Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Ask Better Questions, Write Better Resumes


My goal, when I wrote the first edition of "Write Great Resumes Faster," was to compile in one place the great tips and resources I had assembled to help me write better resumes -- and to use them to write resumes faster, since I'm self-employed, and time equals money!

Over time, I expanded the book (leading to a second edition), and finally, this year, I turned it into a Resume Writers' Digest Special Report -- delivering it in electronic form as a PDF for immediate download so that I could continue to incorporate new information and ideas, without having to mess so much with the design (adding pages to an 8-1/2 by 11 special report is a LOT easier than paginating an 8-1/2 by 5-1/2 book).

I'm continuing to add new material to the special report. Consequently, a few months ago, I put together a survey to ask resume writers the best questions to ask their clients to get great information for the resumes they write. The results were fabulous, and are being incorporated into the Special Report. But the answers also sparked the cover story of the Summer 2009 issue, "10 Questions: Better Questions Yield Better Resumes."

The response to the article itself has been fabulous -- I've sold dozens of copies of the Special Report and was just asked by a prominent colleague to turn the article into a client-oriented piece for inclusion on her popular blog for job-seekers! (I'll provide the link when it's published.)

But in the meantime, feel free to incorporate these questions -- compiled from some of the best resume writers in the world!! -- into your data collection process. I've already done so, and am finding that these questions really DO yield better resumes. See if they work as well for you ... and be sure to let me know!

Also, if you don't currently subscribe to the Resume Writers' Digest newsletter -- you should! It's free (supported by the sale of our Special Reports and advertising).

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