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Persistence is one of my many positive (or negative depending on your viewpoint) traits. I will persist with a client, until I receive the information I need from them to create an outstanding resume, cover letter or document addressing selection criteria.
I have a sneaking suspicion though that many clients curse me behind their email inbox, as I often find myself emailing them up to five times before I receive the accurate and relevant information that I need.
A good resume these days is a powerful marketing document. It is a snapshot of you and your achievements. Gone are the days of dry, boring, poorly laid out documents prepared in a hurry. Now, particularly with the onset of the internet, it is more important than ever to present yourself in the best possible light. It is my job to "sell" you to potential employers. I do know that most clients are not keen on selling themselves in a resume, they do not feel comfortable doing so.
However, the key information as to what you achieved in each role, are not something I can dream up. Many clients forward to me a completed questionnaire with sparse information. They seem to think that their previous CV is all that is really needed to write a masterpiece. But if their previous resume contains a list only of the jobs the client held and a rough idea of what they did, it’s not easy to write something outstanding, showing key achievements from this sort of information.
Look at it from the employers perspective. He or she may receive up to 50 resumes for an advertised position. The position has been advertised as the business is usually increasingly busy, so as a result, so is the potential employer, and time taken to read your resume is fairly limited. They have read through 40 resumes, all similar, MS template layout, some with spelling errors, some without any information at all about professional history, all of them so far are just long dry lists of responsibilities . Then they open yours. Wow! Look at that heading and layout! Plus, the resume gives very short summary of what you can offer, following by your highlights and achievements, and the amazing things you achieved. What a breath of fresh air…if Josie Bloggs can do that for XYZ corporation, they can do that for me too! I’d really like to talk to this person…
Get the idea? It is for this reason that we are constantly pushing clients to give us more information that gives them a resume edge….not to be annoying. Our purpose and our mission is to write you a resume (or selection criteria) that gives you a competitive edge on your competition, and pushes you to the top of the pile in short a space as possible.
Keep in mind, that the less information you give us, the worse this will make your chances in the employment market. As we get busier, two things will happen. We will either have to refund your money and tell you that, sadly, we can’t help you, or we will write a resume that is good, but could be a whole lot better if we were just given more information. So it’s in your best interests to do so. Why waste time and money engaging a professional resume/selection criteria writer if you can’t do a bit of thinking to come up with information?
Do so, and the sky really is the limit… |
