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Building a Great Resume

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Building a Great Resume

For Job Hunters, Career Changers, Consultants and Freelancers

Cengage Learning,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Make your resume work for you to attain the job you’ve always wanted. Think of it as a brochure that sells yourself.

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Nationally-syndicated columnist and career expert Kate Wendleton zeroes in on the most effective approaches to resume writing, beginning with developing a compelling statement of your accomplishments. She explains how to show the results of your work, outline the benefits you bring prospective employers and present your strong points effectively. She includes exercises to guide your deliberative process, plus before-and-after resume samples. These makeovers demonstrate how you can turn a routine resume into an interview-generating powerhouse. Much of the book is taken up with sample resumes, which are helpful models for writing yours though they may be pretty dull to read. In addition, Wendleton also provides specific tips on how to phrase and design your resume. While recommending this manual to job hunters, getAbstract has determined that if you read these hints carefully, you can just skim the examples until you find one that meets your needs. Wendleton - and you may well say ’thank you’ here - both shows and tells.

Summary

Starting the Job-Search Process

To find the job you want, start with an appraisal. Assess your accomplishments, interests, values, and "satisfiers" and "dissatisfiers." Evolve a 40-year vision of where you want to be at the end of your career. Do this on your own, or work privately with a career counselor’s help. A personality test may help you set a direction.

The result of this assessment should be a list of the types of jobs you want to explore and a resume that fits your first target and may work with other targets too. Do some preliminary research and talk to insiders to determine which targets are appropriate for you. Be sure they offer a sufficient job market under current economic conditions in your region. List as many targets as you can, but rank them. For each target, conduct a campaign to get job interviews.

Your Chance to Charm

A job campaign consists of three phases, campaign preparation, interviewing and follow up. Campaign preparation should include:

  • Research to develop a list of companies in your first industry target. Determine the specific people to contact in the appropriate department of each company.
  • Prepare a...

About the Author

Kate Wendleton is a nationally syndicated career columnist and authority on job search and career development. A career coach since 1978, she founded The Five O’Clock Club to help job hunters, career changers and consultants, and started the not-for-profit Workforce America to serve adult, non-managerial job hunters in Harlem. The former CFO of two small companies, she holds her MBA and has 20 years of business experience.

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