Branding Immediate Value

The summary statement of a resume is critical to the hot zone. As a reminder, the hot zone consists of
your branding statement, summary of qualifications, and oftentimes, an educational/technical skill set.
The summary includes your branding purpose and immediate value.
In 10 seconds to 15 seconds, the average time it takes to review the hot zone, you need to capture inter-
est by branding yourself and offering 3-5 sentences in a summary of qualifications supporting your claim
to be the right choice all while prioritizing your list of transferable skills.

The first sentence can be the branding statement, or the branding statement can be placed top and
center above the rest of the summary. Take a big picture approach when thinking about what you’re
going to include. Consider these questions:

What are you known or recognized for?

What are several recognizable trends throughout your education and/or career?

What are your technical or transferable skills, professional credentials, and unique characteristics?

Your list of skills should be in a clean design; either above or below the summary of qualifications. Plac-
ing your list of skills within the heart of your text may force them to become lost in paragraph format.