The Myth of the 10-Minute Resume 2/16/2006 7:55:21 AM
Teena Rose is a columnist, public speaker, and certified/published resume writer http://www.resumebycprw.com with Resume to Referral. She’s authored several books, including "20-Minute Cover
Letter Fixer" "How to Design, Write, and Compile a Quality Brag Book" and "Cracking the Code to Pharmaceutical Sales."
You can get your photos developed in 10 minutes. You can have the oil in your car changed in 10 minutes. You can do a lot of things in 10 minutes, but writing a resume isn’t one of them. Not if you’re serious about finding a good job.
Anytime you’re promised something within a short time, you must ask yourself if it sounds too easy. Oftentimes services or tools that offer quick completions of your career documents are nothing more than a list of facts that you enter!
You went to school, here, graduated then, worked here for five years, blah, blah, blah.
Sure, the products that promise a grand resume or cover letter are low-cost but there’s question on whether they work. Documents created using pigeonholed methods tend to look like they were created from a cookie-cutter template. And, there’s no sell, no sizzle – and when you’re job hunting, you want some sizzle in that resume.
The Art of the Perfect Resume
Creating the right resume (or resumes) is an art. It’s a skill you can learn, but creativity is an important aspect of the perfect resume, and that’s where the art part starts.
Professional resume writers take the time to get to know you and your job search objective. They’ll ask for extensive details about your work activities, looking for that little ‘hook’ that sets you apart from the competitors – all 82 of them!
Professional resume writers are also current on employment trends, current biz buzz words (never use paradigm), acceptable resume formatting and putting together a PEP – a professional employment package – that makes you look really, really good.
With a clear vision of your professional strengths and weaknesses, the resume pro goes to work crafting the perfect resume, making dozens of decisions on everything from what to include (and not to include) to how to best shine a spotlight on your strongest attributes as a job candidate. Unusual or diverse work experience, willingness to relocate, a consistent pattern of achievement and advancement – that’s what writers trained in resume preparation deliver.
Here’s an example. Which of these sounds more compelling?
From the 10-Minute Resume
2003 – 2006 Warehouse Manager. In charge of managing all warehouse work.
Or, From the ‘Pen’ of the Resume Professional
2003 – 2006 Warehouse Manager. Oversaw key aspects of a multimillion-dollar shipping & receiving department, which included monitoring inventory, lowering inventory losses, and designing inventory control software.
I don’t know about you, but most employers are going with the applicant who’s showed she’s a professional and very good at her job.
What Does A Personalized Resume Do For You?
* Your resume is an in-depth portrait of the professional you, not a string of dates, places, and job duties. That data can be dry and one-dimensional if not handled properly, so adding life to the content can present you more effectively to hiring managers.
* A resume is usually your first introduction to a potential employer, so when the head of HR opens your employment package, containing a resume, cover letter, and other documentation requested from the employer, it should look professional and grab the attention of the reader. It should ******stand out******.
* The resume is the time to present your credentials in such a way that you highlight your knowledge, skills, and achievements, avoiding the eight-month period you lived at home with the parents.
* A professionally prepared resume is perfect. No typos, no misspellings, no misplaced modifiers. A resume with a gross spelling error is lethal in a job search.
* A well-packaged resume and cover letter says a great deal about your professionalism. It shows the employer that you know the rules of the business or commercial worlds. Send in a hand-written resume on your son’s 3-ring binder
paper and you might as well take the phone off the hook. Don’t expect any callbacks. They aren’t going to happen.
Isn’t Your Professional Future Worth More Than 10 Minutes?
If you’re like most of us, you bet it is. A lot more. To find the right position, in the right company and at the right salary doesn’t happen in 10 minutes. It takes time and effort on your part. However, you can cut that time and effort down considerably when you send out a professional employment package with “POP.” In fact, a professional resume service can get you hired faster, at a better position and at a higher salary. Think of it as an investment to a heftier paycheck every single week. No 10-minute resume does that.
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