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letter) requires particular skills and a certain amount of knowledge, but it's not brain surgery. Depending on your occupation, the competition, and the industry, if you can form an intelligible sentence you can probably write a passable résumé. ON THE OTHER HAND... Résumé-writing—like writing great ad copy or a great short story—demands a rare combination of intuition, experience, and information. I've prepared résumés for hundreds of people in every economic sector, and not once has the thought crossed my mind, "This person doesn't need my help. She might as well do it herself." In my experience, people are too busy becoming experts in their own fields to master
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In a single month, during a slump in the agricultural economy, more than a dozen farmers came to me for résumés. Most were pessimistic about their prospects. "All I've ever done is farming," they'd tell me. Pretty quickly I discovered what "farming" actually meant for these men. Each had decades of experience running a business, whatever that entailed—from repairing machinery to navigating commodity futures. Unfazed by information technology, they used specialized software for calculating yields, and email for keeping in touch with the grandkids. They were experienced mechanics, market analysts, builders, electricians, personnel managers, investors... all accustomed to long hours of strenuous work without benefit of sick leave or paid vacation. Once I pried the information out of them, I had to convince them that these were marketable skills. After all, everyone they knew was at least as capable and hardworking. Eventually, in every case, they overcame their modesty, presented their impressive résumés, and found jobs that suited their considerable talents. |
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on résumés. Here are a few I found with a quick Google search:
If I'd been searching for "résumé gobbledygook" or "the silliest statement ever found on any résumé in any galaxy" instead of "objectives on résumés," I could hardly have hoped to find results that were more on target: empty words and hackneyed phrases taking up prime résumé real estate... and to what purpose? If I were hiring and, due to some terrible mistake, Mr./Ms. Creative Problem Solver's résumé landed on my desk, I would send it back with an invoice and a note: "Processing your résumé interfered with our ability to achieve optimum utilization of our resources." If you need to specify the job you're applying for, do it on the cover letter, and do it succinctly: "I'm applying for the job of assistant to the president." If you're not applying for a specific job, then begin the cover letter as follows: "I'd like to work for your company's marketing department. The attached résumé describes my background in online marketing with emphasis on social media." This is assuming, of course, that you have reason to believe the company might hire a social-media- marketing specialist. WHY IN THE WORLD SHOULD I READ YOUR LETTER? Everybody's busy. Billions of data units compete nonstop for the busy person's attention. If I'm a busy employer, at the hiring stage I'm not particularly interested in what you want, and telling me that you're dedicated is hardly going to sweep me off my feet. What might get my attention is evidence that you've done your homework on my company, my industry, and my competition. Based on your research, what— besides puffed-up boilerplate prose—do you have to offer? |
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what you're reading, it probably needs a rewrite. Are you an architect, or are you "a passionate, innovative, dynamic provider of architectural services who uses a collaborative approach to create and deliver outstanding customer experiences"? If you're not sure, read Jeff Haden's cautionary tale (Inc. online magazine), |
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of Definition 2. This excerpt from Write Better Right Now, by Mary Campbell, lists "deceptive, exaggerated, or meaningless" words and phrases.
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JIVE (n): 1. A form of slang associated with black American jazz musicians 2. deceptive,exaggerated, or meaningless talk ------------- |
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Email mary@annagrammatica.com
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Found online: A refreshingly straightforward résumé that won't put you to sleep |
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