In previous posts I’ve discussed the challenge of writing Sarah Pallin’s resume. It’s the classic case of an ill-qualified individual aspiring for a high position.  Of course, she could become Vice President. But if that doesn’t happen, what should she do with her qualifications. I’ve heard some interesting suggestions. Tell me yours? Here are a few ideas:
• Game show host
• Reality show with Joe the Plumber
• Moose-hunter teacher
• Line of clothes sponsorship
• Hockey coach

The best writing, editing, and design are key to an effective resume. Next on the list is making the right choice about content. You have probably had a career that could fill many pages. Most of us have a tough time deciding to leave some things out. But you must. Your audience is impatient and has little time to spend on your resume. You want that time to be spent reading about your most impressive accomplishments.

If you were advising John McCain, you would urge him to omit his involvement with the Keating Five. Likewise, Senator Obama wants to avoid mentioning William Ayers. Both candidates are editing their resumes each day. Governor Palin, of course, has more serious challenges when it comes to identifying accomplishments.

A resume helps you organize yourself and see the full picture of your accomplishments and abilities. Most people take them for granted and may not have them uppermost in their mind at an interview. A resume crystallizes them.
Go back through past jobs, highlight accomplishments that are relevant to the employer, and prune back those that aren’t. For instance, while you would normally omit the person you reported to, include it if you know it will interest the company. Whatever you do, don’t create a archeological resume, by simply layering new jobs and achievements atop the old ones. Be flexible.

Two specific goals to keep in mind when writing: 1) Focus on your benefits to the company, not yourself per se. See yourself from the company’s perspective. Ask yourself what you’d look for if you were hiring. 2) Highlight your accomplishments, not your titles and duties.

The headline above is intentionally provocative. I have friends at Yahoo who are facing job insecurity. Others have already been layed off. I’ve helped some with their resumes. Since I’ve written about technology for years, I’m comfortable with high tech resumes.

I want to encourage all of you to get started on your resume early.

For a lot of detail on resumes, take a look at my business site:

http://www.shimmeringresumes.com.

The professional resume writing services’ most reluctant customers are scientists and engineers. It’s a bit hard to understand, until you analyze the trust factor. After all, movie reviewers are seldom filmmakers. Many book reviewers have never had a book published. You might expect that any resume writer could tackle any resume. Yet, engineers (not all of them) don’t think anyone can describe what they do.

The entire engineering, IT and biotech job search and recruiting industry suffers, in part, due to  poor communication among the participants in this process. Some changes are needed, including a different attitude on the part of the scientists and engineers. Companies find it difficult to assess job applicants, and recruiters are unable to distinguish good candidates from bad, in part because high tech resumes are inadequate.

Here’s the truth: Resume writers require no expertise in C-BASIC or HTML to craft a software designer or engineer’s resume. A professional resume writer needn’t be a scientist to write a scientist’s resume.

Yet many resume writers cannot do justice to a technical person’s background because they cannot describe technical skills in plain English.

Consider high tech journalists:  They spend years learning to write about technology and explain so the rest of us can understand. It’s a learned skill. Bright, capable resume writers can tackle an engineer’s resume, but it will require more effort than, say, a salesperson’s resume. They need to be willing to make that effort.

This is  no excuse for the biotech engineers who pay scant attention to their resumes. Perhaps they believe that employers will deduce their merits in the absence of evidence, or think the competition will be weak, or just dislike the effort of creating one. Almost always, they haven’t thought the process out, for they are flying into heavy weather in a rickety biplane.

So if you won’t hire a professional resume writing service, then you owe to yourself to understand some resume basics so you give yourself a fair chance.

If you could buy insurance coverage after an accident, you would. When we lose a job, we can start work on our resume, but it feels better to have the insurance already in place.

A resume is a part of a personal job insurance package. It is not the only solution, but you have to do it and having it ready provides a feeling of having a safety net.

In these tough times, it makes sense to take some precautions. Get your resume prepared. If you never need it, you may find that it helps you appreciate how much you have accomplished in your career, and possibly give you the explanation you have been seeking to ask for a raise one of these days.

At the least getting the resume ready will boost your morale.