RESUME HELP - WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?
Your resume is one of the most
important documents you will ever write. If you're stuck with
your resume, here are some options
for getting help.
Free Resume Help
If you want to learn how to put
together a great resume, sign up for our free resume
writing e-course. The course arrives over a period of 7 days
and includes information on determining your 'sales message, creating
an action-packed resume, and designing for best effect.
Another
great resource is this
article on how to write a resume, by Nicholas Lore, founder
of The Rockport Institute and author of "Pathfinder."
When
you're looking for free resume help, beware anyone who promises
something for nothing, or offers 'quick and easy resumes'
or 'resumes in 5 minutes.' Your resume is one of the most important
documents you will EVER write. If you do it right, it will be neither
quick nor easy - but it will be effective.
Books on Resume Writing
If
you like to follow detailed step-by-step instructions on resume
writing, I can recommend a couple of books that will
take you through the process and provide samples to give you good
ideas. Neither promises a quick and easy solution, but both will
help you develop a resume that truly separates you from the crowd.
The
first is Resume
Magic by Susan Britton Whitcomb. This book is a comprehensive
look at how to write a resume, and includes many before and after
samples so that you can see the principles involved. Susan is
a leader in the careers industry and her advice is wonderful.
The
second is my own book, The
Complete Guide to Resume Writing, which is available
for immediate download as an ebook. This book walks you step-by-step
through
the resume writing process and includes 20 resume templates that
you can use to create your own resume. It also includes a guide
to cover letter writing and a strategy guide for your job search.
In addition, we have pulled together a selection
of our favorite books on resume writing, job search, interviewing etc. and set
them up in our Amazon store for easy purchase.
Hiring a Professional Resume Writer
If you can
afford to invest in a professional resume, this is the best
option. A good professional resume
writer can create a document far superior to anything most people
can do on their own. And the payoff is almost immediate. A person
who makes $40,000 (or $20 per hour) and spends $350 on a professional
resume needs to shave only 2 days from her job search in order
to pay for the cost of the resume.
A professional resume can not
only cut down the time needed to find a new job, but it can also
increase your salary.
That's because a great resume makes a strong first impression and
can increase the amount you are offered once the company decides
to hire you.
If you decide to work with a professional resume writer,
you must choose carefully. There are no legal requirements for
people calling themselves resume writers, and therefore, there
are many more bad writers than there are good ones.
Check out my
article How
to Choose a Professional Resume Writer for more information
on where to find writers and how to tell the good ones from the
bad ones.
Louise Fletcher is the President of Blue
Sky Resumes, and author of the eBook, The
Complete Guide to Resume Writing. Louise is also Managing
Editor and Co-founder of the preeminent careers blog, Career
Hub. She is a Certified Professional Resume Writer and many of
her resumes have been published in the JIST "Expert Resumes" series.
She has contributed to many online publications including About.com,
Monster.com, The Ladders, and Net Temps.
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