It can be daunting to think about trying to put your entire career history into a two-page document. Especially when you have 10+ years of career experience, are trying to make a career transition, or have had a few bumps along the way. Sometimes, asking yourself a few questions can really help get the creative juices flowing and can help you frame up your resume—making those blank areas a little easier to fill in. When you...

This past week we had a client who received an exciting new job offer from a company that found him on LinkedIn using a LinkedIn profile we had written for him. We’ll call him Joe Smith. Within two weeks of using his LinkedIn profile, Joe was found by an employer and received a great job offer. Without the use of a resume, this client leveraged his LinkedIn profile to secure an exciting new career. Here are the five strate...

I was in a radio interview with the Local Job Network team this week discussing the perfect balance of a resume—and not overselling or understating yourself. And this question came up: It’s often perceived that embellishing one’s skills or experience is a part of the “game” of getting a job. What do you say? I would say that the real issue is that most job seekers do not know how to effectively market themselves and show t...

With limited space and minimal opportunity to elaborate further, the resume requires a delicate balance in portraying your qualifications. Jessica Holbrook Hernandez, president and CEO of Great Resumes Fast, helps Tim Muma and the listeners figure out the best way to express your value without over or underselling your skill and experience.

Over the past few weeks I’ve reviewed hundreds of resumes—and to my dismay, they’ve all looked and sounded the same. I’m not sure who thought it was a good idea to give job seekers the advice that replicating an unoriginal career summary or objective statement on their resume was a sound job searching practice. But whoever did that should be blacklisted from providing career advice to job seekers. I can assure you (and I’m...

I get it—it’s not easy to write about yourself. I don’t know many people who excel at writing about themselves. Even some of the best resume writers in the industry hire their colleagues when they need a bio written or their resume updated. So how can you make the daunting task of putting your career history down on paper a little bit easier? Here are three tips to help you out. Focus on Facts Figuring out how to...

I’m on a mission this week to attack ineffective words and phrases job seekers love to incorporate into their resumes. Watch out resumes … apparently I’m on the war path. =) Success and results—two words job seekers seem particularly partial to including in their resumes. My hypothesis is that candidates want to be perceived as successful or able to deliver results, and so they think that by using these words on their resu...

Ever wonder if there’s really any point in using a cover letter? Job seekers ask me often if there is any value in using a cover letter, and I answer them with an emphatic YES!—IF you’re using a personable cover letter that you’ve customized for the employer. If you’re just sending out some generic letter that you send to every job opening—then no, it probably won’t amount to a hill of beans. The value in a cover letter is...

Don’t you love when someone just “gets” that you’re the perfect person for the job? They see your value and what you bring to the table immediately, but then there are others you’ll never convince. How do you communicate the ROI the employer will receive for hiring you as opposed to another to those who may not readily see it but are open to it? This question came to me as I was working with some prospective clients over th...

I can use the same resume to apply to every job that I want, right? Only if every job you apply to is exactly the same, with exactly the same criteria, requirements, and desired qualifications … What’s the likelihood of that? Not very likely… Target your resume to the position you want, but don’t be opposed to making small customizations when necessary. Making small changes can really help increase your candidac...