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Résumé magic: trade secrets of a professional résumé writer
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Table of Contents
From the Book - Third edition.
A résumé primer
How to use branding and advertising strategies to get an interview
How to choose the most flattering format
Blueprint for a blockbuster résumé
How to write great copy
Accomplishments: the linchpin of a great résumé
Editing: résumé-speak 101
Visual artistry: the missing link
E-résumés, e-portfolios, and blogs
Cover letters and other parts of the puzzle.
1. A résumé primer -- Tools for the task -- The résumé tool : asset or liability? -- Employers and candidates usually view résumés as having different purposes -- A résumé is most effective when it follows face-to-face or voice contact with a hiring manager -- A support person or computer program will probably be the one to screen your résumé -- Résumés are not read thoroughly -- You won't always need a résumé to land a job -- Then why write a résumé? -- And why this book? -- Some success stories -- Your most important tool -- Top 10 tips to create résumé magic --
2. How to use branding and advertising strategies to get an interview -- Using brand and ad agency strategies to win an interview -- Elements of your career brand -- Authentic image -- Advantages -- Awareness -- The proven ad agency formula -- Step 1 : how to grab your reader's attention -- Headlines and hard-hitting leads -- Visual appeal -- Step 2 : how to capture your reader's interest -- Selling points, front and center -- Where's the center of the page? -- Place supporting information below the visual center -- Skimmable material goes at the bottom of the page -- Step 3 : how to create desire for your product, you! -- Why you buy -- Why employers buy -- Prove your superiority -- Step 4 : call to action -- Top 10 résumé strategy tips --
3. How to choose the most flattering format -- Two tried-and-true winning formats : chronological and functional -- The chronological format -- The functional format -- Genetic variants of the two main résumé types -- The accomplishments format -- The combination format -- The creative format -- The curriculum vitae (CV) -- The dateless chronological format -- The international résumé -- The linear format -- The newsletter format -- The reordered chronological format -- The targeted format -- If it works, it's right -- Top 10 résumé formatting tips --
4. The blueprint for a blockbuster résumé -- Data bits, or contact info -- To list or not to list your business telephone number -- Other solutions for daytime contacts -- Sample résumé headers -- Dealing with relocation on your résumé -- Objective, or focus statement -- Key features, or qualifications summary -- Professional experience -- Skills -- Education, credentials, and licenses -- Affiliations -- Publications, presentations, or patents -- Awards and honors -- Bio bites -- Endorsements -- What not to include -- Putting it all together -- Top 10 résumé blueprint tips --
5. How to write great copy -- Keywords -- What are keywords? -- Where to find keywords -- Off-line resources for keywords -- Online resources for keywords -- How to position keywords -- How to improve your "hit" ratio -- Top 10 résumé keyword tips -- The objective or focus statement -- Cover letter focus statement -- Title statement -- Traditional objective -- Exercise for assembling a focus statement -- The qualifications summary -- Professional experience -- How far back? -- Where to find material for your job descriptions -- How long is too long? -- Solutions for downplaying less-relevant positions -- Skills -- Education, credentials, licensure -- Recent high school graduate -- Recent college graduate -- Degree obtained a number of years ago -- Degree in a field different from your major -- Degree not completed -- Two-year degree -- Degree equivalent -- No degree -- Including credentials, licenses, and certificates -- Affiliations -- Publications, presentations, and patents -- Publications -- Presentations -- Patents -- Awards and honors -- Bio bites -- Endorsements -- Top 10 tips for writing great copy --
6. Accomplishments : the linchpin of a great résumé -- What's in it for me? -- Words to woo employers -- Buying motivator #1 : make money -- Buying motivator #2 : save money -- Buying motivator #3 : save time -- Buying motivator #4 : make work easier -- Buying motivator #5 : solve a specific problem -- Buying motivator #6 : be more competitive -- Buying motivator #7 : build relationships/image with internal/external customers, vendors, and the public -- Buying motivator #8 : expand business -- Buying motivator #9 : attract new customers -- Buying motivator #10 : retain existing customers -- Strategies for presenting accomplishments -- Numbers : the universal language -- Comparison, a powerful form of communication -- ROI, how quickly can you deliver? -- The company's mission statement, make it your mission -- The CAR technique, challenge, action, and result -- Where to find material for your accomplishments -- Performance appraisals -- Your career management file -- Impact-mining : probing questions to unearth hidden treasures -- Sifting through the accomplishments you've gathered -- Use impact statements to portray yourself as the right fit -- Top 10 tips for writing accomplishments --
7. Editing : résumé-speak 101 -- Development editing : a primer in power writing -- Top 10 tenets of developing your résumé -- Examples of résumé-speak -- The keys to writing compelling copy -- Address the needs of your audience -- Summarize by using the ABC method -- Focus on transferable skills -- Résumé-speak 101 -- Deliver the goods up front -- Start sentences with action verbs or noun phrases -- Sidestep potential negatives -- Give outdated experience a feeling of real time -- Avoid an employer pet peeve : baseless personality attributes -- Convey confidential information without giving away proprietary/trade secrets -- Technical editing/copyediting : the mechanics of résumé-speak -- Abbreviations -- Acronyms -- Active voice -- Articles (in absentia) -- Auxiliary or helping verbs -- Capitalization -- Colons and semicolons -- Commas -- Commas that separate -- Commas that set off -- Comma trauma -- Contractions -- Dashes -- Ellipsis marks -- Elliptical sentences -- Gender equity -- Hyphenation -- Numbers -- Parallel sentence structure -- Parentheses -- Parts of speech -- Passive voice -- Periods -- Possessives -- Prepositions -- Quotation marks -- Sentence fragments -- Slashes -- Split infinitives -- Tense -- Verbs -- Writing in the first person -- Prune, prune, prune -- Proof, proof, proof -- Top 10 résumé proofreading tips --
8. Visual artistry : the missing link -- Design elements -- Create a visual pattern -- Consistency counts -- Use tab stops sparingly -- Apply white space liberally -- Make bullets work for you -- Think in threes -- Keep headings to a minimum -- Segment paragraphs -- Balance is beautiful -- Pay attention to vertical balance -- Balancing a two-column format -- Balancing a full-width layout -- Balancing unevenly distributed copy -- Balancing impact statements -- Justification, ragged right or full justification? -- Hang it on the wall! -- Use typefaces tastefully -- Choosing a font -- Fonts that buy more space -- Use discretion in mixing fonts -- Go easy on bold, underline, and italic -- Establish a logical sizing hierarchy -- Tweaking tips -- Technical tools to create tables -- Add white space -- Adding space between paragraphs in MS Word -- Adding space between paragraphs in Corel WordPerfect -- Change line height -- Adjusting vertical space between lines within paragraphs in MS Word -- Adjusting vertical space between lines within paragraphs in Corel WordPerfect -- Expand character spacing -- Expanding text in MS Word -- Expanding text in Corel WordPerfect -- Tricks to make text fit -- Shrinking text in MS Word -- Shrinking text in Corel WordPerfect -- Use bullets strategically -- Creating bullets in MS Word -- Creating bullets in Corel WordPerfect -- Adding or subtracting spacing between bullets and text in MS Word -- Adding or subtracting spacing between bullets and text in Corel WordPerfect -- Changing the type of bullet in MS Word -- Changing the type of bullet in Corel WordPerfect -- Size of bullets -- Use rule lines -- Inserting a rule line in MS Word -- Inserting a rule line in Corel WordPerfect -- Other graphic elements -- Top 10 visual appeal tips --
9. E-résumés, e-portfolios, and blogs -- ASCII text résumés -- The advantages and disadvantages of ASCII résumés -- ASCII résumé do's and don'ts -- Steps for ASCII conversion -- Converting to ASCII for e-mailing using MS Word or Corel WordPerfect -- Converting to ASCII for pasting into e-forms -- Quick cleanup of an ASCII conversion -- How to post an ASCII résumé to a Web site -- Web résumés, e-portfolios, and blogs -- The advantages and disadvantages of Web résumés -- The technical how-tos of Web résumés -- Online résumé-builder services -- Do-it-yourself Web résumés -- Hire a pro -- Web résumé do's and don'ts -- What to include in an e-portfolio -- Hyperlinks or hyperjinx? -- Using your Web résumé -- Marketing your Web résumé -- Getting on the blog bandwagon -- What to include in a blog -- Creating a blog -- Using RSS (really simple syndication) technology -- Marketing your blog -- Scannable résumés -- Scannable résumé do's and don'ts -- Applicant-tracking systems : what happens after you e-mail or post your résumé? -- Positive aspects of applicant-tracking technology -- Negative aspects of applicant-tracking technology -- Conflicting advice -- Résumés of the future -- Top 10 technology tips for e-résumés, e-portfolios, and blogs --
10. Cover letters and other parts of the puzzle
Strategy and style
The value mantra
Sell, don't tell
Reveal a secret
The segments of a cover letter
The carrot
The corroboration
The close
The anatomy of the cover letter
Sticky wickets
To whom it may concern?
Missed a filing deadline?
Terminated from a job?
Relocating?
Dealing with salary
Other types of letters
Direct-mail campaigns
Writing to a recruiting firm
Thank-you letters, a chance to resell yourself
Other pieces of the puzzle
References
When to send references
When and how to ask for references
Rethinking the "reference page" with some creative persuasion
Networking cards
Addenda
Paper
Sending your cover letter and résumé
By surface mail
By fax
By e-mail
Futurist career management
Top 10 cover letter tips
Appendix A. Worksheets to catalog professional history
Appendix B. Survey : what employers really want in a résumé and cover letter
Résumés
Cover letters
Appendix C. Action verbs with sample phrases
Index.
Excerpt
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More Details
ISBN
9781593573119
9781563708916
9781563705229
9781593577339
9781563708916
9781563705229
9781593577339
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