Should I Write My Own Resume?
By: Jay Edward Miller,

How many websites are out there offering free resume advice? Hundreds? Maybe thousands? You can download templates that will format the information you plug in. Major bookstore chains have entire racks devoted to books on how to write your resume. Some books are nothing but sample resumes of which you lift out portions and them call your own. There are online and desktop resume software programs where you can fill in the blanks and out pops a resume, or something like a resume. Do you have a problem resume -- you can get a resume fix, resume repair or resume evaluation.

All this clutter and confusion is enough to make you NOT want to write your resume. You can go out, spend big bucks, and hire a resume writer.

Free Advice Comes at a High Cost

If your goal is to write a free resume and saving money is your only motivation for writing your own resume, look out. Having a poorly done resume can be very expensive in the long run. It can cost you in lost interviews, fewer job offers and accepting lower pay than you should have. Free advice can actually have a NEGATIVE effect on your job search.

Your Resume Needs To Market You Against Tough Competition

There are a lot of people going after the same jobs. Your resume is the centerpiece of your job search and a generic resume is not going to cut it.

Without the Interview You Are Dead in the Water

You can be the strongest candidate, but it makes no difference if you do not get the interview. Your resume presentation if often the difference between success and failure.

Wrong Information is Hazardous to Your Career

Websites, books and even so-called "expert" are notoriously wellsprings of misinformation when it comes to resumes. They usually do more harm than good. They offer outdated and generic advice such as "keep it one page", "use short bulleted phrases", "start each sentence with an action verb". What these people fail to understand is that a job search is a sales and marketing project and that your resume is your personal advertising piece. You are selling your job skills and services to employers.

Writing Skills are NOT the Most Important Skills in Creating Your Resume

Your resume can be typo-free and have all the right nouns, verbs, grammar, syntax and spelling, and still lie there like a dead fish -- no interviews, no job offers. Ask any marketing professional and they will tell you that, in creating print advertising, writing skills are not at the top of the list.

Content is King

Through all the fancy styles, formats, layouts and paper selection, ultimately you communicate with words. Failure to communicate with your resume is like hunting for a job in a foreign country without knowing the native language.

Your Resume is Your Best Interview Preparation

Resume preparation is a dynamic organizing force in your job search. Write a resume and it forces you to focus on what you have to offer an employer and articulate it in plain language.

You Are Your Best Resume Writer

No one knows you better than you; no one is more passionate about your future and your career than you. You are the one that has to go out and interview. Roadblocks in writing your own resume comes from lack of confidence in your ability to write a good resume. Those roadblocks can be easily removed proper information and training.

Information on Irresistible Resume, the definitive guide to writing your own resume, can be found at resumesavvyllc.com and savvyresume.com

 

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