact, in today’s digital world, your dream employers/clients don’t really care much about lengthy details or stories in your CV. Instead, they simply want to be convinced of the exact value you would be bringing them.
This is even more crucial when you are a creative or digital professional (i.e., you offer digital services of any kind such as graphics design, UI/UX design, content writing, copywriting, web development, etc.).
If you fall under any of these categories, you must be more convincing to reel in your big jobs.
But why is my resume not enough to get my dream job?
Hate to break it to you, but there are many valid reasons why your fire CV has been ineffective in securing great jobs. Here are some of them:
- Its reach is limited as it is only requested when there’s a vacant opening.
- It slips through the cracks of your recruiter’s attention as you are just one in a million other resumes. You want to be the only one, or at least one of the few people on the company’s radar.
- It is full of big, fat lies, and no one is falling for it (oh, you thought recruiters couldn’t see through your BS?)
- It reads like a historical highlight and doesn’t communicate what value you bring.
- It is basic, traditional, and as boring as everything else in the pile.
- It offers no pointers to your past successful projects (basically, your portfolio)
Now you might wonder, how do I ensure my resume doesn’t become a pathetic waste? Well, here are some vital pointers you must take note of:
- Make it professional: When trying to attract your recruiter/client’s attention, don’t make silly informal statements that earn you a hiss and rolled eyes (And for the love of God, don’t call the recruiter “bro” on your cover letter). Keep it professional. Provide the necessary details only. Nobody needs that you are a devoted Christian from Abe-Igi Local Government Area when applying for a Junior Designer role. Stick to the main facts only.
2. Tell no lies: Yes, we understand that you’re after that high-paying Entry Level remote job with a minimum of 8 years of experience.
Still, don’t make the mistake of claiming to be Dr. Strange when you are just fresh out of school. Making false claims about your career journey or professional successes will only bring you more trouble than you can handle. Besides, once your prospective client/employer sees through the façade, that might be it for you.
Going beyond a resume
Now, beyond your resume/CV, you must be able to provide proof of your capabilities. Because, really, how many recruiters can you convince with your CV alone? As the competition for better jobs and gigs increases rapidly, you need to create a system that earns you an interview.
Thus, as a digital creative, remember that your digital identity goes beyond your resume. You want to carve a space and an identity for yourself where recruiters can run a check to see how legit you are. Even better, you want your digital identity to be robust and impressive that clients are begging to work with you without seeing your resume. To achieve this, pay attention to:
- Your digital profile
- Your portfolio
- The content you produce
These, coupled with your well-outlined resume, help you stand a higher chance of getting through the door.
Your Digital Profile
By leveraging social media (especially LinkedIn), you can position yourself excellently, coming across as a knowledgeable, self-aware, and professional individual. This is where you can toot your own horn in presenting yourself in the best light possible.
Your profile and your posts go a long way to convince your prospects of what you do to bring value and how you go about it. It is you saying, “I help X to achieve Y, by doing Z.” For instance, as a copywriter, your profile can tell that you “help consumer brands achieve more sales and larger market share by telling their everyday operations in scroll-stopping, sensational stories”.
On any professional platform you use, your digital profile must be tailored at communicating what value you excellently deliver.
Your portfolio
We are in the portfolio era.
In fact, as a digital professional, you can successfully land good jobs with your portfolio ALONE. Many people can attest to this. It is essentially a social proof that says ‘I’ve done this before. I can do it again.’
To create one, you simply need to compile all the past projects you’ve worked on (e.g., articles and different categories of written content for a writer; or your various design samples and past projects as a designer). Also, you must ensure your portfolio has sections, which cover your niches of interest and expertise.
Creating your portfolio is not difficult. You can collate your works in a well-sectioned Google Drive folder or a Behance file, to be provided for your potential client/employers upon request.
You can also hyperlink your portfolio to your resume. This serves to assure your prospects that you have successfully handled similar tasks in the past. If you are a starter with no previous works, then we would strongly advise you to take on some pet projects that can form the base of your portfolio. Employers, recruiters, and individual clients often make a decision based on what they see in your portfolio.
Your content
As a digital creative, creating quality content is not just that fancy hobby restricted to the talkative Gen Z kiddos on your timeline who make weird dances on TikTok. It is an incredibly useful tool that will help you bag your desired job opportunities as well. In many cases, when you begin to constantly talk around a topic or concept, it makes people associate that concept with you in their minds. By sharing your knowledge, experience, or perspectives about your skill, you begin to position yourself as an authority in that area, which can help clients trust you.
We personally know of a number of community members who have gotten freelance gigs and even full-time jobs because a client saw their content and loved it. When it comes to creating content, there are literally no downsides. Quality content can travel much further than you can, and get into spaces and opportunities you didn’t directly hustle for.
You don’t have to be a genius writer or video editor to start creating content. You just need to start from where you are and choose the medium that works best for you.
This could be textual/written content (through blogging, tweets, or other social media posts), graphical content (with visual designs, etc), audio content (through podcasting), video content (through YouTube vlogging, Instagram reels, TikTok videos), audio-visual content, or a combination of all these. Once you start creating quality content that is valuable to your target audience, you are able to streamline your feed and gain more control over your brand identity.
Alright, it’s time to end this article.
But before we go, we want to help you figure out how to create an attractive digital profile. We know just how stressful and confusing it can be, especially if you’re just starting out.
We recently held a webinar on how to get remote jobs, where we spoke extensively on how to optimize your social profiles so that you end up on the and the feedback has been massive. For a limited time, we are offering the replay for FREE.
To get access to the replay and other valuable resources, click this link.
P.S If you found this article helpful, why don’t you share it with your friends?
