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Subject:Re: TW Resumes: What to look 4? -Reply From:David Hailey <FAHAILEY -at- WPO -dot- HASS -dot- USU -dot- EDU> Date:Tue, 18 Feb 1997 11:11:29 -0700
Hi All,
Tom O's response was excellent. I would add one thing. Remember that your
resume is often previewed before a hiring influence like Tom gets to see it.
Figure that you have ten or fewer seconds to sell the previewer, who may well
be looking at more than 200 of the things.
I would begin the resume with what I want to do (the object line). This
should be specific to the job. If they want a help file author, you want to
be a help file author. You do not want to move into a job that will allow you
to mature into a greater humanitarian; you want to be a help file author.
Now say what you can do. This is where many resume writers mess up. They say
what they have done and make the reader figure out what they can do. List
your relevant professional skills.
Related Professional Skills:
Help file authoring using RoboHelp, WinHelp, Doc-To-Help.
Conversion of .rtf help into HTML help, Help file structural design, online
publications management. . . , etc.
If this is being read by someone in personnel, he or she immediately knows
that you perhaps are among the qualified. The Personnel officer needs to read
no further. Tom will read the above but will be unconvinced that you can do
these things till you prove it--that is what you do with the rest of your
resume. Prove that you can do the above by listing your education and
relevant work experience. Make it very short and very relevant.
I actually recommend, however, that resume authors spill over to a second
page. It will probably never be read, but it gives your resume a little more
weight--and if you are a good writer, the reader won't mind a little more
reading.
This resume, called a functional resume, is somewhat different from the
traditional resume, but I've never met a personnel officer that did not prefer
it.
So its simple:
Say what it is you want to do.
Say what it is you can do.
Prove it.
For what its worth. . .
David Hailey
Assistant Professor
Professional Writing/Hypermedia
Utah State University
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