by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Mar 21, 2012 | Infographic Tuesday, Job Search, Resumes and CVs
Today’s infographic is an illustration of the main points in my recent e-book “7 Points to a Winning Resume.” The e-book is available here and is now marked down permanently to $7. As before, it includes a $25 coupon, which can be used toward resume services or for coaching packages. Contact me for more information if you are interested.
Melissa is traveling this week, and we didn’t get a chance to connect on this week’s projects, so we did not have an infographic yesterday. I do hope that we can continue running infographics (ours, as well as those from other great sites) on Tuesdays, and that we’ll have the “Take 5” posts each Thursday, featuring recommendations for great articles worth reading, as you plan your job searches and your career development.
7 Points to a Winning Resume
Suggestions Welcome
If you have ideas for infographics you would like to see on the site, please send in your suggestions to Melissa Judy, Content Development Intern, at melissa@higheredcareercoach.com.
Guest Posts and Guest Infographics
Higher Ed Career Coach also accepts infographics as guest posts. The information presented must be relevant to our readership, and publication is at the sole discretion of the publisher. Topics related to job searching, the job market in higher education, educational funding, coaching skills for faculty and administrators, and using social media for job searching are especially relevant. For more information, contact Sean at sean@higheredcareercoach.com.
by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Dec 2, 2011 | Job Search, Resumes and CVs, Site News
Putting together your résumé can be the most daunting part of a job search. It’s hard to encapsulate your education, skills and experience in just a few pages. There are different formats and styles, and what may be common in one industry may not apply to another.
You’ll get all sorts of advice from well-intentioned people. Some of it will be good, and some of it will stink. At times, it will be hard to filter through that advice and separate the wheat from the chaff.
That’s why I decided to take some of my best advice on putting together a résumé and put it into an e-book format. I know the struggle and I have worked many years to develop an approach that works for me and for my clients.
I used to thought-wrestle whenever I needed to update my résumé. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know what information to include, or to highlight. I loved designing the actual layout but at times, went overboard. I changed the format. I changed the font. I changed this, I changed that. And I did most of the changes based on “gut feelings” and personal preferences. I didn’t always have a rhyme or reason for my edits. But that is what happens when you don’t think through the process strategically.
But I was lucky, in that I encountered someone who helped me see the light, and to shift my thinking about the role that a résumé plays in the hiring process. I was working on my résumé and she asked me all sorts of questions about what kind of job I had, what I did in that job and what I accomplished. She asked me about my accomplishments, and about what made me unique, in comparison to other candidates. It was a nice conversation. In fact, that was all thought it was.
Then she said “Okay, let me see your résumé” and I realized what was going really going on. She said “Sean, you did a great job over the last few minutes telling me what you did, how you did it, what you accomplished, and why you are unique. but I don’t really see it on this résumé.“ [Emphasis added.]
She talked to me about conveying transferable skills, accomplishments, unique skills, scope of responsibility and motivation. And she gave me some great simple tips on how to get these things out of my head and onto the paper. This conversation shifted my thinking forever, and was actually the moment my enthusiasm for résumés and career coaching started. I made edits to the résumé, and a short time later, I had five interviews lined up, including the one which resulted in my first job at Penn State. After that, helping students and young professionals became my hobby. I spent a lot of time studying résumés, volunteering for screening committees, interviewing candidates and helping people with their résumés, cover letters and graduate school essays. After 15 years, I decided to try and make it my career.
This guide will not give you all the answers, but it will give you some different ways to think about your résumé, some practical ways to discover what employers are looking for, and some tips on how to make sure they find it in your résumé.
The truth is that you have most of the information you need to put together a great résumé. After all, it’s a representation of who you are as a professional, and you know yourself better than anybody.
But…
You have to get inside the résumé reviewer’s head.
You have to read your materials through the reviewer’s eyes.
And you have to capture and keep the reviewer’s attention.
A Winning Plan
This 7-point plan is geared toward helping you think differently about your résumé: to think like the résumé reviewer, instead of a job-seeker. To understand what knowledge and key skills you need, what experiences to highlight, and what roles to explain. The result, hopefully, will be a shift from guesswork to discovery, and from the loose and theoretical to the concrete and practical. In the end, you will have a résumé that speaks for you, stands out from the competition, and scores you the interviews you need, to get the job that you want.
Look for more information about this e-book next week.
by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Mar 15, 2011 | Book Reviews, Career Skills, Coaching, Job Search
A while back, I sent in an article to David and Michelle Riklan, the operators of SelfGrowth.Com for possible inclusion in their cooperative book project, titled “101 Great Ways to Enhance Your Career”. This is a compilation of 101 articles with practical, solid advice on how you can take action and improve your career.
I am extremely excited to be a part of this, and am equally excited to be a contributing author along with Tory Johnson, Laura DeCarlo, Brian Tracy, Charlotte Weeks and many more of the world’s leading career experts.
To get more information, go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4210054
This book was created by David and Michelle Riklan, the founders of the #1 Self Improvement website in the world, SelfGrowth.com. They tapped into the minds of today’s greatest career experts and pulled together a nice collection of 101 insider secrets that shows you how to instantly and positively enhance your career!
In these days of decreased professional development budgets, many higher education professionals are having to scale back their funding for conferences and events. This book offers a practical alternative. All the articles are short, thought-provoking and easily digested–perfect for a professional development reading group, or to share with your staff during team development meetings.
David and Michelle have also bundled the book with some “bonus gifts,” and have created a package of $1,500 worth of absolutely free gifts that you get by purchasing just one copy of our book. I’ve contributed one of the bonuses (my “Mastering the Job Interview” presentation), and have been impressed by the range of topics covered in the other bonuses.
SelfGrowth.Com is so confident you will love it, that they are backing it up with a completely solid guarantee.
Go there and take a look for yourself – and make sure you check out the bonuses.
Here’s the link for you to go directly to this offer: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4210054
(Please note that all links above are affiliate links. Sales of books made through these links will support the growth of this site, and help bring career coaching and resources to those who need it. In this vein, I plan to apply all profits made from affiliate sales of this book toward providing free coaching sessions to unemployed or financially disadvantaged higher ed job seekers.)
by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Feb 17, 2011 | Coaching, Job Search
1950s style journalist working in his office at night, he is typing with a vintage typewriter, flat lay desktop
I’ve been posting chunks of the “Creating a Killer Resume” webinar and resume coaching session for the past couple of weeks, but have found a good way to share it with you in its entirety through Amazon S3.
The video, in its entirety, is now posted at 
https://s3.amazonaws.com/seancook2/resumewebinar012711.mov
It is just over an hour long, and will show you what a resume coaching session is like, as well as give you tips on how to ensure the content, style, design and flow of your resume bring out the best aspects of your professional history and your potential match for a position.
I will be posting some additional resume resources soon, and announcing some specials on resume and interview coaching to my list. So if you need personalized help creating your resume, stay tuned!
So check back soon, and if you are interested in getting some coaching, sign up for my list so you don’t miss the special offers! (There is a sign-up form in the sidebar, and you may also see a pop-over form as well.)
