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Subject:RE: using a slogan on a resume From:kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 17 Jan 2003 06:32:39 -0700
How literally do you mean the word "slogan?"
Do you mean something like this? "Keith Cronin: Documentation that tastes
great, but is less filling"
Or are you talking about a 1-2 line summary of your skills, like this?
"Keith Cronin: More than a decade of professional writing experience,
including software manuals, sales proposals, and marketing publications."
Obviously, you wouldn't use a slogan as cheesy as my example, but actual
slogans by their very nature do tend to be cheesy. "Documentation for the
21st Century." "Good doc, on time." etc. Not cool, in my opinion. Okay for
a *company* but not for an individual person.
A think a "skill summary" like the one I listed is an okay idea, probably
followed by some bullets to substantiate your claims.
The one other possible interpretation of your "slogan" inquiry would be to
give yourself a *title*. I'm in favor of that, bigtime.
Resumes are usually read by machines and/or HR drones first, neither of
which are necessarily clued in to what tech writers do. So I spoon-feed
them. My resume ALWAYS has a title on it, like "Keith Cronin - Technical
Writer" or "Keith Cronin - Proposal Manager" or whatever, depending on the
gig I'm targeting. It helps let the resume-screener know what the heck I
do, from the get-go.
Sometimes that title may be a compound one. One of my recent resumes
listed the following in my title: technical writing, information design,
proposal management
Bottom line: your resume is a TOOL used to get you an interview. It's a
good idea to constantly hone and polish that tool.
Keith Cronin
Sigline writer to the stars
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