Reach Branding Certification Moves to Career Thought Leaders

Just announced, the Reach Personal Branding certifications will now be under the auspices of Career Thought Leaders.

CTL already offers its own certification, the Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW) and took on the administration of the Master Resume Writer (MRW) and Credentialed Career Manager (CCM) after the dissolution of the Career Management Alliance.

The Reach Personal Branding process was developed by William Arruda. As part of the transition, Arruda -- as well as Reach collaborators Deb Dib and Susan Chritton -- will present a series of webinars to introduce CTL members to the personal branding process.

The first webinar will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 8 with Arruda presenting.

Learn more and register at http://bit.ly/BrandTrends17CTL

In addition, Reach certified professionals will be invited to attend the CTL conference in Baltimore in April. Because of this, CTL has extended the early registration discount until Feb. 15.

Learn more at http://bit.ly/ctlconf2017

Marie Zimenoff, CEO and owner of CTL says, "The CTL Board and I are excited about this transition and the richness personal branding can bring to your practice – from graduating students differentiating themselves in the marketplace to executives building a distinctive leadership brand."

Opportunity to Earn MRW/CCM Is Back!

Following the demise of the Career Management Alliance, the future of the Master Resume Writer (MRW) and Credentialed Career Manager (CCM) credentials was briefly in question. However, Career Management Alliance arranged with Wendy S. Enelow (original founder of the Career Masters Institute, which became the Career Management Alliance) to take over the certifications.

You can now find a listing of all current MRWs and CCMs on the Career Thought Leaders website, including instructions on how to apply to become a Master Resume Writer and the application process for the Credentialed Career Manager designation.

The MRW and CCM are back with Wendy. All is right with the world.

When Is the Omaha Conference?

Last weekend, I wrote about the NRWA Conference preview teleseminar I attended. I would be remiss if I didn't also point out that Career Directors International is having their 2011 conference in October. 

For several years now, I've been thinking that I need to organize a resume writer's conference in Omaha (where I live). We're located right in the middle of the country, we've got a fabulous airport, inexpensive hotels (the one I have in mind has a complimentary airport shuttle, 185 guest rooms, conference space for up to 150 people, and rates of around $79-$104/night), and we're the headquarters of the Gallup Organization (and five Fortune 500 companies), so I'm confident I could get some great guest speakers!

If I don't put together my own conference, I'd love to attend a conference in Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, or Denver (all are within driving distance...). That would require convincing one of the national resume writing organizations to schedule in one of these cities.

Here's the breakdown of where the national resume writing organizations have had their conferences in recent years. (I've bolded the ones I attended.)

The National Resume Writers' Association (NRWA):
2011 - Portland, Maine
2010 - Fort Worth, Texas
2009 - Annapolis, Maryland
2008 - San Diego, California
2007 - Savannah, Georgia
2006 - Phoenix, Arizona
2005 - Stamford, Connecticut
2004 - Nashville, Tennessee
2003 - Seattle, Washington
2002 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2001 - San Antonio, Texas
2000 - Las Vegas, Nevada
1999 - New Orleans, Louisiana
1998 - Chicago

Career Directors International:
2011 - Savannah, Georgia
2010 - San Diego, California
2009 - Orlando, Florida
2008 - Seattle, Washington
2007 - San Antonio, Texas
2006 - Orlando, Florida (PRWRA)
2005 - Las Vegas, Nevada (PRWRA)
2004 - Indianapolis, Indiana (PRWRA)
2003 - New Orleans (PRWRA)
2002 - Atlanta, Georgia (when the organization was still PRWRA)

I haven't yet attended a CDI conference (although I've heard they are fabulous!). In my defense, Laura DeCarlo keeps scheduling them in October, which is during the UNO Hockey season (and Jon and I have never, ever missed a UNO home hockey game).

Career Management Alliance (no longer in business as of August 2011):
2011 - Las Vegas, Nevada
2010 - New Orleans, Louisiana
2009 - San Antonio, Texas
2008 - Minneapolis, Minnesota
2007 - Louisville, Kentucky
2006 - ??
2005 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (when it was still Career Masters Institute)
2004 - Atlanta, Georgia (CMI)
2003 - Kansas City, Missouri (CMI)
2002 - San Diego, California (CMI)

Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches
(discontinued conferences in 2004?)
2004 - St. Pete Beach, Florida
2003 - Las Vegas, Nevada
2002 - Dallas, Texas
2001 - Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida
2000 - Toronto, Canada
1999 - Colorado Springs, Colorado

What do you think? Where would you be interested in attending a conference?

Career Management Alliance Is No More

Kennedy Information (publishers of the "Directory of Executive Recruiters") has chosen to discontinue the Career Management Alliance (CMA) association (formerly Career Masters Institute), originally founded by Wendy Enelow in 1999. Wendy has now regained ownership of the two certification credentials that originated out of the organization -- the Master Resume Writer (MRW) and Credentialed Career Master (CCM) designations. If you have questions about these credentials -- or are interested in pursuing these certifications, contact Wendy.

Resume Writers Digest Receives CMA Mentorship Award!

I found out on Thursday that I received a Career Management Alliance Mentorship Award!


Thanks to Kathy Hansen for nominating me for this award. I'm truly honored. Here is the criteria for the award:
The Career Management Alliance honors those individuals who have guided others in tradecraft, entrepreneurship, and community-building. Through teaching and example these mentors have inspired their colleagues and generously shared their wisdom.


Kathy's nomination (which she so kindly sent to me), was centered around my efforts to educate and inform resume writers through the work of Resume Writers' Digest -- including this blog. So thanks to all of my readers and subscribers too!

Career Management Alliance Conference: April 2011

The Career Management Alliance's 2011 Conference will be held in Las Vegas from April 6-8. This year's theme is "Serving Clients-Solving Challenges" and the keynote speaker is "America's Secret Millionaire," James Malinchak.

Other featured speakers include Susan Ireland, Kathryn Troutman, Tim Tyrell-Smith, and Ross MacPherson, Susan Joyce, Kathy Hansen, Chandlee Bryan, Karen Siwak, and more!

Early registration ends March 1. For more information, click here.

Career Management Alliance Offers Discounted SelectRecruiters Subscription

Careers industry professionals who are members of the Career Management Alliance can receive a significant discount on a subscription to SelectRecruiters, a searchable database of professional recruiters.

About Career Management Alliance
Founded in 1999, Career Management Alliance is trusted as the world's leading professional association dedicated to linking all divisions within the careers industry. A distinctive community that values the strength of diverse knowledge, the Alliance attracts members from assorted career backgrounds, such as resume writing, career coaching, career counseling, college and university career development, government and military career transition, outplacement, recruiting, and HR.

About SelectRecruiters
SelectRecruiters gives you a powerful tool in your arsenal of professional services — an up-to-the-minute way to connect all of your clients with:

• A comprehensive database of thousands of recruiter profiles that allows you to help your clients quickly identify the recruiters best suited to help meet their career objectives. You can search by geography, industry, function, fee structure, and pay range.
• Tools they will need to create a custom email campaign, allowing your clients to interface with a broad scope of recruiters, instantly — without the added cost of postage.
• Exclusive access to recruiting firms' physical addresses, making it easy to create custom direct (snail) mail campaigns — including mailing label templates and a spreadsheet for creating the merge!

Regularly priced at $649 per year, Standard CMA Members pay only $399 for a one-year subscription to SelectRecruiters — and Professional CMA Members pay only $225. That's a maximum savings of $424.

To join Career Management Alliance and take advantage of this exclusive offer, please contact CMA Executive Director, Liz Sumner, directly at 603.924.0900, ext. 640 or via email at liz@careermanagementalliance.com.

Career Management Alliance Seeking Conference Speakers

From Liz Sumner, Executive Director of Career Management Alliance:

Speaker Proposal Deadline is September 24th

I'm accepting proposals for 2011 conference presentations. You can download a copy of the Speaker Guidelines at http://bit.ly/dmR2sc.

But hurry. The deadline to submit your proposal is Friday, September 24th. Email me if you have any questions.

Call For Proposals - CMA Conference 2011 (Las Vegas)

The Career Management Alliance is looking for speakers for their 2011 Conference, Thursday and Friday, April 7th & 8th, 2011 at the Riviera Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV.

Theme: Serving Clients - Solving Challenges
* New Ideas for Challenging Times
* Preparing for Continuous Change
* Focus on Compelling Storytelling

The annual gathering of the Career Management Alliance brings together career
practitioners from all sectors of the industry -- private practice resume writers
and coaches, college and university career counselors, government and military
career specialists, and more. All of us are facing the challenges of today's
economic climate and tomorrow's uncertain outlook.

They are looking for sessions that face these issues squarely and provide tangible
resources and inspiring ideas for everyone who serves the jobseeker of today and
tomorrow. What tools and techniques do we need to navigate the future? What
systems and strategies will lead to success? And how do we tell our stories so
that we stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

The proposal deadline for the April Conference is September 24th, 2010

All proposals must include the following information:

• Suggested title of presentation
• Short description of presentation
• Five to seven "take-away" bullet points illustrating what the attendees will
• take away from your session and possibly implement to better enhance their
• strategies/functions.
• Speaker Biography (both short and long formats saved in a word file)
• Speaker picture (resolution must be 300dpi or better and saved as a TIFF or
• high res JPEG file - Needed after the proposal has been accepted)

Presentation Structure Guideline:
With the attendee in mind, your presentation should be educational, as
"hands-on" as possible and include real-world examples and ideas that will help
attendees to implement new and proven procedures, solve problems, make their
clients successful, grow their businesses, and feel excited and inspired. We are
fortunate to have a strong representation of military transition specialists in
the audience who work with retiring and separating service members and their
spouses. Please include examples that are relevant to them as well as other
client groups.

To maintain high value for attendees, please refrain from promoting yourself,
your company and/or product. (Case studies are acceptable if they are focused on
the work, not the provider.)

Each session runs between 50-60 minutes. Please allow plenty of time for
questions.

Major Topics Include:
--Technology/Trends & Innovations
--Techniques/Tradecraft
--Business-Building/Productivity

Please submit all proposals to:

Liz Sumner
Executive Director
Career Management Alliance
603-924-0900 ext 640
liz@careermanagementalliance.com

Fall 2009 Issue Now Available

The cover story in this issue is an interesting one -- the results of the 2009 Recession Survey conducted by Resume Writers' Digest, the Career Management Alliance, and the National Resume Writer's Association. Also on page 1 is the article, "A Cover Letter is Really Just a Good Sales Letter."

Also in this issue: Ligaya Fernandez, of The Resume Place, Inc. talks about "The Art of Writing a KSA: Writing Effective Accomplishment Record Stories" in a story on page 6. And Dr. Katharine Hansen contributed an article on "How to Coach Clients to Handle a Poor Interviewer," with a sidebar on "Top 10 Executive Interview Pet Peeves from Hiring Decision-Makers."

I also write about "Using Conference Calls to Grow Your Resume Writing Business" in my letter from the editor on page 2. In this month's "Resume Writer's University," learn "The Strategies of Client/Career Branding: Getting It Right Every Time" in an article by Jane Roqueplot.

Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, writes about "How to Use Twitter for Business & Publicity" in her column this month. (Be sure to follow me on Twitter @RWDigest).

Subscriptions to Resume Writers' Digest are free -- subscribe here.

Resume Writers Recession Survey Results

Last month, I was invited by the Career Management Alliance and National Resume Writers' Association to participate in a joint effort to survey resume writers about how their businesses were faring in the current recession. (Thanks to Don Goodman, of About Jobs, for suggesting the survey idea and initial questions.)

We finalized the questions and put the survey out there. We received 191 responses between Aug. 3-16. Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., Research Master for the Career Management Alliance, compiled the results and prepared a report, which was released today. (If you have signed up for a free subscription to Resume Writers' Digest and confirmed your subscription to the double-opt-in list, you received an e-mail from me this morning with the 8-page report.)

Here are some highlights:

• Compared to a year ago, more respondents (48.4 percent) are doing better now than are faring worse (39 percent).
• Twelve percent of respondents say they are doing the same as last year.
• Six percent of those surveyed said their revenues were up 61 percent or more over last year; 3.2 percent said their revenues were down 60 percent or more. Twenty-eight percent said their revenues were up 1-20%. Twenty percent said their revenues were down up to 20 percent.
• The top source of business is referrals (47.5 percent), followed by their personal website (25.6 percent), Yellow Pages ads (14.9 percent), and subcontracting (14.4 percent).
  

Speaking of subcontracting, it can be an excellent source of business (especially during slow times). Resume Writers' Digest offers a special report for resume writers looking to affiliate with firms that hire subcontract writers.

If you would like to receive a copy of the results, sign up for your free subscription to Resume Writers' Digest and then e-mail me at editor(at)RWDigest.com with the subject line "Recession Survey Results" and I'll send it to you.

Career Management Alliance Conference Preview

If I'd read my AOL e-mail earlier, I would have been able to tell you about this yesterday ... but better late than never!

The Career Management Alliance is giving careers professionals a free sneak peak at the lineup for their annual conference in Minneapolis later this month, through a free webinar.

DATE: Wednesday, April 9th, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM Eastern

COST: Free

PROGRAM: 2008 Alliance Conference Preview

SPEAKERS:

--Rob Schultz of Audacious Audio on "Quick-Start Secrets to Passive Revenue
Success"

--Joseph Daniel McCool on "Looking to the Future: Employment, Hiring & Talent
Management Trends"

--Susan Britton Whitcomb of Career Coach Academy on "Tomorrow's Success
Strategies: Moving Into the Future"

--Ford Myers of Career Potential on "The Coaching System is the Solution!"

--Makini Theresa Harvey and Murray Mann on "A Career Mosaic: Successfully
Managing Your Multicultural Client Base"

--John Suarez of Success Stories INK on "Top 10 Secrets to Becoming An Expert
Resume Writer"

--Jim Dalbey of Ernst & Young on "Corporate Talent Acquisition and Career
Management From The Experts"

--Paul Forster of Indeed.com on "Building Your Business Worth: Powering Yourself
& Your Organization to Success"

Each presenter will explain his or her main takeaways, and we'll take questions
at the end.

To register for the webinar visit: http://www.careermanagementalliance.com/teleseminars.php

To register for the conference, visit: https://monkey.he.net/%7Ecareerma/reg-conf.php

If you haven't yet downloaded my "sneak peak" at the great information in the new "Best of the Conferences" special report, you can do so here:
http://www.rwdigest.com/RWDBestofConferencePreview.pdf

Wendy Enelow Leaving Career Management Alliance

Wendy Enelow has announced that she is leaving as Executive Director of the Career Management Alliance, effective Dec. 31, 2007. Wendy was the original founder of the Career Masters Institute (CMI), which was acquired by Kennedy Information. Wendy had returned to helm CMI in January 2007.

In an e-mail to members, Wendy wrote:
I love the fact that Career Masters/The Alliance and I have perhaps, to some degree, helped you to succeed in your businesses and your careers. The satisfaction I get when I hear how well one of our members is doing really does make me feel great. I find tremendous personal pride in knowing how far our industry has come over the past 20+ years as I have watched my colleagues grow, expand, launch new ventures, create new opportunities and so much more. What a magnificent group of people you all are and what a vibrant community we have created.

Liz Sumner will be taking over as Executive Director, effective January 1, 2008.

Bonnie Partridge will continue as The Alliance's Membership Services Director, while Liz will be taking over the E-Bridge, coordinating the associations' weekly teleseminar and webinar programs, responding to member inquiries, exploring new member opportunities and developing new programs.

Enelow says she will continue to write, teach, and serve clients.

The Alliance's Liz Sumner

She's worked in advertising, communication, distribution, hospitality and politics. She's lived in the Delaware Valley, the Pacific Northwest, and New England. Liz has a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Oregon, a Masters degree in Organizational Change from Antioch University in Seattle, WA. and is ICF certified as a Life Coach through the Academy for Coach Training in Bellevue, WA. Liz is the Executive Director of The Career Management Alliance.