Resumes for Hispanics

How to create a resume if you are Hispanic
By Claudine Vainrub, MBA

If you are Hispanic and looking for a job, you might be at an advantage and not know it. Just yesterday, my colleague and friend Murray Mann, an expert in diversity recruiting, shared some interesting statistics with me:

• Despite 57 million jobs lost in past 16 months, there have been more than 4.3 million new hires/month in 2009
• A SHRM Survey conducted in March this year shows 18% of respondents (HR corporate departments) decreased Recruitment initiatives specifically related to increasing diversity of company’s workforce, while general Recruitment expenses were decreased by 56% – this represents almost a 40% difference between diversity recruiting vs. general recruiting.
• A conference report by the Career Development Office for April 2009 shows companies are seeking diverse talent to gain a competitive advantage in today’s turbulent economy, during the recovery and in the future
• Just this May, the Conference Board: The Corporate Diversity and Inclusion Conference expressed that “The war for diverse talent has increased during the current economic downturn amongst companies with strong commitments to diversity.”

What do all these statistics mean? Simple and clear – Expressing your diversity pays off in the recruiting process. What we thought in the past could harm us can now support us in finding jobs. Diversity-specific resume writing and marketing strategies can improve our job search success.

Here are some ways of portraying your diversity in a resume:

1. Portray bilingual skills on the top of your resume as part of your header, showcase your ability to communicate in both Spanish and English throughout your resume
2. Use keywords that allow you to show your diversity involvement as part of your regular professional duties and also in your community and volunteering work
3. Highlight achievements within your specific niche
4. Include memberships to clubs that identify you as member of a minority
5. Show knowledge of the niche through your education, work experience, special classes you have engaged in and any other way in which you have been exposed to learning more about Latinos
6. Express your culture, understanding of traditions, ways of thinking, diverse perspectives and immersion you have had within your target audience
7. Develop a SWOT analysis of the Hispanic consumer
8. Portray your diversity within your job seeker profile by displaying your Hispanic identity in your social media profile description through LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube
9. Have samples ready of work you have completed in Spanish, and even YouTube videos of you conducting Spanish communications.

Your resume is the first image you provide of yourself to most employers, who have not met you in person. It is your chance to maximize the opportunity to be perceived positively. Showing that you are Latino and that through your diversity you bring great added value to a company can favor you immensely.

Companies that value Hispanics understand the importance of directly targeting efforts to the largest minority in the U.S. These companies will value your Latino roots. These are the type of companies you want to work for.