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Posts Tagged ‘professional resume writer’

I know that parts of this aretilce are so basic that it will appear to some of you as third grade curriculum. To others who may not have been in the work force for awhile it will be necessary reading. So with that said let’s begin.

What exactly is a resume and the purpose?

Simply put a resume is a review of your work history. This article is about “How To Write a Resume.”  It only explains the purpose of having one. If you have never written one then you need to do it right. Consider hiring a professional service to get you started.  Resumesplanet can provide you with a professional, entry level resume, for a very reasonable price.

If you have a long work history going back 20+ years it’s not necessary to review your whole life. Just the last four to five jobs you have held, the position, responsibilities, acknowledgments etc. It should be well written (we will show you how to do that further down). The purpose – is to get an interview! Like anything, you have about 15 – 20 seconds to grab the readers attention. Fail to do that and your resume goes in the trash.

Who needs a resume?

Anyone who needs a job, whether it is to change careers, or stay within the same type of job needs a resume. If you are new to the work force, whether just out of college or a stay at home mom/dad this gives you the opportunity to display your abilities and skills. Even if you are going to an interview through the referral of a friend you need a well written resume. If it is well written it will answer many questions the interviewer may have. Now if the position is making hamburgers at McDonalds or tacos at Taco Bell this won’t necessarily apply. For any other type of employment (manufacturing etc.) it is an absolute necessity, and it must be done right!

Can I write it myself or is it complex?

Anyone can write a resume themselves but will the person you want to impress read it? Well, that’s another story. Our goal is to offer help with this to make sure you have the best chance of gaining the interview. Even a first time job seeker needs the best resume they can have, and we don’t mean on fancy, watermarked paper. If your content doesn’t grab their attention your fancy paper won’t either.

Why might I need to have my resume professionally written?

If the job you are applying for pays minimum wage, then you don’t need to spend a lot of money for this service. A quality Resume Template is what you need. However, that doesn’t mean that you can sit down and in 15 minutes crank one out. The idea that you can successfully do this is a myth.

Over the years the type of resume required to obtain a quality job has changed. If you have never written a resume then you do need guidance in what the corporate world is looking for. You will only have 15 to 20 seconds to get the readers attention so quality counts.

Are there resume templates available if I choose to write it myself?

Let me recommend another additional source to you. These are resume e-books that allow you to make a quality looking resume. They will hold you by the hand and lead you step by step through the process. These will have everything you need to get the look and appearance you need without breaking the bank. HOWEVER it wouldn’t be fair to leave it at that when I know better. What I said was true except that these e-books will give you a resume that will look like it came from a text book and yours will look like everyone else’s.

What you really need to be competitive is one professionally written (they aren’t that expensive) and are worth every penny. A professionally written resume will make you stand out because these writers know how to highlight your strengths.

Leslie Kearney is the owner of a site committed to helping you get the perfect job. We offer resume writing tips, links to the best professional resume writers, job links and more! Visit our sites today — you need a job; we can help!

Visit our other sites for more help:

http://www.1-800BadCredit.com — AND —  http://www.ResumeOnaBudget.com

You might think there’s never been a worse time to look for work in the traditional job market, with unemployment at 10.4% and no relief in sight.

But you would be only half right.

While there’s never been a worse time for traditional job-search methods, “Guerrilla” job hunters are enjoying consistent success — even in today’s awful economy.

Why?

Because Guerrillas choose not to participate in the recession.

To illustrate, here’s a recent story from our client files: Steve Cobain, from Pittsburgh, Penn.

Cobain was laid off as a financial services executive in December 2008, after which, he followed the standard advice given by a well-known outplacement firm. “They introduced me to the ‘new age’ of job search, which was mainly Internet-based. It focused on getting a resume out, playing a numbers game, going through advertised positions. And it was a very frustrating process,” he says.

How frustrating?

“In nine months, I looked on all the employment web sites, responded to 400 advertised openings and sent out about 1,500 resumes by email,” says Cobain. “That produced four job interviews and no offers.”

Frustrating, yes. And all too-common. — Repeat after me: If you do what everyone else is doing to look for work, you’ll get results like everyone else is getting.

And everyone else is taking 29.7 weeks — about 7 months — to find a job, according to February 2010 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks the average length of unemployment.

So, Cobain changed his job-search strategy and decided to “go Guerrilla” in December 2009, one year after being displaced.

He did five things differently. And he got six job offers in only six weeks. He’s now working again.

Want to know what he did?

1) Write a job shopping list

Most people take the “blind archery” approach to job hunting: They think, if they respond to enough postings and fire off enough resumes, they’ll hit the target eventually.

That’s what Cobain was taught in outplacement. But 1,500 resumes later, he had nothing to show for it.

Guerrillas know better. They create a targeted list of 10-20 employers, then go after them systematically.

What, you say? Your ideal employer isn’t hiring? Doesn’t matter.

Because the one-word antidote to a hiring freeze is “attrition.”

Guerrillas know that companies lose workers every day, week, or month, through resignations, death, or layoffs. By focusing their efforts on a shortlist of employers, Guerrillas contact hiring managers enough times to stay top of mind until a position opens up or is created for them.

2) Create a Guerrilla Resume

Ordinary black-and-white resumes, no matter how well-written, get ordinary results.

Guerrilla Resumes, using color graphics and logos, along with short quotes from past clients or managers, get extraordinary results, as Cobain found.

“Virtually everybody commented on the creativity of the Guerrilla Resume,” he says. “I had several people tell me that, instead of the position I was interviewing for, they should hire me into their marketing or PR group.”

3) Tell your network how to help

Guerrillas know that people in your network will help you, if you tell them exactly what to do.

Cobain got job leads for several weeks after sending a “chain email” to friends and past co-workers that said, in effect, “Here are the 10 employers I want to work for. Who do you know that I should be talking to there? And could you please forward this email to 10 other people?”

4) Get names of hiring managers

Cobain used online tools like LinkedIn and Zoominfo to find the names of executives who could either hire him for an unadvertised position or create one for him.

In most cases, they were VPs or CEOs at his target employers. In no cases were they HR people. Because hiring managers give orders on when and how to create jobs. HR managers only follow those orders.

5) Contact hiring managers, Guerrilla-style

Cobain used the Guerrilla “Coffee Cup Caper” with excellent results.

He inserted his Guerrilla Resume in a coffee cup, wrote a cover letter asking to meet for coffee, then sent all three in a box addressed by name to the hiring manager.

“I had numerous comments congratulating me on the creativity about how my resume arrived,” says Cobain. “Several people asked: ‘How did you find me? I usually don’t get resumes. How did you know I was the person you needed to come to?’”

So, what were the final results?

Cobain’s Guerrilla job search produced eight interviews, six offers, and a new job as a VP close to his Pittsburgh home — in six weeks. He started work on February 22, 2010.

Now, go out and make your own luck.

If your current resume isn’t working and you’d like to learn about unconventional ideas,here’s the site to get started!

As a Certified Professional Resume Writer, I am often approached by highly qualified job seekers frustrated by weeks and often months of costly unemployment. Job seekers who have sent hundreds of resumes yet never hear back from the employer.

I’ve found that the majority of my clients attempt to write their own resume and only seek the help of a professional after weeks of failure. There are many reasons they fail, but most tend to be associated with ineffective resume templates designed in the 1990s which are not compatible with today’s keyword searches done by recruiters and hiring managers. I am dismayed to think of the number of opportunities that highly qualified candidates have lost to those less qualified but have a better understanding of today’s job search process.

The Top 5 Reasons Resumes Fail

Lack of Industry Specific Keywords — Due to the sheer volume of resumes that employers receive, only a handful are ever printed and will reach the hands of the hiring manager. Employers today often use software programs to search for keywords specific to the position. The more hits that they find, the more likely it is that your resume will be read. This is the process that most often eliminates even the most qualified candidates from consideration.

Resume Format — There are a variety of formats available to better market your skills and experience including: chronological, functional, hybrid, Curriculum Vitae (CV), Federal Resume format, etc. Choosing the wrong format for your situation can quickly eliminate you from consideration. A well-written resume will match your skills and experience to the hiring managers’ needs.
Objective or Qualifications Summary? — I personally believe that an old-fashioned objective is a waste of the most valuable real estate on the resume. It would be nice if employers really cared what you wanted in a job, but in actuality they are only concerned with what you can do for them. Why not use this area to market the skills and experience to position you as the best candidate for the position?
Task-Focused vs. Accomplishment Based Resume Unfortunately, the majority of resumes that I review are more of a chronological history than a true marketing document. Imagine a hiring manager with one position to fill and 100 equally qualified candidates applying for the position and each candidate has a similar educational and professional background. It’s easy to see that the candidate who contributed the most in previous positions is likely to get the job.

A One-Size-Fits-All Resume — In today’s highly competitive job market a one-size-fits-all resume really fits none. An employer searching for an accountant is going to be searching for different keywords than an employer searching for a sales representative. If you don’t know what type of position that you’re looking for, how will the employer know?

In today’s highly competitive job market it is imperative that you quickly and concisely provide the hiring manager with the information that they seek. A well formatted resume will allow the employer to quickly glance at the resume and find the skills and experience that they are looking for in the first 1/3 of the first page. Only after capturing their attention will they bother to read your resume from top to bottom.
When seeking the help of a professional it is important to seek a certified resume writer. With today’s economic conditions many claim to be professional resume writers, however, they often do not have the training necessary to help you get through the screening process.

Choose carefully; ask for and compare samples of their work. Your writer should do much more than simply type a resume. They will analyze your career and help you determine your career direction, develop a format that’s most suitable to your specific situation, and then craft a strong and compelling marketing document that targets your career objective and positions you as the best candidate for the position. A professionally written resume can help you get the job that you want and the pay you deserve.

Courtesy ArticleSnatch.com