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Transcript of a Job Search Seminar
by Sharla Taylor

Résumé Evaluation
If the perfect job opportunity presented itself, could you send your résumé to your future employer today?

Is your résumé built around action verbs and keywords targeted for your profession?

Does your résumé showcase your career accomplishments, rather than your job duties?

Does your résumé present you in a positive, professional light? Does it contain the information that is most relevant to the position you are seeking?

Is your résumé keeping up with technology? Is it written in the most up-to-date and widely used software? Is your résumé formatted to print, scan, e-mail, or post to a résumé database?

Have you had your résumé reviewed by a professional writer in the last year?

If you answered "no" to any of the above questions, then you'll gain much information in this seminar. I'm Sharla Taylor, founder of Written by a Pro. With over a decade of experience in the résumé writing business, I can help you write a résumé that gets results!

Remember: You will never get a second chance to make a first impression!

Résumé Writing Tips
Your résumé is a marketing tool to sell a product: you! Like any advertisement, a well-written résumé will entice the reader to purchase the product. In this case, you want the prospective employer to offer you an interview. Your job search documents should present you in the best possible light. The universal law of résumé writing is: "Always tell the truth."

Ask not what the company can do for you; state clearly what you can do for the company.

Your career profile or objective statement should be targeted to the specific job you are seeking.

Show your:

education,
experience, and
accomplishments in an easy-to-read, accurate, error-free, professional presentation.

Your résumé is more than words on paper; it is a snapshot of who you are and what you have to offer a prospective employer! Remember, you only have 20-to-30 seconds to make a positive first impression.

Despite technological advances, the paper résumé is not dead yet. Everyone needs an attractive designed mail/interview style résumé. Choose a 24-to-32 pound bond paper in a conservative color like white, gray, or ivory. Leave enough white space in your résumé so that it looks well organized and is easy and interesting to read. By the way, no "itty bitty squint" fonts--use at least at 10-12 point font.

Everyone also needs an electronic style résumé that serves the same purpose as the paper résumé but allows direct posting to online databases, emails, and company websites. You will find a wealth of information at www.rileyguide.com including a listing of free and fee-based résumé databases where you can post your résumé online. In her article, "The Myth about the Internet, Scanning & Your Résumé" author Margaret F. Dikel states that many people are under the misconception that they must write three different résumés: one for traditional mail, one that is scannable, and one that can be can be used online. This is untrue! The information contained in the résumé doesn't change, only the presentation format. And you can combine the ASCII online/scannable version into one by making the margins 1" all around and changing your right-hand margin to 2 inches, giving you approximately 65 characters in width for a 12 pt. font. Résumés in Cyberspace (Second Edition): Your Complete Guide to a Computerized Job Search by Pat Criscito is a good tool for learning how to post your résumé online.

Are you stumped as to how to go about condensing and wording your career experience? Résumé experts and career coaches agree on the 3M's.

Stated accomplishments must be:

meaningful,
measurable, and
marketable.

Think of success stories, not job duties. Focus on summarizing your accomplishments. For the nuts-and-bolts of how to write accomplishments, Gary Provost has written a two-part article entitled "Showcase Your 'Home Run' Accomplishments". His two articles will give you many great ideas to implement. .

I highly recommend Nicholas Lore's "How to Write a Masterpiece of a Résumé". It is from the best selling book "The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success" by Nicholas Lore. Mr. Lore is director of worldwide career change consulting firm Rockport Institute.

JIST Publications offers a wide variety of résumé books by industry. Visit http://www.jist.com for order information.
Be careful about following a pat formula or "hearsay rules of thumb" for length of résumé or wording of cover letter. What works for one industry may be inappropriate for another. That is why it is wise to enlist the help a professional résumé writer. Search for members of Career Masters Institute and other professional résumé writing organizations. They are knowledgeable of composition of content and format for all your job search documents, and they are skilled at informational interviewing techniques.

Cover Letters
There is no "one-size-fits-all" cover letter. Cover letters are situation specific and tailored to address how you can meet your perspective employer's unique needs. One of my favorite books on cover letter preparation is written by Katharine Hansen and Randall S. Hansen, Ph. D. entitled Dynamic Cover Letters published by Ten Speed Press. Test yourself on your cover letter savvy. Take a cover letter quiz by Katharine Hansen and find lots of valuable information for job seekers at their web site Quintessential Careers.

Would to know the secret for writing an effective cover letter--those cover letters that gain interviews? With a little homework and legwork on the part of the job seeker, you can double your response rate from prospective employers and increase your interview opportunities. It requires some effort. Are you ready? This secret is so simple but so often ignored. To get best results, your career correspondence (cover letter, résumé, salary history or requirements, when requested) should be sent to a specific person by name and with title at the company. You absolutely must provide your résumé writer with this essential contact information for your cover letters. Salutations of "Gentlemen" or (worse yet) "Dear Sir or Madam" are unacceptable. Your cover letter should actively "sell" your specific experience, skills, and accomplishments and explain why you want to work for that particular company. In closing, your letter assertively requests a personal interview, explains how you can be reached, and thanks the reader for taking the time to consider your résumé.

Job Search Strategy
Uncover the hidden job market by learning and practicing the skill of networking. There are many career support groups available in the Memphis area. If you live in another state or you are networking intra-state, read trade magazines and professional journals in your industry. Check with area churches to find a job search support group in your area.

Contact a reputable recruiter and take advantage of his/her national/international network of contacts. There are still recruiters who earn their fee from the employer, not the candidate. Let me hedge that statement somewhat by saying some career changers are in need of and can benefit from assessment tests and career counseling offered at a fee. However, some of the same services are offered free of charge at church-sponsored, municipally-sponsored, or university-sponsored career support centers. Shop wisely.

We all know the résumé just gets your foot in the door for an interview. Now, you have the opportunity to sell yourself in person. Don't waste time "singing the blues" telling what went wrong in your last position. Accentuate the positive. Develop an effective elevator speech, a confident one-to-three minute talk about what you can do for your future employer. Show how you can fill a specific need by improving some area of operations that falls within your realm of expertise. For example, demonstrate how you can save the company money, improve employee productivity, etc. Given the choice between you and another candidate with an equivalent education and experience base, what makes you the best candidate for the job? That's what an employer wants to hear.

Polish your interviewing skills. Many good books are on the market, like Andrea Kay's book, Interview Strategies That Will Get You the Job You Want and Kate Wendleton's Interviewing and Negotiating. Consider Best Answers to the 201 Most Frequently Asked Interview Questions by Matthew J. DeLuca, (McGraw Hill) and The Complete Q&A Job Interview Book by Jeffrey G. Allen, J.D. C.P.C.,(Wiley). Don't bother frantically taking notes. For your convenience, there are links to purchasing these at Amazon.com on my website under my job search workshop. Let's see there's also an all-around good book… Knock 'em Dead - Martin Yate, a comprehensive job search book that's updated annually -- straight talk and fun to read. 101 Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions by Ron Fry, and Get Hired! by Paul C. Green, Ph D, and Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1,000 a Minute by Jack Chapman are all good selections. If your funds are limited, browse through the career section at your local library for some of these titles. If it's not on the shelf, ask the resource librarian to locate it from another library. With online services now available, readers can check the availability of a book and have it sent to the location nearest you.

A new and different interview trend is emerging. Behavioral interviews are becoming more common. In this type of interview, instead of the traditional career accomplishments/goals question-and-answer session, the interview process is based on the premise that past performance is a predictor of future performance. Questions about your specific behavior in a certain situation will be asked--questions regarding your thought processes and actions taken to resolve conflicts or solve problems will be asked--rather than simply asking you to talk about yourself. Hypothetical situations may be created to test how you would solve a problem, given a certain scenario. Don't let behavioral interview questions catch you off guard.

Follow Up with a Thank-You Letter
Within 24 hours after the interview, follow up with a thank-you letter to each person who met with you, thanking them for their time and consideration. Restate your interest in the position and give further insight as to how you could turnaround under-performing operations or contribute to the company's continued success. Very few candidates will take the time to follow-up in this manner. Doing so will further differentiate you from the crowd of applicants.

Additional Tips
Do you have questions concerning differences in résumés for global job hunting? Helpful information about international résumés on my website www.writtenbyapro.com that may be helpful under the FAQ section. Applying for international opportunities can be a bit tricky. For anyone seeking to work outside the USA, The Global Résumé and CV Guide is a handy reference.

For clients of Written by a Pro, I make this promise. If you allow us to create your résumé following our proven formula, we know you will get interviews. If after 30 days of actively distributing the résumé prepared by Written by a Pro you are not getting calls for interviews, let us know. Simply fax us your contact log showing 30 résumés distributed over a 30-day period to recruiters and qualified leads in your field of expertise. The log should contain the contact person's name and title, company name, complete address, phone, fax and email along with a job description from the position posted. We'll review your objective and summary of qualifications of the résumé prepared by us and offer suggestions for revisions based upon the target market for your résumé. We'll work with you to produce a résumé that gets results!

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