Ask Me a Resume Question. I Want to Help!

If you've spent even a short time searching the web for answers to your resume writing questions, you may be reeling from the amount of information out there. Even though a lot of it is good, it IS overwhelming, especially when you desperately need resume help that fits your exact situation. There's help! You can ask me your resume writing questions here...

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If you work with my resume-writer-in-training:

• I will carefully review the resume Christy writes for you.
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About my new resume writer

• A Certified Career Coach, specializing in career transition.
• Master’s degreee in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
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If you're interested in this win-win opportunity -- you get a great resume at a great price, and my writer gets valuable experience -- please contact me.

Perfect 10: Better Questions Yield a Better Resume

To get resume writing help, you could hire a professional resume writer, or you could get free resume help by asking yourself these 40 probing questions.

Perfect 10: Better Questions Yield a Better Resume
by Bridget (Weide) Brooks, editor of Resume Writers’ Digest, and “Write Great Resumes Faster”

A great resume can be the difference between getting called in for an interview, and hearing nothing at all from a prospective employer. But coming up with information to include in your resume — especially attention-getting accomplishments — can be difficult. These questions, compiled from professional resume writers, can be a great starting point to help write a good resume.

Questions to Assess Your Job Target/Desired Job
These are questions to clarify your job objective:

• What specific job titles are you targeting? (Please be specific regarding level, functional role, industry, and any environmental factors that are important to you.)
• How realistic is that goal, do you think?
• Can you identify 1-3 job postings for the type of position you're interested in?
• If you had all the money you needed and you didn't need to work, what would you do?
• In your performance reviews, in what areas did you receive the highest scores or the most positive feedback?
• What do you want to be "when you grow up"?
• If the "ideal" position were to become available, how would you describe it?
• What type of job are you looking for - and with what type of employer?
• If you could customize your career and create your own job, what skills would you use and how would you apply them?
• If you want to make a transition (new industry or job function), how can you make that shift?

Questions to Capture the Essence of Your Current Job
If your current job is relevant to your target position, spend some time identifying the key areas of expertise in the job you have now:

• When a stranger asks you, "So, what do you do?" what is your answer? If an interviewer asks you the same thing, how would your answer be different?
• What is the most important part of your current job?
• Can you tell me about a typical day in your own words; what is predictable, what is difficult?
• What was the company's purpose in hiring you: What were you brought in to do? (And were you hired, recruited, or promoted into this position?)
• Can you name three critical functions of your job that would impact the company/department if you were not at work one day?
• What do you enjoy most about your current position? The least?
• What percentage of time do you spend on the "A," "B," and "C" aspects of your job?
• How does your current job fit within the context of the organization? Who do you work with? What other areas do you support? What interactions do you have with customers?
• What are you accountable for?
• At the end of the day, what makes you feel good about what you've done?

Questions to Elicit Information About Your Accomplishments
Accomplishments are the most important part of the resume. Gathering relevant, quantifiable accomplishments can be a challenge:

• What have you achieved in your job - have you saved your employer any money or achieved any other quantifiable measure (helped the company make money, become more efficient, improve safety, improve customer service, etc.)?
• What do you do for the company that someone else did not, or would not, do?
• How was your performance measured in reviews - and what was the outcome (awards, recognition)?
• What key problems did you identify - and how did you help solve them? (Please describe in the Challenge-Action-Result format.)
• Were you chosen for any additional assignments? (What were they?)
• What would you rate as your top three skills?
• What have you done that has broadened your responsibilities?
• Why are you good at what you do?
• What do others say about you and your work?
• What have you introduced at your firm that has never existed before Sˇ or what did you improve upon?

Other General Questions
Sometimes there are questions that don't fit neatly into any other category, but that can help improve the overall resume:

• Do you have a copy of your job description or any performance evaluations?
• What are your top 3-5 strengths and personality traits?
• What are you best known for at work?
• How did you find your most recent job?
• What sets you apart from other candidates for this job?
• Why are you a good employee? Why are you better than average?
• If you were asked to select your replacement, what qualities would you be looking for?
• What will be different about your next job?
• Is there anything that you don't want to do in your next job? (Especially something that you might be good at, but that you just don't enjoy doing?)
• Anything else you'd like to add?

Using Your Answers
Getting good information from is just the start - how you incorporate the answers into the resume will help determine how effective the resume is. If you’re having difficulty putting the pieces together, a professional resume writer can help you turn your answers into an interview-winning resume — so you can have a great resume that will get you your next job faster!

— Bridget (Weide) Brooks, CPRW is the editor of Resume Writers’ Digest, a trade newsletter for professional resume writers. She is also the author of “Write Great Resumes Faster.” She can be reached via e-mail at editor@rwdigest.com.

Other posts on how to write a good resume:

5 Ways to Spotlight Transferable Skills on Your Resume
Quiz to Uncover Your Skills
Third-Person Technique for Resume Statements
How to Pick a Professional Resume Writer

Why Hire a Resume Writer

A good resume writer is worth his or her weight in gold. Here's why:

1. She offers an objective point of view. Most job seekers get overwhelmed with all their information and have trouble choosing what to put on the resume and what to leave off. A second person (whether that's a professional resume writer or your friend doing it for free) can objectively sift through your information and select only what's relevant to your job objective.

2. A professional resume writer will get your resume done! If you've been procrastinating about your resume (the way most of us put off doing our tax returns) then you need to put it in the hands of someone who will get it done in a timely manner.

3. An experienced resume writer has insight. She will likely have written resumes for other people in your industry, including managers who hire people with your job objective. That insight into the hiring manager's mindset can pay off when she writes your resume.

Here's how to select a professional resume writing service:

1. Speak directly to the writer with whom you'll be working -- not just a sales person, but the actual person who will be constructing your resume. While asking questions about your situation and the logistics of the writing process, get a sense of the chemistry between you and she. This is an important aspect of the success of your resume. You want someone who is a good listener, and asks probing questions that draw good responses from you.

2. Find a writer who works collaboratively with her clients. If possible, meet with the writer in person and sit with her at the computer while she develops your resume. If you're an integral part of your resume's creation, you'll end up with a resume that represents you effectively in the job market. This should take about three hours -- time well spent because you'll leave with a completed resume, and you'll understand the strategy behind it so you can tweak it yourself if you need to. By the way, if you can't meet with the writer in person, try to simulate this process by phone and email.

3. Price should be determined by the hour, not by the page. You're paying for the writer's expertise, not simply her typing. For example, it sometimes takes longer to write a concise one-page resume than a rambling three-pager because of the editing time.

If you can write your resume on your own, that's great. But if you find yourself putting it off, or not getting results from the resume you've written, then by all means, look into hiring a professional resume writer to get the job done.

This post was written in response to the LinkedIn question: Are there any recommendations or thoughts regarding professional resume writers?, to which there were several other answers.

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Write Your Resume with a Friend

Question
I just CAN'T write a resume! I am great at my job, but for me to express on paper what I have done and what I can do is next to impossible. I am an automated lighting programmer for entertainment lighting and once I get my foot in the door I can get the job. I am trying to land a big show on Broadway and need to send a resume. Please help.--Warren (Read our answer to this question...)

How to Pick a Professional Resume Writer

If writing your own resume isn't your forte, consider hiring a professional resume writer to do it for you. A professional knows how to highlight the information employers are looking for and can create a document that stands up to the competition. A resume writer is actively involved in the field of career development and can give you valuable insight into the job search process.

If you decide to hire a writer, here's how to do it:

- Find someone who will work with you to carefully phrase each line to handle your particular situation. Look out for writers who get minimal information from you and then go off and create their own fiction. You want a resume that sounds like you, not them!

- Find an expert at resolving difficult problems such as gaps in the work history, minimal education, disabilities, or whatever your issue is.

- Hire someone who encourages you to get feedback from others. The writer should be willing to make revisions and not be defensive about their work. The goal is to come up with an effective resume, no matter what the cost to the writer's ego!

- When you call the service, ask to speak to the resume writer, not the receptionist or salesperson. You want to get a feeling for the quality of work and level of concern you're going to get from the person creating your resume.

- Compare prices and be aware that resume writing is no different from other professional services - you get what you pay for. Cheap services usually produce impersonal, form-like resumes. If you can't afford a good writer, you're better off getting a book and doing it yourself.

Your resume is more than a piece of paper. It's an investment in your future. It may, in fact, be the crucial element in achieving your life's goals. Whether you write your own or hire someone to do it for you, be sure you end up with a document that gives you full credit for your work and accomplishments. The employer needs to know that you'll be a valuable member of their organization. Your resume is the opportunity for you to say just that.