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Subject:Re: Resumes for Technical Communicators From:Herman Holtz <holtz -at- CLARK -dot- NET> Date:Thu, 9 Mar 1995 18:50:55 -0500
On Thu, 9 Mar 1995, Deborah Kluge wrote:
> At 08:51 AM 3/9/95 -0500, Herman Holtz wrote:
> > Ergo, the resume ought to have teasers--strong leads--to
> >pique the reader's interest, with clear suggestions that there is more to
> >be learned and is worth the effort to learn.
> Hello Herm:
> Could you give some examples of "teasers?"
Hi, Debbie. I am replying to all because others have asked the same question:
Overall, te idea is to follow the principles of any advertising/sales
message: Get attention and arouse interest. Ideally, get attention and
arouse interest by leading off with the promise of an important benefit:
Find the most impressive item in your own background and devise a
presentation that enables you to use it as an intro.
In my own case, one of my best teasers was a brief recounting of how many
proposals I had written that won contracts, and I quantified that in
terms of millions of dollars, rather than number of contracts, as more
likely to strike a nerve!
Ask yourself what is the biggest coup you ever pulled off that benefited
an employer or client. Solve some tough problems? Placate an unappy
customer? Bring in some business? Do in-house training of staff? Find
some hard-to-find consultant to solve a problem? Meet and beat an
impossible schedule/deadline? (Work thru Christmas and around the clock?)
Don't be afraid to brag, but don't use comparatives, superlatives, or
hyperbole: Just state facts, but dig up impressive facts. Never mind how
hard you worked to solve the problem; state how many hours you put in to
save the day, how many pages or lines of code you wrote, etc. That isn't
bragging; it's reporting. (I have even written, "Pardon me for bragging,
but you have a right to know the facts. Anyway, as Yogi Berra said, 'It
ain't bragging if you can do it.'")
Don't try to tell the whole story in your resume. Save something for the
interview. Tell enough in the resume to pique interest only. Remember
your goal: to get an interview.
The only right organization for a resume is the one that enables you to
put your best arguments up front. The reader should not have to finish
reading your resume before getting the feeling that it would be a good
idea to get you to come an to answer a few questions.
