Resumes - writing your own

Subject: Resumes - writing your own
From: Sue Ellen Adkins <sea -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 1995 21:15:34 -0800

Several years ago I was a victim of corporate downsizing. The company
provided me access to several placement agencies which I visited one after
another. All of the agencies required that I meet with a resume counselor
before I could use any of their services. Each counselor declared my resume
"terrible," or the equivalent, and felt that it was the reason I had not found
another job. After having my resume rewritten four or five times, I was left
with something I liked much less than my original.

Each counselor insisted my resume be no longer than one page. That length may
be fine for new graduates; however, during my twenty years with one employer,
I had changed jobs every two-three years. The counselors condensed my
experience until I appeared as bland and interesting as distilled water!

During the past week, as I described my experience to someone in an e-mail
message, I realized that my description was better than any resume I'd ever
written. The difference was how I defined my audience. I was writing to
someone rather than for anyone. Even when I had tailored my resume for a
particular position, I never identified the reader as the ONE person who could
hire me. When I wrote to one person, I allowed my personality to show. I
returned to being a precious bottle of Perrier instead of a plastic gallon jug
of distilled water.

Sue Ellen Adkins
sea -at- netcom -dot- com


Previous by Author: Re: Technical Writer Backgrounds
Next by Author: Re: Page Count Estimates
Previous by Thread: Change Bars with Word 6.0
Next by Thread: Re: Resumes - writing your own


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads