Our resumes are independently proofread immediately before the final document is delivered. It’s important to have a fresh set of eyes; someone who has not previously seen the resume. Lauri is our amazing proofreader. She is in charge of quality control and she catches almost everything. But remember, we are still human.
I attended college to be a teacher, graduating summa cum laude and inducted into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. After my career in teaching I was an editorial assistant for Golf Digest magazine, working as a proofreader and interfacing directly with writers and editors. With an international audience reading their publication, they had high expectations. Since then, everywhere I’ve worked I’ve caught mistakes. Because of that I’m constantly being asked to review materials, from letters written by company presidents to policy and procedures manuals.
Some people have a natural ability to catch errors just by looking at a page of writing. I’m one of them and have always been that way. Even when I read a published books and novels, any mistake jumps out and bites me! I guess that’s a by-product of being a perfectionist. I’m an expert on rules of grammar, punctuation, subject and verb agreement, etc. And I love it!
I’m amazed at the number of fonts, colors and tables jobseekers use as a way to catch someone’s eye. It makes their resumes really busy, distracting, and sometimes hard to read – the opposite of what they want to achieve. Many people don’t understand know how to consistently format their work. These resumes are the hardest to edit.
My best tip is “just do it”. It’s amazing how many people don’t. Whether it’s a resume, an email, or a thank you note you have to read over what you are sending! It’s one thing when you’re sending a text message, but anything that is going to someone you care about or need to impress should be read at least one more time again.
I check the Internet. Many resumes I proofread are industry specific and contain technical words, so any time a company, society, group, association, school, etc. or even a word I don’t recognize is listed, I check for spelling and usage.
There is boldness and confidence in the writing. I think that’s because they are such great interviewers. David Pinkley is the best interviewer I’ve ever met. He digs deep to get to the essence of who someone is and what they are best at doing. After my own interview, I felt he knew more about me than some of my best friends do. He also has spent so many years as a headhunter, he is able to tailor resumes to catch the attention of the most discerning and demanding recruiters and executives.
Where did you learn to write such powerful resumes?I’ve been a recruiter for 20+ years and have worked with a lot of hiring managers. When I sit down to write a resume the first thing I think about is the target audience. Who is going to read the resume?…What’s their title?…What’s important to them? I put myself in their shoes and intuit what I’d be looking for in a resume if I was hiring. Then I build the resume with that in mind. Everything from the Summary section, bullet points, and personal interests is written to capture the attention of that decision maker.
99% of the resumes we write include personal interests. The fact no one else does it is why it works. It’s one of many things we do that make our resumes really pop. We don’t care if it’s unconventional, because it works. We’ve thrown away the resume writing rulebook which is what you must do if you want to stand-out.
When I see short dashes and long dashes between the dates of employment. It drives me bananas! It’s inconsistent and sloppy. I see it all the time. My all-time pet peeve is people who list their college education as a “B.S. degree”. Think about it. It may be factual but it doesn’t look right.
Wow! That’s a tough question. There have been so many. One that stands out is a resume I wrote for a women who suffered from negative self-talk. She had real doubts about herself and beat herself up all the time. When I presented the resume she nearly cried. For the first time she saw the beauty and impact of her work. Her confidence totally changed and she landed a terrific job. If you think your resume is just a document that gets your foot in the door you are mistaken. Resumes are powerful!
There’s an age-old question asked of artists: how do they know when the painting is finished. Answer: They just know. As writers we have to know when the resume is finished – when a career story has been optimized and there’s nothing more to say or write. We know when they are done. That takes intuition and vision. We are artists as much as writers. I call our resumes Masterpieces, because they are.
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