Help with Resume - thanks to all for your help and time

[Deborah Hemstreet <dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com>]

Hi Everyone,

What can I say? This is an amazing group with a lot of people who are 
most willing to help. Please accept this letter as my appreciation to 
everyone who wrote to me off-line... So many of you wrote, reviewed, 
offered input, and some of you are continuing to do so. If I 
particularly thank Chris Morton (for catching embarrassing typos), Jim 
Jones (zxlat.translatorscafe.com) and Rick Bishop (for some eye opening 
comments) Jim, especially, helped me by supporting so many of the 
comments others provided, and helped me to understand things that were a 
bit obtuse (to me).

Having said that though, I just want to again say that so many people 
have written to me that I am amazed. I have learned a lot in the past 
couple of days, and I believe my new resume and how it is presented is 
much better than it was.

I thought it would be good to summarize the comments sent to me, as they 
might be helpful to others.

1. *Proof everything, proof it again*, and then ask someone else to 
proof it!
    Two people noted an embarrassing typo on my website <blush>
    Several commented on inconsistencies throughout my resume - now 
corrected.

    I've always known I need extra eyes for my work at "work" but
    forgot to apply that same rule to my resume.
    It is amazing what our eyes think they see as
    opposed to what is really there. And with something this
    vital, it was a rule I should have given top priority to.

2.* Make it brief: *Several people advised that my resume was
    way too long. I have known this, but had no idea what/how
    to cut down on the length. I want to thank you all for
    giving me concrete suggestions and ideas. And to Jim for
    helping with the rewrite.

    What exactly did I cut? I only briefly mentioned publications, 
conferences
    and awards, and markedly condensed the software skills section.
    I also removed references to language, since I am not looking for
    work as a translator.

    Finally, if anyone really is interested in knowing more, I prepared
    separate downloadable pages that related to publications,
    education, awards. (A nice suggestion that I think provides
    info to those who really want it.)

3. *Stress accomplishments and achievements over capabilities.*
    This was a hard one for me. Perhaps I have minimized what I
    have indeed accomplished over the years. But I only really
    understood what was being asked when I began preparing
    a portfolio. As I wrote that one project had saved %50 of
    printing costs - it hit me. THAT is what people were telling
    me to put in. DUH!

    Now here is the funny part, once I did that, the capabilities
    could be deleted. Why? The skills and capabilities are implied
    by the accomplishments (DUH!) <grin>.

4. It's taken me two full days to get my resume updated based on
    the input I've received. It is not perfect (is anything?) but it is
    better than it was. That is lesson #4. Writing a good resume
    is hard work. It is writing for the most difficult audience, the
    one that will judge us and decide whether or not to interview
    us. That is the most daunting of all.

    I don't know about the rest of you, but putting myself in the
    recruiter's seat has been a lot harder than placing myself
    in the shoes of an end-user, including physicians for whom
    I've written.
    So if there are others of you like me, working on your resume,
    give it the time it deserves, and don't be ashamed to ask for
    help.

5) Finally, a few people sent some most helpful links:
    http://www.techwr-l.com/articles/employment/tletter -
    I had never heard of a t-letter before, but it seems to
    me to be a great idea. I am working on some new cover
    letters in that format.

    http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/haresumeblasphemy.htm
    The above site offers all kinds of interesting advice - I'm still
    working through this site - but it is well worth looking at.

   Someone else suggested a two page folded resume, that
   looks like a booklet. Something I may try, just not today. But it
   sounded very interesting.

    A few people provided me with copies of their resumes. I
    saw that resumes can be innovative and graphically
    unique, or rather boring in appearance. But the message
    must be conveyed.


I hope this summary is helpful....

I want to again thank Techwr-l for being available for all of us. I am 
hoping that the revision will lead to new opportunities. I'll keep you 
posted!

Deborah


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