Resumes Done Right: How Ready Are You to Write Your Story?

Resumes Done Right: How Ready Are You to Write Your Story?

In the 1970s a popular brand of wine used the slogan, “We will sell no wine before its time.” This old adage applies to resumes. Quite often we hear from candidates at loose ends because they don’t know where to begin. That’s normal. Most people don’t do this type of writing on a daily basis—hence they’re not good at telling their story in a compelling manner.

Good resumes take time.

Like fine wine, you cannot rush a good resume. Resumes take time—hours to write. Hardly a week goes by that we don’t get a call or message from a prospective client asking how much a resume costs—presuming that somehow there’s a formulaic approach that produces a uniform finished product in record time regardless of complexity or client objective at a fixed price. Asking how much a resume costs is like asking how much a house costs—it depends!

Get out of the 1980s and ‘90s.

In the old days, a fairly straightforward chronological presentation based on your job description was more than enough to cut it. Today, an extrapolation of your job description isn’t enough. Today, we need to discern competitive positioning based on what employers are seeking. Today, we need a compelling professional profile that speaks to who you’ve been, what you are looking to become and what represents fit.

There’s no substitute for the human factor.

In this age of everything Internet, it’s easy to think resume writing is a project you can easily delegate to a third party working remotely. Just fill out a questionnaire, have a brief consult and voila! Instant resume. This is the fast-food approach to resume writing when most people aspire to fine dining. It’s little wonder that clients leave the table feeling unsatisfied.

That approach may work for simple histories, but we’ve yet to see a candidate with a truly simple history or no issues. In other words, there’s no substitute for face time whether in person, via Skype or on the phone. It’s the only way to discern the subtle nuances and truly understand the client’s requirements.

Resumes are an investment.

Time is the most important factor in preparing a resume, so don’t short yourself. Take the time to get prepared and understand that it may take more than one sitting to get the message perfected. And your career is worth the investment! With resumes, sell no wine before its time…