Resume Writers: Do You Need More Marketing Leverage?

As small business owners, we're told that networking and one-to-one consultations are great ways to get in front of prospective clients -- and then turn those resume prospects into clients.

But there's another way, as Ian Brodie points out in this blog post:
How to Get Marketing Leverage

Think about how you can better leverage your time for more results.

How Headlines Can Get You More Blog Readers

As resume writers, we know the importance of headlines -- LinkedIn Headlines, resume headlines ... but if you have a resume writing blog, you also know that the headlines on your blog posts can help you get more readers to your blog.

Want to learn more? Check out this blog post from Jeff Bullas:
10 Awesome Headlines That Drive Traffic and Attract Readers

This strategy also works for email subject lines.

Avoiding Overwhelm and Getting Things Done

Trying to find focus. Being overwhelmed. Lengthy to-do lists.

All of these are things self-employed resume writers deal with daily.
Here are a couple of resources to help you with them.

The first is this blog post: "How to Eliminate Broken Focus and Overwhelm with Evernote."
I love Evernote. It's like my online memory bank. I keep all my notes there, including conversations with prospective clients, notes from training programs, lists of projects I'd like to get to "someday," and more.

Try Evernote for free.

(You can find out how I use Evernote by reading "Evernote for Everything: How Evernote Can Help You Manage Resume Client Projects, Remember Stuff, and Just Be More Efficient")

I'm going to try the "top 6" strategy.

And check out Jonathan's webinar on Evernote productivity here.

The second is Kelly McCausey's course, "The Power of a Focused Business."

Right now, it's free for a limited time. 
Just use the code "kellysgift" after clicking on the "Order Now" button.

Here's what's included:

• Module #1: The Big Tree Business Philosophy (MP3, PDF)
• Module #2: Target Market and USP (MP3, PDF)
• Module #3: Idea Brainstorming (MP3, PDF, and Idea Brainstorming Worksheet)
• Module #4: What The Heck Do You Know Anyways? (MP3, PDF)
• Module #5: Where Do You Go From Here? (MP3, PDF)
• Module #6: Brainstorming Your Offer Funnel (MP3, Brainstorming Worksheet)
• Module #7: The Secrets of Focus (Webinar Replay)
• Module #8: Branch Development 101 (Webinar Replay)

You don't have to go through it right now, but you DO have to claim your access by the end of the August or you WILL end up paying for it. (I've taken the course myself, and believe me, it's worth the $69. But if you can get it for free, do it!)

You'll get the downloadable audio recordings and PDFs (including brainstorming worksheets) and two webinar replays. Once you register, you'll have access to it and you'll be able to go through it at your convenience.

Go to this page to sign up for the program:
The Power of a Focused Business

Remember to use this code: kellysgift

Do You Know Employment Law?

You're a resume writer, not a lawyer. But having a basic grasp of employment law is useful, because it not only informs the resumes you write, but it can help you position your clients appropriately when they have "special" situations.

For example, my clients have included:

• A woman who was two months pregnant and job searching -- and wondering if she should tell her employers she was expecting. (I directed her to information about the Pregnancy Discrimination Act)
• A young woman looking for her first teaching job who had graduated from college two years ago, but was diagnosed with cancer just a month after completing school. (The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 prevents employers from asking medical questions in an interview, but I coached her to answer the question about the job gap in such a way that it would satisfy an employer that her health issues were resolved and she was ready to work!)
• A young man from Nepal who was interested in working in the U.S. (I had to educate myself about H1-B visas!)
• Numerous Army and Air Force veterans. Anytime you're working with a veteran, you should be aware of special consideration for veterans in hiring for federal agencies and government contractors)
• My 16-year-old niece. Her current employer cited a provision in the Fair Labor Standards act that allows employers to pay employees under age 20 just $4.25 an hour for their first 90 calendar days of employment with the company, even though federal minimum wage is (currently) $7.25 an hour.

Having knowledge of federal employment laws especially is important for resume writers, and I've got a Pass-Along Materials package you can share with your clients on the topic:

Jobseeker's Guide to Understanding Employment Law

It's also important to keep an eye on changes to employment law. For example, today I came across this article, "Quinn Signs Pregnancy Discrimination Measure" affecting pregnant women and new moms in Illinois.

Stay informed!

"Launch" Your Resume Writing Business Into Greatness

I'm reading Jeff Walker's new book, "Launch: An Internet Millionaire's Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams" and it is excellent.

Reading Facebook today, I found an interview of Jeff Walker on Forbes.com, sharing seven lessons ("Why Jeff Walker Is The 400 Million Dollar Man -- And 7 Lessons You Can Learn From Him").

My favorite lesson is #5: First Give, Then Receive:

What do you think of these lessons?

Six Books for Resume Writers to Enjoy, Learn From and Share

I was inspired by this post from Explore B2B of "20 Books to Enjoy, Learn From, and Share" -- and I definitely recommend several of their books (especially numbers 1, 7, and 20!), but most of these are geared towards entrepreneurs in general, not careers industry professionals.

I want to share with you six books for resume writers to enjoy, learn from, and share.

Books to Hone Your Craft as a Resume Writer
Resume Magic: Trade Secrets of a Professional Resume Writer (4th edition) – Susan Whitcomb
The "bible" of resume writing -- the fourth edition (updated in 2010), this book provides practical guidance for resume writers as well as dozens of samples that have held up to the test of time.

Start, Operate, Profit: The Ultimate Resource for Building a $100,000 Resume-Writing Business -- Teena Rose
The most up-to-date "getting started" guide for resume writers. It covers both business management and operations issues as well as pricing, client communications, writing resumes, and more.

Books to Help You Attract More Clients
Get Clients Now (3rd edition) – C.J. Hayden
If you're looking for a no-nonsense system for attracting more clients to your resume writing business in the next 28 days, this guide will help. You choose a set number of activities to engage in daily for 28 days.

Career Distinction: Stand Out By Building Your Brand -- William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson
One of the best books on personal and career branding, this book will teach you -- and your clients -- how to become "digitally distinct." Buyers of the book will also be able to access a workbook to help them build their brand and identity.

Books To Help Clients
Get Hired Now! -- C.J. Hayden and Frank Traditi
Taking the 28-day system she developed for Get Clients Now, Hayden partners with Traditi to offer a step-by-step system to help jobseekers develop a system to guide their jobsearch.

What Color Is Your Parachute? – Dick Bolles

Updated annually, the 2015 edition provides lots of tools and resources for jobseekers...making this a resource to share with clients. While I disagree with some of Bolles' assertions ("Google is the new resume,") there is enough good content to outweigh the bad (he also discusses online job search strategies extensively, which isn't a great source of new jobs for jobseekers, generally speaking). Resume writers will find his "Starter Kit" questions to be useful to ask clients.

Want more book recommendations? Check out my Recommended Reading list!

If You Want Jobseekers To Take Your Blog Seriously, You Need To Take It Seriously

If you're a resume writer who blogs, you need to read this article by Gary Korisko:
The Guilt-Free Guide to Earning an Honest Buck From Your Blog

It's long, but completely worth the read, especially this paragraph:

I don't want to scare you, but as someone who has been blogging for 7 years, there will be times when you're writing just for you. People are reading, but not commenting. But the good news is, those posts will be there when someone discovers you for the first time. But you need to be there for them, even when they're not there for you.

But if you go for extremely long stretches of time without blogging (because some other part of your life -- or your resume writing business, even -- needs you), you may have a hard time keeping your audience.

So read the entire post (yes, the whole thing) ... and take his advice to heart.

Helping Clients Master the Phone Interview (Infographic)

Source: TalentandRecruitment.com

More and more companies are using phone interviews (and virtual interviews) to screen potential clients. Share these tips ("10 Tips to Master the Phone Interview") from the Talent and Recruitment blog with your clients.

Or create your own helpful guide for clients using the BeAResumeWriter.com Pass-Along Materials:
Jobseeker's Guide to Virtual Interviews

The Big Job Boards Are Dead ... But Are Niche Boards Still 'Working' For Clients?

The "big" job boards — Monster, Careerbuilder, etc. — have had their heyday … and it's over.

Job board aggregators are still working – Indeed.com is probably the best of these.

The SmartRecruiters blog has collected 50 of the "best" niche job boards and sites here.

Just keep in mind that only 5% of jobs are found online. So you can share these niche job boards with clients, but make sure to emphasize that 95% of jobs are NOT found online!

Blog Post Formula

I'm a big believer in blogging for resume writers. It's a great way to establish your expertise by providing information and ideas to jobseeking clients, and can drive a significant amount of traffic (visitors) to your website and generate clients!

You can read my blog post from last year on Blogging Basics for Resume Writers for more information on how to integrate blogging into your content marketing strategy in your resume writing business.

I came across this article that I want to share with you, "4 Simple Steps to Writing a Blog Post That Floods Your Inbox with Inquiries" -- it promises a "blog post formula" that I can't wait to try!

Remind Your Clients to Personalize Their LinkedIn Connection Requests

As a resume writer, do you receive LinkedIn connection requests from people, but you have NO IDEA who they are, or why they might be asking to connect?

Most resume writers I've surveyed will connect with almost anyone who requests a connection … but they are MORE likely to connect if the individual personalizes the LinkedIn connection request.

If you haven't written your own blog post or article on the importance of personalizing LinkedIn connection requests, you can share this post with them:
Want to Make Better LinkedIn Connections? Get Personal

It includes three examples of personalized connection requests.

Do you personalize the LinkedIn connection requests YOU receive? If not, you should!

23 Social Media "Rules" Resume Writers Shouldn't Ignore

Okay, so the author of the article actually calls it "23 Tips Successful People Use for Social Media Strategy," but it just so happens that I think the tips are good enough that savvy resume writers should consider them to be RULES to follow, not just suggestions.

I like how the author focuses on engagement and authenticity. Too many resume writers have a Twitter profile because they think they should. Or do LinkedIn profile writing even though their profile isn't populated and they have fewer than 100 connections.

Pick a platform and OWN it. (If you don't have a preference, pick LinkedIn. Not only is it a great source for connecting with clients, but you can also connect with recruiters, learn from colleagues in LinkedIn Groups, raise your visibility online by trying LinkedIn publishing, and you've got status updates on there just like you'd have on Twitter and Facebook. So yeah, if you're going to pick one, pick LinkedIn.)

Which is YOUR favorite tip from the article -- and why?

What Is The Worst Resume Suggestion You've Ever Heard?

Robin Schlinger
@robinresumes

Resume writing colleague Robin Schlinger served up a LinkedIn post today, "The 10 Worst Resume Suggestions You Ever Received."

Unfortunately, many jobseekers seek advice from well-meaning friends and relatives. Sometimes this advice isn't just unhelpful … it's just plain wrong.

As a resume writer, this is my "favorite" of the worst suggestions:

Usually, this can be attributed to jobseeker fear. If their resume isn't "perfect," they don't want to send it out — but they're really just afraid of rejection. Instead of 20-30 of their friends and family criticizing their resume (friends and family members who are most likely unqualified to judge the resume, unfortunately), they're afraid of a hiring manager criticizing it.

YES, your clients should have a couple of friends/family members look at their resume. But these are the questions they should ask them to answer:

1. Do you see any errors or typos? (If you've been looking at any document a lot, you won't "see" errors.)
2. Does this sound like me? (The resume should be the "best" reflection of the jobseeker's skills, abilities, and qualifications — but it should SOUND like the client, not like the resume writer.)

What is the worst resume suggestion YOU'VE ever heard? Share it in the comments below.

I Use the "5" Trick When I'm Stuck Writing a Resume

Ever get stuck when you're writing a resume? Psychology Today has published an article, "Want to Be Happier? It's as Easy as 2, 5, 11, 15, 20, 43" that may help you get un-stuck.

I use the "5" trick outlined in the article:

I actually read "This Year I Will" in February 2014, and I highly recommend it. Even though it's not a "careers" book, it's a great book to recommend to clients who are "stuck" in their current jobs. For example, Ryan suggests a strategy to help clients believe they can make a change. She suggests:

• Look at your past successes

• "Past performance is the best predictor of future success"

• Inventory your "islands of competence" (Steve Jobs)

• Write down 4-6 accomplishments and the strengths and skills you used

• These are your competencies

But the next time you're stuck writing a client's resume (or any other task you're procrastinating about), just tell yourself that you'll work on it for five minutes. I use the timer on my iPhone and I set it for 5 minutes. When it goes off, many times I'll keep working ... or set the timer for 5 more minutes. Even if I don't finish it, I'm a lot closer than when I started!



What are the tricks YOU use when you're stuck writing a client resume?

Resume Writers: Have You Found the Secret Room?

Last year, I delivered a teleseminar for the National Resume Writer's Association on: "Ask Better Questions; Write Better Resumes."

Asking clients the right questions to uncover their skills, gifts, and accomplishments isn't always easy.

In addition to the strategies I outline in the teleseminar, and in my book, "Write Great Resumes Faster," check out the "Secret Room" -- 20 industry-specific questions for professions -- compiled by Career Thought Leaders.

You can find them here:
http://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/secret-room/

© Ainoa - Fotolia.com

Are You Doing Your Best?

Are you doing your best work? Are you doing GREAT work?

Seth Godin, always one to challenge us to think differently, had this very short post on his blog this past week, and it's food for thought.

Not only doing great work makes us uncomfortable, but being challenged about it can make us uncomfortable.

I'm guilty of sometimes saying, "I'm doing the best I can." But am I? Probably not. In reality, like Godin says, "I'm doing the best I'm comfortable doing."

I can probably do more. Can you?

Get Listy with Listly

One of the best ways to populate your blog and social media profiles is content curation. And one of the best tools for content curation is Listly.

Photo credit: Fotolia

This blog post that shares ideas and information about using Listly:
"Getting Started with Listly: A Beginners Guide"

It has a great "getting started" guide plus ideas for how and what to curate.

If you're struggling to figure out what to share on your social media profiles, create lists of other resume writers, recruiters, HR pros, and others in the careers space and share the resources you find. Don't be afraid that by sharing information from other resume writers that prospective clients will choose to work with them! Instead, they'll look to you as an expert who shares the best stuff!

The Changing Federal Resume

Although the first resume I wrote, at the age of 12, was technically a federal resume, I don't write federal resumes anymore (unless it's for a friend or family member).

Robin Schlinger
@robinresumes

That said, I do like to keep up on trends. And Robin Schlinger is one of the top federal resume experts in the U.S., so I recommend you read her LinkedIn column, "Federal Resumes: What Has Changed?"

I agree with her assessments -- getting hired for a federal position has become much more difficult in recent years, and her five-part assessment of "why" is right on track.

And the four questions you can ask clients to assess their likelihood of being hired is an eye-opener.

If You Wait Until Tomorrow To Start, You'll Just Be Older

At the age of 40, my husband took up novel writing.

So I love seeing stories about successful people who began new careers at "ripe old ages," because when you work with jobseekers, so many of them find themselves starting over again … and sometimes they're not what they themselves would consider to be "spring chickens."

So when I came across this article from Inc. magazine, "Accomplish Great Things at Any Age," I just had to share.

How appropriate then, that the listing for my age -- 40 -- has to do with writing:
At 40, Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

You're never too old to start something new. And if you wait until tomorrow, you'll just be a day order. So don't wait. If there's something you've been wanting to try, just Start.

Portfolio Jobs: Everything Old is New Again

When I was in sixth grade, I remember learning about the concept of portfolio jobs. It was the "workplace of the future." Instead of having a job that lasted years and years, you might have two or three "project"-oriented jobs each year, working on defined tasks and then moving on. Or you might have a couple of part-time jobs instead of one full-time job.

That was back around 1984. In the intervening years, job tenures did become progressively shorter, and the "lifetime" job, where you started in the mailroom and retired as CEO, all but disappeared. The portfolio job hasn't really materialized … but the idea lives on.

I was reading the July 7-13, 2014 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek and came across a book review by Bryant Urstadt reviewing The Alliance, a book written by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and entrepreneurs Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh.

In the book, Urstadt says, Hoffman suggests keeping employees engaged by "setting up 'tours of duty' involving specific tasks such as managing groups, then mining the networks they form."

While not exactly the definition of portfolio careers I learned in the sixth grade, it's interesting that the project-oriented career is still being explored. It works well in Hollywood, where the "gig" lifestyle is geared around a movie: People are hired, do their jobs, and then move on to the next project.

Perhaps it's coming to the Fortune 500 company near you.

As resume writers, it's something to consider. Maybe there will be a whole new resume format that arises to help meet the need of describing this project-oriented career. After all, as anyone who has ever written a resume for an IT consultant or project manager knows, those resumes can easily stretch to 4, 5, or even 6 pages or more.

Urstadt writes, "Hoffman's ideas have grown out of an environment where young workers with elite backgrounds and big personal dreams are feverishly recruited under the guise of changing the world."

These are the clients who will be hiring us. If not now, they will soon be.

Food for thought, for sure.