Are You An Award-Winning Resume Writer?

Are you an award-winning resume writer? Do you want to be?

It's that time of the year again -- time to enter the Career Directors International's "Toast Of the Resume Industry" (TORI) awards contest.

This year's contest is a bit different than in past years — offering some new rules (one new one I think is very significant), new categories, and new prices.

The TORI Awards Director and CDI Board of Advisors have selected the categories which will be used in this year's contest. They include:

• Best Accounting/Finance Resume. Encompasses any level of accounting and/or finance professional, from clerk to CPA, and up through CFO. (New category this year.)
• Best Sales Resume. Encompasses any level of sales, business development, or producing sales management.
• Best Information Technology (IT) Resume. Encompasses information technology professionals and managers, etc.
• Best Healthcare/Medical Resume. Encompasses resumes written for medical technicians, doctors, surgeons, medical transcriptionists, laboratory staff, administrators, pharma, etc.
• Best Executive Resume. Encompasses any executive-level position in any industry.
• Best International Resume. Encompasses resumes written for any profession within a non-US market.
• Best Creative Resume. Encompasses creative-style resumes in full-color, unusual layouts, artistic writing styles, etc. Very open to interpretation.
• Best Cover Letter. Encompasses any discipline, industry, or career level.
• Best New Graduate Resume. Encompasses any discipline, industry, or career level as long as the focus is on leveraging a recent degree as the career target.

Members of Career Directors International may enter one resume in each category. Entry fees are $40 each (for initial purchase of 1-2 categories); $30 each (for 3-6 categories purchased at once); and $25 each (for 7-9 categories purchased initially). If you've already purchased one or more categories, you can purchase additional categories later for $35 each.

Best Sales Resume – 2013 TORI Awards – Laura Smith-Proulx

View the full resume here:
http://www.careerdirectors.com/members/tori_winners/2013/Smith-Proulx_Laura_Sales1st.pdf

One way to improve your skills is to benchmark yourself against your colleagues. Take a look at last year's TORI award-winning resumes and see how you compare. Be sure to read the final page of each winning submission to learn the client situation and strategy.

I mentioned a rule change in this year's contest — this one is significant. This year, the contest rules state, "TORI entries must be created solely through your own efforts and the input of your client. However, utilizing a third-person proofreader is acceptable."

In previous years, without this rule in place, there was discussion in the resume writing community about resume writing contractors who were taking credit for their subcontract writer's work by submitting those entries as their own. There were also resume writers who were hiring graphic designers to produce their TORI submissions — so while the writing was their own, the formatting was well beyond what the actual client received, or what they were capable of.

I feel that the change in rules is a good one. Feedback from some writers I've spoken with expressed concern that these "incredible" winning entries were beyond what the majority of clients would receive when working with the nominated writers. In fact, I've had a few winners say that they sometimes need to temper client expectations about what their resume will look like, because they want theirs modeled on a specific winning entry, even if their situation and the strategy wouldn't be a good fit.

I can also see the downside to the rules change from the perspective of the TORI award entrant. In your own resume writing business, you are free to outsource any piece of the resume development process you choose — from working with subcontract writers to develop the content to working with a Word expert or designer to craft an attention-getting design. Why should you be handcuffed when it matters most?

We'll have to see how the rules change manifests itself in entries received this year.

Speaking of entries, the deadline to register yourself and receive entry instructions is Monday, June 16, 2014. Entries are due Wednesday, June 18, 2014 by 5 p.m. Pacific.

Interested in learning more? Visit the TORI contest page.

Although I've never entered the contest myself, what I've heard from other resume writers is that the entry requirements are rigorous — so DO NOT WAIT until the week entries are due to put your submission together.