Resumes - writing your own

[Sue Ellen Adkins <sea -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

Several years ago I was a victim of corporate downsizing.  The company
provided me access to several placement agencies which I visited one after
another.  All of the agencies required that I meet with a resume counselor
before I could use any of their services.  Each counselor declared my resume
"terrible," or the equivalent, and felt that it was the reason I had not found
another job.  After having my resume rewritten four or five times, I was left
with something I liked much less than my original.

Each counselor insisted my resume be no longer than one page. That length may
be fine for new graduates; however, during my twenty years with one employer,
I had changed jobs every two-three years.  The counselors condensed my
experience until I appeared as bland and interesting as distilled water!

During the past week, as I described my experience to someone in an e-mail
message, I realized that my description was better than any resume I'd ever
written. The difference was how I defined my audience. I was writing to
someone rather than for anyone. Even when I had tailored my resume for a
particular position, I never identified the reader as the ONE person who could
hire me. When I wrote to one person, I allowed my personality to show. I
returned to being a precious bottle of Perrier instead of a plastic gallon jug
of distilled water.

Sue Ellen Adkins
sea -at- netcom -dot- com