Common Sense About Resumes

By Larry Light

A number of recent articles, including one in the New York Times, “Can I Hire Someone to Write My Résumé and Cover Letter?” by the Ethicist, question whether you should write your own resume -presumably to show off your writing skills – or whether you ought to hire someone to do it.

Since I regularly write powerhouse resumes for people, I have a few simple answers to this dilemma:

• If you want to try writing your own resume, give it a go. Do it and begin submitting it to potential employers.
• If you get responses and get called in for interviews, your resume is doing its job.
• If you are not getting responses, find someone to write (or re-write) your resume, because the only job a resume has is to get you an interview when you submit it for a job opening.

Simple enough, isn’t it?

In terms of side-issues, such as showing off your writing skills, I find it far-fetched that employers will ever look at a resume as anything but material for deciding whether or not to interview you.

If writing is an important part of the job, they will assess that during the interview, maybe even asking you to write a short piece for them. The resume got you in, didn’t it, in the first place?

What employers are looking for is the best, the brightest, sometimes the least expensive candidate.

On average, more than 300 people respond to a quality job listing, but only 10% of the submitted resumes will appear “good enough” to be read by the hiring manager; that makes 30 competitors.Of those 30, maybe 2 – 5 will be interviewed.

So you have to be “best of class” or “better than” the others, and your resume must reflect that.

For those who prefer to leverage the accumulated knowledge and experience I’ve had over 15 years of career/job coaching with all levels of individuals, from CEO’s to staff, I offer a complete package that includes:

• A powerhouse resume
• Teaching you how to write a cover letter quickly that gets interviews for specialized jobs
• An hour one-on-one to prepare you fully for an upcoming interview
• An hour one-on-one to get you started correctly for networking (even if you’re shy or introverted)

Just send me your existing resume, and I’ll critique it to get started. I’m presuming you already have a resume; if not call, me at 949.716.3581. Or just call me if you have questions.

CLICK HERE to submit your resume.