Blog Action Day: The Power of We for Resume Writers

Today, Oct. 15, 2012, is Blog Action Day. This annual event (this is year five!) allows bloggers around the world to blog about a common theme. This year's theme is: The Power of We.

Of course, this topic is very relevant to professional resume writers. As a collective industry of careers industry professionals, we have immense power to shape the discussion about the job search and provide hope and inspiration to thousands of jobseekers each year.

This theme is especially relevant this week, as the last month has featured two great examples of resume writers working together -- the National Resume Writer's Association Conference in Charleston last month and the Career Directors International Conference in San Diego last week. At careers industry conferences, resume writers share strategy, tips, and best practices with their colleagues. Information is shared in sessions but also in informal networking and social get-togethers outside of presentations.

When we share information and ideas with each other, we have the power not only to improve our own skills, but the results and experiences of our clients.

When we share information and ideas with the media, we increase visibility about the resume writing profession.

And when we share information and ideas with our clients, we help them become more effective in their job search and careers.

We have a lot of power as professional resume writers — but we get the most out of this power when we share with others. On this Blog Action Day, take a moment to think about how you can use your power and share something with a colleague, a client, or the media today.

Effective Deadline Management for Resume Writers

Deadlines are an inherent part of being a professional resume writer. Most people will have anywhere between one and half a dozen active deadlines in their client work at any given time. Deadlines can be a very useful tool for managing resume projects, but when used poorly, can be a huge source of stress.

Using deadlines well will allow you to work more efficiently with less stress. So what does good deadline management look like?

Learn to Say No
The most important skill you could develop with deadline management is the skill of saying "no." When a client contacts you with an urgent need for a resume, it's tempting to simply say "Yes" -- especially if you need the work, or you're tempted by a rush fee.

For example, let's say a client asks you on Wednesday: "Can I get my resume by Friday?" A good answer might be, "No, a well-written resume takes at least three business days. I can have it done Monday, or we can do a quick triage job to submit it by Friday, but there will be a 30% rush fee for that."

A bad answer would be to take on the task anyway, even though you'd be overloaded.

Learn to say no to tasks that you can't handle.

Schedule Your Work and Deadlines
What goes hand in hand with saying "no" is knowing your schedule. If you don't know exactly how much work you have to do each day, there's no way for you to know whether or not you can take on more work. In order to know whether to say yes or no to a task, you need to be able to accurately gauge your current workload.

Take all your open resumes and task deadlines and predict how much work you'll need to put into them. Then schedule this work out on a day-to-day basis. You now know how packed or open your schedule is.

The next client resume project you get, you'll be able to make an informed decision on whether you can make the deadline. (Or you can set a deadline that works with your existing workload.)

Make Sure Clients Meet Their Deadlines
I saw an example of this on a fellow career industry colleague's Facebook page.

Oftentimes your ability to fulfill on a deadline will depend on your clients meeting their deadlines.

If your deadline is to deliver a first resume draft, and the client hasn't returned their questionnaire (or responded to your questions), you're going to have to either work from the information you do have, or reschedule the client's deadline.

Make sure your client knows what is expected of THEM in terms of meeting deadlines so YOU can meet their deadline. This will help you make informed decisions about delivering current projects -- and whether or not to take on new projects and what deadlines you can agree to.

These deadline management techniques will help you avoid taking on more than you can handle. They'll also help prevent late client projects due to unrealistic deadlines. All around they'll help you reduce your stress level.

Buying a Domain Name for Your Career Services Business

While many resume writers have a website already, there are some folks thinking about starting a career services business who haven't even picked out a business name yet. If you're at that point, think about your website domain name at the same time you're naming your business.

A domain name is the name of your website. For instance, ebay.com is the domain name for eBay.  There are many places to buy domains on the web. You can purchase the domain for a single year or in terms of multiple years. Domain registration is relatively inexpensive, with prices at under $10 per year. I personally use -- and recommend -- 1and1.


The fist step of buying a domain is searching for a name. Here are some tips on naming your site:

• Go with .com — domain names that end in .net, for instance, may be cheaper than domains that end in .com, but most people are going to remember .com. If you have a different ending, you could end up losing customers.

• Spell things correctly — if you want to name your site "ProResumes" and it's already taken, don't misspell words on purpose (example: "Pro-Rez-amaze"). Misspellings are hard for your customers to remember, and if they type in the correct spelling of the domain, you may end up sending them to a competitor's site. (And, in this case, you may be infringing on the copyright of Rez-Amaze.com)

Once you find an available domain that you like, it's time to buy it. You can enter a public or private registration. Public registrations will be visible in the whois.com directory. The whois directory allows people to type in a website and view the owner's personal identity. If you do not want your personal information shown, choose private registration (this may cost extra with some domain registrars -- private registration is the same as public registration on 1and1).

After you have selected the term of your registration (such as 1, 2 or more years) and decided if you want public or private registration, you only need to enter your billing info and complete your purchase.

New Get Clear, Get Found, Get Hired Coaches Announced

Congratulations to the newest "G3" coaches -- Certified Get Clear, Get Found, Get Hired Coaches from The Academies.

• Carol Altomare
• Marti Benjamin
• Jean Cummings
• Kate Duttro
• Julianne Frank
• Stacy Harshman
• Debra O'Reilly
• Mary Schumacher
• Cheryl Lynch Simpson
• Karen Siwak
• Caitlin Williams

The next G3 class begins Tuesday, Oct. 16. You can save $250 on the upcoming program if you register by tomorrow -- Friday, Oct. 5 -- using coupon code FALLG3.

The program is held via teleseminar (90 minutes per week) and is taught by Deb Dib.
Classes are held every Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern time) from Oct. 16 to Dec. 18.

The program teaches coaches, branding strategists, and resume writers how to:

• expand your services to meet growing and changing client needs...and earn additional income
• tighten your clients' messaging ... without compromising quality
• deliver social media/mobile-friendly career-communications
• jump-start and shorten the all-important branding process
• get the attention of harried hiring managers (without resorting to gimmicks)

The cost is $2497 or four payments of $647.
(With discount, the cost is $2247.)

Register for the G3 training here.