Directory of Professional Resume Writers

On Thursday, Nov. 1, Louise Kursmark will release her latest book, "Directory of Professional Resume Writers: How to Find and Work With a Pro to Accelerate Your Job Search."

From Amazon:
Directory of Professional Resume Writers helps individuals choose the best resume writer for their needs to ensure their money is well spent This helpful directory identifies hundreds of the top professional resume writers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia and indexes them according to their specialty, geographic location, and alphabetical order. The resource also provides extensive tips on how to choose the best resume writer and how to effectively work with them to create outstanding job search documents. Job seekers, career changers, and new graduates will learn how to evaluate and choose the best resume writers for their needs; what to expect from the resume development process; how to put their new, professionally written resume to work; and more.

If you're one of the resume writers featured in the book, let me know if you're getting referrals as a result of being included in the book! (You do ask new clients how they heard about you, don't you?)

Number Consistency

As a journalism major in college, I was already familiar with AP style when I started writing resumes. Using AP style, numbers are expressed as follows:

• Numbers from 1 through 9 are spelled out:
Supervised four employees.

• Use figures for numbers 10 and above:
Hired 14-20 seasonal staff each summer.

But I had a little more trouble being consistent with the following rule:
• Use the same style to express related numbers above and below 10. If any of the numbers are above 10, use figures for all numbers.
Example: Recruited, hired, and trained 6 line managers, 11 assistant managers, and 87 part-time and full-time employees.

Backup Systems and Disaster Recovery

With the California wildfires in the news, it's an appropriate time to remind resume writers about the importance of disaster planning.

Whether you're faced with wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, or flooding, any of these can create the potential for significant disruption of your business. I'd advise creating a basic disaster plan ... but in the meantime, you need to create a backup plan. Literally.

Answer this next question honestly: Do you have a copy of your critical electronic information? If so, how old is it?

Think about it -- if your hard drive failed today, or there was a fire, or someone stole your laptop -- how would you be able to replace your critical data -- your financial files, accounting records, client resumes, mailing lists and client databases, and the forms, scripts, and paperwork you've spent years fine-tuning?

Prevention is the key. There are many ways to store your data:

• Flash/Jump/USB drives.
• Zip and Jaz drives
• Tape back-up systems
• CDs
• Online web space

Create a back-up schedule. At a minimum, you should back-up your files monthly. Establish a routine -- for example, backing everything up on the first day of the month, or the last Friday of the month.

Then Get It Off Site! It's not going to do you any good if your back-up CD is in the computer bag when your laptop is stolen, or in your desk drawer when your office is flooded. Make it a practice to store back-ups off site.

The Long Life of a News Release

I was reminded today, while doing some research on Google, about the value of issuing news releases. I wrote a news release in July 2003 about how looking for a job is a lot like looking for love, tying the two themes together using the example of a CBS reality show, "Cupid."

That was more than four years ago, and it still comes up in search results. Since I have a degree in public relations, that should not surprise me. But it does. Are you using the media to its full potential? Careers articles are one of the most popular topics out there.

You can get your ideas from lots of different sources. Last month, I wrote about getting ideas for news releases from television shows.

In the coming weeks, I'm going to be updating my special report on getting publicity for your careers business. If you have a news release or press kit you'd like to share, e-mail me at RWDigest@aol.com.