Issue #8
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Here’s how you can capitalize on that information ...
First – do the research to make yourself an expert in the high-growth fields that you’d like to focus on. Get a thorough understanding of the keywords used in those industries, and know the best resume formats for each.
Second – and most important – use this knowledge to focus your marketing efforts on those sectors. With proven success in your “specialty” areas, not only will you land more clients ... you can also charge more.
Please keep in touch – and allow us to help you succeed. Do you have a question about how to get your resume business started, how to grow your business, or how something “really works”? By all means – ask. In future issues of Resume Writer Success Strategies, we’ll address your biggest concerns and lay out answers to help you succeed – fast. Contact us at: resumewritingsuccess@awaionline.com.
Handling a client’s employment gaps can be one of the trickiest scenarios for a professional resume writer. Yet in these troubled economic times, it is all too common to come across job-seekers who have spent some time out of the workforce.
At some point, you will most certainly be retained by a client who will need a very special resume to maximize his or her skills, abilities, and experience, while minimizing the negative perceptions a potential employer might have about the gaps between jobs.
Having a solid set of strategies for dealing with these complicated issues will greatly enhance your value to your clients.
First of all, remember that folks can have gaps in their employment for a myriad of reasons, some more innocent than others. Below are a few of the more common ones you are likely to come across:
Regardless of the reason for the gap, your job is to give your client a strategy for explaining the downtime.
The biggest service you can provide to a client like this is to keep the resume, cover letter – and your client – from sounding “ashamed” of the gaps. There is nothing more devastating than a resume that spends more time apologizing for a perceived “problem” than highlighting the many positives.
One strategy is to demonstrate that the client continued to improve himself during that downtime period. For example, you might be able to show how he or she kept up with developments in that particular industry through formal or informal continuing education.
Many times, you can fill the chronological “experience” section with relevant activities that your client engaged in during the period away from work.
Another point to keep in mind is that valuable and relevant experience does not necessarily have to be “paid” experience. Make sure to ask your clients if they have done any significant or related work as volunteers in their communities. For example, one might have worked on a local political campaign as a volunteer ... another might have been the secretary of her child’s PTA. There is much you can take from those experiences to fill a resume.
Also – you don’t have to highlight the fact that your client was out of work. You can make shorter periods of time off seem less relevant by listing the work history with years only, leaving out the months.
As with all resumes, the stronger your “highlights” and “objective” sections are (the top third of the first page), the easier it will be for your clients to downplay any blips in their chronological work history. Their experiences will speak for themselves.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Julien Sharp has been working with resumes for 20 years – writing, screening, and evaluating them. She's a member of the American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI) Board of Advisors and one of the creators of AWAI's Resume Program. For more information about this money-making blueprint or independence and financial freedom, click here: http://www.myresumebiz.com/rwss/]
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You want your website to be clear and informative – and, by far, the most important piece of information to get across is how a potential client can contact you.
A dedicated “contact me” page, hot-linked from every page on your site, is the best way to go. Obviously, you will list your phone number and mailing address there – but, most often, people will want to contact you by email.
There are two primary ways to set up your site to make it easy for a potential client to email you, each with pros and cons.
The first option – the quickest and least-expensive one – is to create an “email me” link that will automatically open up a new email in the client’s email program (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc).
The downside to this method is that these links often don’t work if the client uses a Web-based email program like Yahoo or Hotmail. And it can cause real problems if the potential client is not at his or her own computer, but is, instead, at an Internet café, a school computer, or even at work. Keep in mind that many people looking to switch jobs don’t want to have a “request for resume” query show up at their company’s email address!
If you do go this route, remember to display your email address in your contact info. Don’t just bury it behind a link. That way, clients who don’t want to send you an email from the computer they’re sitting at can write down your email address and contact you later.
The second option is to create a separate “form” on your site that has text fields for the client to type in their contact information as well as any questions or requests. The client info is captured to a database and a summary email is sent to you.
This option eliminates the difficulties that potential clients might have in sending you an email from a particular computer. It also shields your email address from view if you are concerned about spammers getting hold of your address.
The biggest downside to this option is cost. It is expensive to design and maintain the form to capture the data. But if you already have a website set up, check with your Web host. They may have a pre-formatted template that you can layer into your site.
I use this option – and what I really like about it is that I have a field where interested clients can actually cut and paste their old resumes. I contact them with a brief “critique” of their old resume ... and I have NEVER lost a sale!
In the next issue of Resume Writer Success Strategies, learn more ways to help your clients downplay any serious gaps in their work history.
Resume Writer Success Strategies is a FREE weekly newsletter from the American Writers & Artists Inc., available to AWAI members and friends.
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