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Do You Need a Professional Resume Writer?

It costs money to hire a professional resume writer; is the money worth it? Here are a few reasons why you might consider hiring a professional.

  1. You hate bragging or talking about yourself and have nothing in your career to brag about anyway. A resume is more than a list of facts about where and when you worked and what you did. It describes your accomplishments and highlights the value of your work to past and future employers. This is not bragging; it is a factual description of your ability to contribute. A professional resume writer can help you see the value in your work—and convince recruiters and hiring managers, too.
  2. You prefer talking to writing; you can sell yourself to anyone if they will just give you an interview.  Almost all companies require a resume before they will give you an interview; the resume has to come first. But just as critical, a professionally written resume will help you at the interview itself. Professional resume writers help clients remember facts and accomplishments they may have forgotten or too quickly dismissed as unimportant.
  3. You are sure that no one can understand your career the way you do. You are not the only one who needs to understand your career.  Your resume has to be understood by and interesting to hiring managers and recruiters who may lack the technical or industry background you have. A professional resume writer can help you bridge that communications gap.

At Robin’s Resumes®, we take pride in giving our clients the resume help they need most. Contact us today.

Resume Questions? Resume Answers!

Once again, here are some quick answers to a few of the questions I’ve been asked by job seekers regarding resumes:

Q. How do I handle a nickname on my resume? 

A. The best way is FirstName (Nickname) LastName; for example, Richard (Dick) Porter. However, make sure your nickname is professional. If there is any question, leave the nickname out.

Q. What is the best font to use on a resume?

A. I recommend standard Ariel or Times New Roman fonts. If you use an obscure font, your resume may end up on a computer without that font, and the resume will not appear the way you intended.

Q. I’m a Director in my company. Am I considered an “executive”?

A. Basically, an “executive” is anyone with managerial and decision-making responsibility. Your title is not as important as your accomplishments, skills and education and the role you are prepared to take on. Never sell yourself short.

Q. I’m a new college graduate who worked her way through college as a waitress. Should I mention those waitressing jobs? 

A. Yes. Your waitressing experience shows that you have a good work ethic, interact well with others and are a reliable and trusted employee. While your resume should emphasize your qualifications for your new career, it is important to include the jobs you held while attending college.

Do you have resume questions? Feel free to contact me at Robin’s Resumes®.

Ten Tips for Proofreading Your Resume

  1. Set the resume aside for at least 24 hours before you review it. With a refreshed eye, you may see problems you missed before.
  2. Review your resume on paper and on the screen. You will see problems on the paper copy that aren’t apparent on the screen and vice versa.
  3. Avoid online grammar checkers. They are all horrible. Check the grammar yourself. If grammar is not your strong point, ask someone else to check it.
  4. Use a dictionary as well as an online spell checker. If you misspell “manager” as “manger” or type “principle” when you mean “principal,” the online spell checker will not find the error.
  5. Use the Internet to check all company names—even the ones you are absolutely sure you know. Companies have a way of modifying their names (think Wal-mart and Walmart).
  6. Be especially careful when checking your own contact information. You expect it to be correct and may not see errors.
  7. Look for problems with punctuation such as double periods at the ends of sentences, commas instead of periods or hyphens used as dashes.
  8. Make sure your format is consistent: all your job headings and bullets should be the same size, font and style; spacing around bullets and headings should be uniform; your right margin should be consistently justified or ragged right.
  9. Look for keywords that you have identified from ads and job postings. Do they fit smoothly into the description of your skills and accomplishments?
  10. Is there any place you can be more specific? Look for adverbs and adjectives (quickly, cost-effective, successfully) and see if you can replace them with details (in less than a year, at a savings of $3,000, ranking in the top 10% of all salespeople).

Spelling, grammatical, factual, format and style errors can easily prevent your resume from being chosen by hiring managers and recruiters from among the hundreds they see every day. If you are not sure whether your resume is letter perfect, please contact Robin’s Resumes®. We can help.

Too Many Choices, Not Enough Decisions

When you are unemployed, people often try to raise your spirits by talking about all the free time you have and all the opportunities now open to you. However, having too many choices can be as devastating to a job search as having too few. Here’s why:

  • There are dozens of ways to spend the day when you are between jobs. But if you aren’t careful, everyday chores and distractions will draw precious time from your job search. Set yourself daily tasks that are related to your job search, whether that includes going to network events or responding to ads or searching for leads on the Internet.
  • There are hundreds of books out there on how to write a resume, run a job search and develop your personal brand. At some point, you have to give up on the research and act.
  • There are thousands of people just like you in the same boat. Don’t beat yourself up over a job loss. Do ask for help. You may benefit from a professional resume writer or career coach; you may find that your best job leads come from former co-workers, family or friends. The only way to get help is to ask for it.
  • There are millions of possible jobs out there—but how many of them match your experience, skills, education, interests, salary requirements, geographic location and so on? You need to focus yourself and your network or you will waste your time and theirs on fruitless quests for the wrong job.

 If you are struggling to get organized after a layoff, contact Robin’s Resumes® and let us simplify one decision: where to get the best possible resume!

LinkedIn Connections: Can Weak Connections Help with Your Job Search?

On LinkedIn (and similar professional sites), you can connect with people you might never meet otherwise. If you have used LinkedIn for many years, you may find that some of those connections are very weak: in fact, you may have forgotten when and why you agreed to become contacts.

How long should you keep those weak connections? Should you purge your contact list, keeping it for your closest and most active connections?

I disagree with purging, unless a connection has spammed you or has done something else unethical. You never know when a connection might become critical for your job search.

Even though I changed industries years ago (I was a chemical engineer), many of my connections from that time have reached out to me through LinkedIn, and we have reconnected on a personal and business basis.

For example, one subcontractor who has now worked for me for years first came to my attention in an entirely other capacity when we worked together 25 years ago. We reconnected through LinkedIn. Had I purged my list when I changed careers, we may not have reconnected. I also generate business through my connections and help my clients.

Why would I disconnect anyone? Just because someone is inactive today, does not mean they will be inactive tomorrow. As a professional resume writer, I’ve found that all connections are valuable during a job search.