Resume Clinic’s Bits and Bytes

Okay, admittedly, this has nothing to do with resumes or careers. I am back in New Orleans for the weekend to attend Jazz Fest. Santana is on stage right now and people are having a great time. We came too late to get a good spot to see him, but we can hear him just fine. We’ll be uprooting in a bit to set up shop for our primary mission, which is to catch Frankie Beverly and Maze.

As for food, I had my obligatory meat pies and added some stuffed mushrooms to the mix. And of course, nothing washes it down like a large strawberry lemonade.

I think we may be doing the Brass Pass next year to take advantage of the shelters and great performance seating.

Many of the clients I speak with indicate that they’ve done (or plan to do) extensive research before making a decision on a resume writer. And what is the most common question I run across during this research?

“Do you have specialists in my industry?”

I usually stop them right there, because that question indicates that it is education time.

With the power of the internet and various software programs, any half-decent resume writer can learn enough about your industry to speak intelligibly about it. As such, I inform my clients that the true value of a resume writer is not an industry specialty, but their ability to market their clients powerfully on paper. In my opinion, the best way for a resume service researcher to determine this is through samples.

No matter what super-slick sales pitches or credentials one throws around, the work samples can tell you if you’re dealing someone who can properly convey the client’s skills to make the most impact.

Now, while you won’t necessarily know the client’s background and training that was considered to develop the document, there are four aspects of a resume sample one can examine to easily discern whether the writer achieved the objective of creating an effective resume:

1) Initial Visual Impact - in a stack of 85 resumes, there has to be something about your resume that aesthetically impresses the reader right off the bat. Don’t forget, your reader is likely to be an over-worked middle manager whose time is dominated by 3 other projects, interruption from subordinates, interruption from management, and a myriad of other standard duties. When your resume is #49 of 85, it has to “wow” them.

2) Excellent balance and readability - you would be surprised at how many resumes are discarded at this point. When reviewing resume samples, make certain that the resume writer has achieved great document balance. Check for margin consistency and spacing optimization. I have seen resumes prepared by supposed professionals that have had large, uneven, and highly noticeable gaps between information blocks. Also, check readability by looking for excessively long paragraphs or a lengthy list of bullet points. If you look at it and say it looks lime an intimidating read, that H.R. Manager is likely to think the same.

3) Can you tell the resume’ objective - the whole point of the resume is to quickly deliver the goods. Within 15 - 20 seconds, you should know the major qualifications of the resume’s subject. If during the review of the sample you cannot quickly identify the objective, the it is likely an ineffective product.

4) Content sophistication should up to par - once you get past the general effect, you want to ensure that the writing fits the goal. In all cases, verbiage should be sophisticated, yet concise. The level of sophistication should be consistent with the professional level being sought. Prose above or below the position’s level can put your reader off.

There are what seems to be a million resume services out there and finding the right one can be a chore. You definitely want to make your inquiries, but samples serve to give you insight as to the level of quality you can expect to receive. If a resume service does not show you samples before you spend hundreds on a product, then my advice is to run!

As the saying goes, “there is more than one way to skin a cat”. When it comes to resume writing, there are numerous ways one can approach various facets of a resume in order to maximize its effectiveness. How a resume is structured will depend upon a client’s background and target. Remember, what we are looking to do is shape the resume into a structure that highlights strengths, masks weaknesses, and attacks the target. 

The “Professional Experience” section is one such section where a good resume writer can utilize various options in order to maximize effectiveness. When a client has a history consisting of multiple positions with the same organization, it is sometimes beneficial to group those positions into one entry. This may be a good strategy if the client has three or four positions held in less than five years, with another four to five positions to cover before reaching the ten-year watermark. This will keep the resume from having that “chronological graveyard” look and keep things concise. Of course, this is assuming these positions are of a similar nature. For instance, this can work for combining positions such as Accounting Clerk/Staff Accountant, but not for Staff Accountant/Logistics Coordinator.

William Mitchell, CPRW
http://www.theresumeclinic.com
Order a free resume critique today!

If there is one lesson that experienced resume writers eventually learn, it is that you can’t please everyone when it comes to resume guidelines. If you ask 10 different HR Managers of their opinion on anything from resume length to bullet point mix, you are likely to get 10 different answers. This is why we are trained to use the guidelines whenever possible, but place more focus on making the resume a good read. However, when a client is working with a recruiter, this is where the rules change a bit.

Most reputable recruiters have established relationships with companies who have coordinated with them on setting standards on style and content of the resumes that are forwarded to them. This is excellent inside information your resume writer can use to zero in on the target.

When I have a client who is working with a recruiter, I always recommend that they consult with the to see if their clients have preferences we need to address within their resume. Because recruiters serve as a first-line buffer for the clients (weeding out the under qualified applicants on the front end), their clients traditionally request more detail. After all, every applicant whose resume is forwarded has been pre-qualified. As such, its more like the 2nd stage of the process by the time the recruiter’s client gets the resume.

To ensure the best results for your resume, consult with your recruiter before engaging your resume writer. Find out what their clients’ preferences are on resume characteristics such as:

Resume length
Bullets vs. paragraphs
Position detail
Introductions
Cover letter length

This will serve as a bit of a “cheat sheet” for your resume writer, giving them a blueprint to build the ultimate resume the recipient will love.

William Mitchell, CPRW
http://www.theresumeclinic.com
Order a free resume critique today!

Many clients are concerned with having a resume written for them that they consider too focused, feeling that they want to be open to a variety of opportunities. Of course, since the majority of resume clients are either out of work or soon will be, money is a concern and no one really wants to pay for multiple resumes when they don’t have to. But what many people fail to do is look at the process from the other side. Most people think of their resume and cover letter in a vacuum and fail to examine the context in which their resume will be read.

The odds are that the reader of your resume will be a mid-level manager whose day consists of managing several other projects currently in the works, subordinates and supervisors demanding time, and who knows what else going on. This person usually has the mandate to trim down a ghastly number of resumes down to a manageable number. He/she is tired, frustrated, and under the gun. Now, if they are going through 85 resumes to trim that number down to 20, then there is no time for interest in everything you’ve ever done. Many of those resumes submitted by your competition will speak directly to that position’s needs and it will be obvious to our tired and weary reader. When they come across that “broad-n-general” resume, there’s no way he/she bothers to dig through the entire document to hunt down their needs when so many others will make it easy for them to find.

With that said, no respectable resume service should charge a full fee for additional versions of your resume. After all, a good bit of the work is done the front end in producing the first version (we significantly discount additional resumes at The Resume Clinic). In fact, after getting a solid first version, most clients can make adjustments to re-target their resumes and cover letters for additional positions.

Just know that broad resumes rarely bring results. If a position as 20 requirements management is looking to fill and your general resume only addresses 8 of them, you fall in the middle of the pack. And when it comes to the job hunt, middle of the pack means the same as last place … unemployed.

William Mitchell
Certified Professional Resume Writer

Order the Resu-Chek Free Critique System Today!

In business, there always comes a time when ethics squares off for a battle with the desire for the sale. What I mean by that is that the profitable thing is not always the right thing. 

In consulting with potential clients, there are various situations where the client may not be best served by signing up with our resume service at the time. On rare occasions, the client’s resume may be close enough to where only a few pointers will make the resume effective. In another instance, the client may not yet have decided upon an employment direction and as such, cannot provide direction to make the resume effective. And occasionally, a client just isn’t yet comfortable with the idea of paying for a resume online. 

All of the above situations have the same thing in common: the sale isn’t necessarily the best option for the client … at least at that particular time. At The Resume Clinic, we consider the long-term relationship when dealing with our potential clients because doing right by a client and missing out on a sale today can mean many resume referrals (and referral sources) in the future.

We’re all about building relationships with our resume clients. The idea is to build trust with our clients for both their and our long-term benefit. Any resume service enterprise lives and dies on its reputation and we go the extra mile to ensure that our clients feel we have their best interest at heart … because we do.

William Mitchell, CPRW
http://www.theresumeclinic.com
Order a free resume critique today!

Many resume services out on the web offer free resume critique services (The Resume Clinic is one if them). This presents an excellent opportunity you to do two things: 

·         If you are planning to tackle your own resume, getting your old resume critiqued by 3 to 5 different services can provide enough insight to guide you in producing a serviceable resume. Since most resume services use the free critique as a strategy to generate sales, you are likely not going to get everything out of any one critique. (I’ll take some time to submit a shameless plug by saying that I don’t know of a service that offers as much detail in their resume critiques as we do) But, if you get several, one may address what the other leaves out.

·         If you are looking for a professional resume writer, the free critique can be a key indicator of which resume service you should hire by giving you insight into what each resume service considers when improving your resume.

If you have an old resume, there’s really no better way to go.

William Mitchell, CPRW
http://www.theresumeclinic.com
Order a free resume critique today!

There are many candidates from across the Atlantic that are intimidated by the process of converting their European CV/Resume into a format that can win an interview here in the states.

The main thing you want to address is the personal information. Remove entries that communicate age, gender, physical attribute, marital status/children, and religion. Next, take a look at other information such as hobbies. If not relevant to the position pursued, remove it. The same holds true with organization memberships.

Regarding length, the general guideline is two pages. Any longer and you run the risk of losing your reader. However, certified resume writers know that you include everything that is relevant, fresh, and powerful, so if a resume must go to three pages, than so be it. But 98% of the time, one to two pages will do.

Spelling also must be checked for U.S. versions of words. For instance, “organitsation” in the UK ” is spelled “organization” here in the states. Change your word processor software to access the English dictionary and run spell-check. It should identify and replace all of the different terms.

At this point, your resume should be ready to go!

William Mitchell, CPRW
http://www.theresumeclinic.com
Order a free resume critique today!

When conversing with someone, the last thing you need is having to either understand monosyllabic grunts or a Shakespearean soliloquy. Well, your resume is holding a conversation with the reader in your absence and you want to be sure that it is holding the attention of the reader. An often overlooked area of importance is verbiage sophistication.

When it comes to verbiage used throughout your resume. You want to be sure that it matches your audience. For instance, if you have a medical background, you may use complex terminology if applying for a position where the reader will be physicians or medical technicians. However, if applying for a position outside of the medical field, you would likely want to tone down the medical verbiage for fear of losing your reader.

Additionally, the overall phrasing should also fit the audience. Short and choppy four- to six-word sentences may be okay for a high school student looking for a part-time job in the neighborhood hardware store, but not for the candidate seeking the Senior VP position at an international banking institution.

As always, it’s all about your reader. Keep them engaged and the phone will soon ring with an interview offer on the other end of the line. Just remember that your local certified resume writer is skilled in determining this if you find it troublesome.

William Mitchell, CPRW
http://www.theresumeclinic.com
Order a free resume critique today!

For many federal positions, your resume is not the only criteria used to judge your candidacy. The KSA (knowledge, skills and abilities) narrative questions are what derails the candidacy of many applicants right from the start. 

All too often, federal applicants put little or no effort into addressing KSAs properly, simply repeating information that is already addressed on the resume and thinking it will be enough to get them through, when it actually becomes the proverbial banana peel that they slip on to fall into the graveyard of unsuccessful candidates. 

KSAs vary by job and the questions are never the same (although they can often be similar). The most powerful way to approach the KSA is to tell a story that provides an example of how you have applied the knowledge, skill, or ability to improve a situation (resolve a dispute, reduce operating expenses, build a department, etc.). The strategy recommended by certified resume writers and the federal government is called the “CCAR” technique, which is an acronym for:

• Challenge
• Context
• Action
• Result

Using this approach, you will be able to paint a picture for your reader that will clearly demonstrate your qualifications by telling a story from the start of the challenge to its resolution.

With the federal government (as with any employer), competition will be such that an “average” job just won’t do. The KSA is the device by which the federal government separates the pretenders from the contenders. Treat it as such.

William Mitchell, CPRW
http://www.theresumeclinic.com
Order a free resume critique today!