A friend and colleague asked me to review his resume. Dun…dun…daaaaaa!
One is always a little nervous when someone says, “Hey, do me a favor and check out my updated resume.” I’m no different. After a busy weekend, I was able to get to it this morning.
My first thought was, this is a great resume why does he want me to look at it? Then it occurred to me, the same reason I want someone else to look at mine. We all want that little bit of assurance that what we’re putting out there about ourselves is acceptable.
The only thing I could suggest to my friend was to shorten it a bit and that he obviously has the qualifications and experience that any qualified hirer 😉 would need.
I was fortunate a couple of years ago. Well, I’m fortunate everyday but for the purpose here, let’s stick with a couple of years ago when I was “between jobs.” I say fortunate because I met a man named Randy Wooden. Randy is the Director, Professional Center at Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC (Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina Area Professional Training and Coaching). Trust me, he’s every bit of that and more. Randy is the kind of guy that helps to put you at ease and let’s you know that you are not alone in your job search; you’re not the only one who has trouble with resumes; and you’re not the only one who didn’t notice when the employment world changed and you didn’t. Randy’s specific advice to me:
- keep it simple,
- use important keywords that promote skills and experiences;
- in a life time of experiences, make it as short as possible;
- and list your achievements.
I received positive responses within a few weeks–after I had been at it for several months.
Randy helped me to see the job-seeking world differently than I was pursuing it. Perhaps his advice or someone like him can help you too. Don’t be alone. Randy’s Career Advice can be seen in video at http://myfox8.com/tag/career-advice/ and he is also a special correspondent for the Winston-Salem Journal (catch the article here: http://www.journalnow.com/business/localcolumnists/networking-tips-to-follow-to-make-your-job-search-more/article_dc983ee6-80f5-5b6f-b394-caf264cfb50f.html).
Randy may not be available to everyone but I’m sure there is someone like him accessible to most everyone. Maybe that someone is you.
By permission — Randy Wooden’s email: rwooden@goodwillnwnc.org
Jay 🙂
