Resume Pointers

As marketers, we market ourselves.

Steve Tobak’s take on Guy Kawasaki’s resume pointers. Ten things to keep in mind, just in case you are rusty. Includes his own executive format as a sample. 

And just for emphasis add this to point 3: Hire a proof reader.  A real one. One who actually does it for a living. If they don’t challenge you on at least three things. Hire another proof reader. I don’t care how good you are.

Also – Always include a personal cover letter that sells your talent in relation to the job that is being offered.  No Form Letters. Personal. Act as if you care about the company, or even know who they are.

And finally – take a look at www.linkedin.com and www.ladders.com.  Good stuff, good people. (my profile is here – www.linkedin.com/fredhschlegel.)

UPDATE: More on Career Marketing – Rohit Bhargava at the Influential Marketing Blog has started a series on career survival.  This post is on using social media to keep your job.

UPDATE: Stan Bing on Resumes – Straight talk about getting to the real point of a resume. 

UPDATE: 3/14/09: Stan Bing on Networking.  Common sense.  Sometimes missing. Found here.

UPDATE 3/18/09: Job search is popular this month.  I haven’t checked out the sites listed here yet, but plan to and will post separately with reviews.  From Dan Schawbel at Mashable – 10 Resume builder sites.  An initial look at Razume makes it look real interesting.

UPDATE 3/20/09: CC Holand posted this 5 step process to improve your resume.  I find it amazing that ‘Don’t Lie’ tops the list, but I guess some folks have difficulty finding the good in what they actually have done.  Best addition of to the post was ‘add a Value Offered’ section. Puts a buyer-centric spin on the old career objectives paragraph.

UPDATE 3/29/09: Chicago Tribune with resume pointers, “Crafting a Resume That Grab Recruiters.” — Get to the point, be a profit center, don’t be too cute, use professional networking sites.

UPDATE 4/16/2009: Interesting book from Karen Swim on Resume Writing.  I’ve been following her for a while and have found her advice to be very useful. E-book costs a few $.

UPDATE 5/3/2009: Dr. Kathy Hansen has an interesting way of looking the use of Story in a  job interview (which also should impact your take on your resume.) Stories are almost always more memorable than lists of facts, even if they are facts about great accomplishments.