People Solutions for the Decorative Building Products Industry

Great Photos Help Your Brand Part II

Karla Krengel, owner of Krengel and Hood Associates, enjoys helping her dealers find creative ways to bring out their personality and build on their brand.  Karla offers a couple more ideas to have fun with.
Karla says, “We shot these images the first week of November, so we grabbed some décor reflective of the upcoming holiday and used it to set a festive shot of Jaclyn “studying”a Thanksgiving cookbook. This makes for an original post for Thanksgiving on social media, Jaclyn could also make a greeting card out of it to send to industry partners thanking them for their business (I’m a big fan of sending thank yous at a holiday other than Christmas) or she can send a postcard to potential clients mid-Summer (yes, you read that correctly) suggesting they start the remodeling process now to be ready for the holidays! Note: Jaclyn brought a couple of different outfits for the shoot that day.
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Designer Jaclyn can use this “cheerful”image below as a Happy New Years social media post or
on a note of congratulations to an industry partner.
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So, get creative, have fun – don’t just take pictures of a beautiful kitchen or bath or built-ins – put YOURSELF into the picture – with your LOGO – build your brand. It is your business, it is your work – show it off!! More to come – watch for it.

Great Photos Help Your Brand

Karla Krengel of Krengel and Hood Agency ask this question – “are you getting the most from the photos of your work?”
As a manufacturer’s representative for a cabinet company, ten years ago Karla Krengel struggled to
get her dealers to photograph their jobs. With the strong presence of social media today she finds that most dealers now photograph their design work. But Karla wants her dealers to step it up a notch – take photography that helps to build the their brand. Here is how:
Karla says, “No one can argue consumers do a ton of research online; so I say it is time to let your personality and creativity shine through via those images! Jaclyn Wike of Studio Swann, a kitchen dealer in Chicago, recently remodeled the cooking school kitchen of the 3rd largest Whole Foods in the world. We worked with photographer Mike Kaskel and really took some clever shots which Jaclyn is
using and will use for social media posts, on postcards to potential clients and on her web site. Below is one example.
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This is a great photo of Jaclyn Wike, AKBD (right) & Designer / Project Manager Julie
Gillespie (left) who works for Jaclyn at Studio Swann. An engaging twist on the “typical”
company shot, they used this image on their web site. Realtors have been using their
images on their business cards for years, and it is oh-so-important to use your image, at the
very least, on your web site!  And remember you are in the design industry. Your photo
should be creative or “designer-ish”  You do not want to look like a banker!”
Karla has more to share on this topic, so stay tuned for more examples in the upcoming weeks.

Kitchen Display Designer

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Cabinet manufacturer has immediate opening for Corporate Kitchen Display Designer/Space Planner. Located in the Southeast. Responsible for regional and national trade show booth and displays, as well as showroom design. In order to be considered all candidates must demonstrate design creativity, have led design presentations to large and small groups, worked well with a design team and have strong project management skills for large and small projects. Candidate must be able to travel to locations and coordinate the set up and decor of the displays and show booths. If interested, please contact Lynn immediately at 641.243.8352

Resume MythBuster

Getting your resume prepared for a job search can be a daunting and difficult task for most.

You have probably been instructed to keep it to one page and make it easy to read.

Well, the game has changed and we are busting the resume MYTH.

Most HR professionals and recruiters will pass on you based on your resume even if you think you are a perfect candidate for the job. Why? – Because they don’t see successes spelled out. You have written a job description and not a story about your successes.

Your resume should tell your story of accomplishments, – period. It should not read like a boring job description.

You may be a very accomplished candidate who cannot possibly put your story on one page. That’s OK, multiple pages is fine as long as there is real detail about your career successes.

Here are 4 areas to focus on that will set you apart from the “job description” resumes that your competition is putting together:

1) Your resume should include the company names with detail describing what they  produce and who they sell to. Don’t assume the reader knows anything about the companies you have worked for because in most cases, they won’t and they will not spend the time researching it.

2) List your accomplishments. (Express sales successes in $$ or %. What doors have you opened for your employer? List improvements you made in production, quality, or delivery.) Yes – BRAG! This is the only time that bragging about yourself is acceptable.

3) Make it consistent. Headings, pages, borders, font and spaces should all look the same so the reader can easily and quickly go through the resume.

4) Your resume should show your most recent employer at the top and progress down the page(s) to your education.

Its that easy.

Our experience in reading 1000’s of resumes tells us that when we see a resume with detail about a person’s accomplishments and company, we get excited and can’t wait to talk to that candidate.
Keercutter has a FREE resume template for download below to help you get started.

Resume Template

 

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