The whole idea behind seeking professional assistance to create a powerful resume and portfolio of career documents is to get ahead of the competition. You do this by crafting a document that truly represents your strengths and achievements while never losing sight of the expectations of those likely to be reading it.
I was talking with a client who had previously sent off her resume to a multi-national corporation that promised to deliver a resume and cover letter for $50 based on answers to a questionnaire she had to fill out online. If you needed it real quick -for an extra $10 you could get it within 4 hours!
When my client received her freshly minted document, she was surprised to find that the resume she put together herself looked better than the resume that had just popped into her inbox!
Companies that claim they can produce a resume document without speaking to you are going to regurgitate the content of your old resume and toss it into a cookie cutter template. What else can they do?
If you've read my previous blog entry "Content is King", you'll already know why this mass produced, cheap, cookie-cutter approach will pretty much guarantee a stuttering continuation of your job search. If you think it saves money in the short term - consider the long term impact a poorly crafted document can have on your ability to secure an interview for a job that you really want!
If you have decided that you need assistance in crafting your documents, consider partnering with a consultant who will take the time to understand your career, aims and professional accomplishments. If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well!
Showing posts with label resume. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resume. Show all posts
Friday, November 20, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Eyes Have It!
When you have finished drafting your resume and cover letter - make sure you get someone else to read it over for you! A pair of fresh eyes could be all it takes to uncover the hidden errors lurking in your documents that quite often survive the spellcheck!
The original resume of a recent client had stated rather impressively that they were a "gifted oral and written communicator". Further down the same page they wanted to convey an example to back up an earlier statement - it read something like this "hosted a series of customer events such as such as wine and cheese evenings".
The double "such as" entry will survive a spell check and because you've just laboured over your document, when you read it over, your brain reads what you wanted to say, not necessarily what you did say!
If you've set yourself up in the eyes of the hiring manager as a "gifted written communicator", such errors will cast a shadow of doubt over any other claim you make about yourself.
Get a friend or family member to look it over for you or send it to an expert resume writer for a review and commentary. Either way, make sure you put your best foot forward!
The original resume of a recent client had stated rather impressively that they were a "gifted oral and written communicator". Further down the same page they wanted to convey an example to back up an earlier statement - it read something like this "hosted a series of customer events such as such as wine and cheese evenings".
The double "such as" entry will survive a spell check and because you've just laboured over your document, when you read it over, your brain reads what you wanted to say, not necessarily what you did say!
If you've set yourself up in the eyes of the hiring manager as a "gifted written communicator", such errors will cast a shadow of doubt over any other claim you make about yourself.
Get a friend or family member to look it over for you or send it to an expert resume writer for a review and commentary. Either way, make sure you put your best foot forward!
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