Rock Your Resume w/ Brandon Mitchell

rock your resume

BY CHLOÉ ADAMS

No, a picture of your dog CANNOT go on your resume. Yes, people. You read that correctly. No, a photograph of you and your pet is not necessarily the best fit for a professional resume. Instagram, maybe. But for a resume, I’d give that a hard “No!” You’d be surprised by the kinds of resumes 23-year-old Brandon Mitchell reviews every day. From photos of pets to loud bright shapes and colors, Brandon has seen it all. Nevertheless, we are lucky to have him and his team of 5-stars get you started with your career and help rock your resume.

Brandon Mitchell, Founder, and CEO of BrandRe- sumes, had a chance to talk to us about how he got started in the resume building business and how he doesn’t intend to stop anytime soon.

At 23 Brandon—the visionary—created an empire for himself through his resume writing company receiving revenue of over $70,000 in just four months (he started in May 2019 by the way).

You all know how this goes. A student in college scrambling to find an internship or job in their pre- ferred field, no money in their bank account for food, and balancing job applications and finals. We all know the stress level. Well Brandon, a triple major (or should we say, triple THREAT) decided to do something about it. “I started when I was a junior in college, when I was coming up and I was thinking about internships. I came from an under- represented school. I started thinking about ways in which I could differentiate myself from other people. So, I started researching ways to market myself.

I learned how to write a resume on my own and I guess I got really good at it because I was getting interviews at top companies like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and even Facebook. And I was like ‘Whoa.’ Something I’m doing is right.

It turns out whatever he was doing was definitely right. “So, I said ‘let me start writing resumes for my friends.’ And I started doing them for free and they started getting interviews and things like that as well,” he said.

BrandResumes is a professional resume writing and career advancement service for entry-level, mid-level and executive professionals. Brandon and his team work to help professionals land careers and full-time employment within different industries like, business, information technology, marketing, legal, human resources, and healthcare.

“A lot of people don’t know this but back in the day, it was called Resumes.co. I wanted to do a bunch of services, but it failed. It was a really great lesson because I learned how to start something up from scratch. I failed the first time but it was trial and error.”

What Brandon is doing now is what most people consider an example of perseverance. His story is a lesson about how you fail and what you do with it rather than letting failure overcome you. It’s amazing to know that you have the power to make your own decisions in your life and career. Brandon explained his feelings as he begins to take his steps as a self-employed entrepreneur. “The first thing that comes to my mind is freedom. Feeling like you are fully capable to remove yourself from the game. For me, it’s a very exciting time of my life. It’s almost like seeing everything become full circle. It’s a story of believing in yourself and never giving up.” It’s about strategy. In Brandon’s case, his key areas of strategy and success in his business focused on processes, industries, and partnerships.

BrandResumes allows individuals the opportunity to be placed in the positions that they would normally not have access to. “People need it,” he said. “This is something [that] is really never taught, quite honestly. There are no courses about resumes or marketing yourself. You spend all this time in college learning all of these new things. When do you learn how to market yourself?”

Good question. When do you learn how to market yourself? As young minority professionals, oftentimes it is difficult to find the ways and words to express yourself as a qualified individual with the skills and talents necessary to fill positions. We work endlessly applying to jobs, working on side projects and connecting with individuals just to try and get a foot in the door.

“A resume is a marketing document at its core,” said Brandon. “It should sell you to what you’re looking for.”

With tons of experience and research under his belt, Brandon has exceeded expectations of many of his clients. Most people think of resume writers as middle-aged individuals, sitting in a gray office space and tons of papers around them. It’s Brandon’s goal to change that. He intends to bring 21st-century technology to his industry and make it easier for resume writers to do their jobs as well as connect to a more diverse crowd.

BrandResumes is the future. With a team of people with ambitious dreams and large opportunities, Brandon sees BrandResumes expanding internationally to something more than just resume building, but technology as well.

“We are just getting started! If you look at these institutions, the representation of young minorities is minimal. We need more representation. By teaching people how to sell themselves and how to look good on paper, to provide a service that is going to help provide people opportunities to land positions they want, I’m able to touch people.”

The opportunities are endless as long as you believe so yourself. In the words of Will Smith, “Fail often. Fail Forward.” For as long as you continue to fail, you will continue to grow. In Brandon’s case, failure was the key to rocking his resume.

Instagram: @officialbrandresumes

Brandon's starter tips when applying for positions:

1.Tailor your resume to the job title you ’ re looking for

2. Submit your app as a word doc and not PDF (PDF are great to email, but when uploading on a company site, Word is best.)