How to Fictionalize Your Resume Samples

What is “fictionalizing” your resume samples — and how do you do it?

When responding to a request for a subcontract writer — or when publishing resume samples on your website, you should ficitionalize the samples first.

Fictionalizing means taking a real resume and removing any identifying information that may make it possible for a reader to determine the “real” identity of the client. 

This allows someone to see the style of your writing while protecting your client’s confidentiality.

Here are some basic steps to follow to fictionalize a resume sample:

1) At a minimum, change the client’s name and contact information, including changing the street address, phone number, and email address. I recommend changing the city and state to an entirely different area of the country (and make sure the area code you use for the phone number corresponds to the “new” city). If there is a link to LinkedIn profile, you can change it to link to your LinkedIn profile (great marketing strategy) or just to the LinkedIn home page. 

For example, you might change:
5050 Grover Street, Omaha, NE 68106
to:
1111 Main Street, York, ME 03902

Laura Slawson, CCM, CPRW of The Creative Advantage reminds writers to change the footer (the person’s name may be there too!). She suggests using 111-222-3333 for the phone number and email@email.com for the email address.

Based on Laura’s advice, I’d recommend you check the document header too AND the Document Properties field in Microsoft Word.

2) Change the name of any/all companies listed. For example, instead of “Varian Medical Manufacturing,” you might change it to “ABC Medical Manufacturing.” Other “generic” or placeholder company names are: Acme, Ace, Mom and Pop, Sample, Widget, or XYZ

3) If the job title is really unique, you may consider changing it as well. (When in doubt, do a Google search for the job title. If it comes up with hundreds of links, you’re ok.)

4) Change the name of any organizations, clubs, or activities — and/or change the dates that the client participated. For example, if the client has earned a specific credential or designation, make sure that information would not be able to be used to trace the person’s identity.

5) Review the client’s educational history. It may not be necessary to change the name of colleges or universities, but you may want to consider changing a graduation date (or omitting it entirely) to avoid identifying the client. (An online directory of graduates for a small university, combined with a graduating year and job title could potentially be used to “find” a specific person.)

6) Consider changing some of the numbers in the $$/##/%% data so that exact phrases can’t be searched for on LinkedIn or Google.

Finally, review the resume one more time as a whole — is there any information that would potentially be able to be linked to the original client? If so, change it!


FAQs:

Q: Should you ask clients for permission to use their resume?
A: Yes. Most resume writers do this in their client agreement, asking clients to allow the use of the resume for promotional purposes if it is fictionalized to remove their identifying information. You can use a phrase like this:
Unless you request otherwise, your resume may be used for promotional purposes, with the guarantee that all information will be fictionalized to protect your confidentiality.


Q: Should I let people know the samples on my website have been fictionalized?
A: Yes. When publishing samples on your website, use this phrase, or something similar: Please note: All featured samples have been “fictionalized” — the client and company names and locations have been changed to protect the privacy of the original client.

Use Facebook to Get Clients

I’m friends with a lot of resume writers on Facebook. Some of them are really good about letting the world know what they do. Others aren’t.

If you’re looking to get more clients, Facebook can be an excellent source of referrals. People do business with people that they know, like, and trust. People who know you from Facebook can be an escellent source of referrals — or even become clients directly.

When was the last time you actually talked about your business and what you do for people on Facebook? Do the followers of your personal profile have any idea what you do for a living? Or are you on Facebook keeping up with college buddies and parents from your kids’ school?

I know you know this, but it bears repeating: If you don’t toot your own horn once in a while, nobody else will do it for you. Don’t sit back and wait for people to find you. Be proactive and step out from behind your computer and tell people you’re a resume writer.

True, you don’t want every single post to be self-promotional, because that definitely gets old and could turn followers away from you. Instead, develop a social media plan so your posts are a good balance between personal, business, and fun.

Facebook allows at least three different ways to reach your audience — and if you’re on Facebook for business, you should utilize all three, because not everyone will see every single post you publish. Using three different avenues raises your odds that the people in your target market will see something of interest.

Step One: Optimize Your Personal Profile
Prospective clients will check out your profile if it’s public or semi-public. So, in order to grab their attention, post consistently and be sure you fill out ALL the space on your personal profile page as completely as possible.

• Add a bio — describe to your followers what makes you tick, and how you’re unique 
• Add featured photos — a nice, visual way to grab attention with photos from conferences, workshops, speaking engagements, etc. 
• Add your workplace information – link to your website, Facebook Group, and Facebook Business Page 
• Link other social media profiles — under the About >> Contact & Basic Info section 

Even though your personal profile is meant for personal stuff, you can certainly announce the launch of your book, post photos of your recent conference you attended. While these are business-related, you’re not purposefully promoting your business via your personal profile.

Step Two: Create a Business Page on Facebook
The standard rule of Facebook is you use a business page to promote your business while your personal profile is meant for personal communication. So, to stay in good standing with Facebook, create that business page and optimize it in the same manner as you did your personal profile.

Business pages have come under fire recently because users complain that they never see page posts in their news feeds, even though they have liked the page. While this is aggravating, don’t give up yet. If for nothing else, you can add your website link and other contact information here and, since it’s a business page, you can talk about your business and promote your products every single day, even multiple times a day, without penalty. You can also run contests from your business page as well as add an opt-in offer to one of the tabs. Consider this a quick overview of your business where your followers can decide if they want to move forward with a consultation. Put a “Send Message” button on your business page to make appointment booking even easier.

Step Three: Consider Using Facebook Groups to Woo Prospects
Facebook groups can be another great resource to chat directly with prospective clients. Public groups are a good way to handle customer service questions. Closed or Secret groups are best used for specialty discussion topics, or memberships. Keep in mind that successful groups need daily interaction from their host so they don’t forget about you but that’s easy to add to your overall Facebook marketing plan.

I don’t know of very man resume writers using public groups, but there are a few using Closed or Secret groups as a benefit of working with them.


Remember this important note: finding clients is all about building relationships, and that doesn’t happen overnight. Talk about your business, showcase your expertise, reach out to your followers, and when the time is right, they will remember your name because you talked about what you do.

There's A Right Way -- and a Wrong Way -- to Leave Your Job (Part 3 in a Series)

This is the third part of a series focusing on leaving a job. In the first blog post, I talked about how to advise clients on what to do before they start their job search. The second blog post outlined tips for how to conduct a confidential job search.

In this blog post, I'll share how I tell clients to approach their supervisor to let them know they're leaving.

This one is often tricky for jobseekers. There’s rarely an “easy” way to let your current boss know that you’re leaving the company. This is especially true if you have been with the company a significant amount of time, or if you have a strong relationship with your supervisor. 

Here's what I tell my clients:

If you’ve had discussions with your supervisor in previous performance evaluations about your desire to move up, but these opportunities don’t exist within the company, your departure may not be a surprise. If your company was recently sold or acquired — or if your department has had a lot of recent turnover — that fact that you are leaving may not be unexpected. But if you are a key player, your resignation may be surprising, and may even cause big problems for the company. 

I advise jobseekers to let their current supervisor know as soon as they can. For most jobseekers, that means as soon as you’ve secured your new position (including getting the particulars of the new position in writing, if possible). 

Write a Letter of Resignation:

I also advise jobseekers to write a letter of resignation. Is that absolutely necessary? It depends. Many jobseekers simply tell their boss verbally that they are leaving — but there are several advantages to actually writing a resignation letter.

• It can help start the conversation about you leaving the company. You can simply give it to your boss and say, “I’ve prepared this letter of resignation to let you know I’ve accepted another job.”
• A resignation letter can provide you with an outline to discuss the issues related to your departure from the company (timing, unused vacation or sick leave, etc.
• It can help you leave the job on the right foot — without burning bridges, and leaving the door open for future opportunities, should they arise.

Letters of resignation should be positive in tone. This is not the time to air grievances. The resignation letter will likely become a part of your permanent file, so choose your words carefully. If at all possible, hand-deliver (don’t email) your letter of resignation.

In the future, the person verifying your employment with the company might not be someone you worked with previously. They may review your file, and what you write in your letter of resignation might be important. A strong recommendation can be important — and it’s appropriate to reiterate your contributions in the resignation letter so that information is in your file. Just don’t go overboard; this is about you leaving the company, not angling for a raise or a promotion.

In your letter, be sure to thank your employer for the opportunities you had. You can also reiterate valued personal relationships in your resignation letter — acknowledging your work with your coworkers and supervisors. 

What to include in your letter of resignation:

• The date you are leaving (if at all possible, give at least two week’s notice).
• Include a forwarding address for mail and correspondence. Also include an email address where you can be reached.

A sample resignation letter might sound like this: 

Dear (Supervisor Name):

This letter is to inform you that I am resigning from my position as (job title) with (company name), effective (date). I am willing to stay on for two weeks — until (date) — in order to provide a seamless transition for my replacement.

I have appreciated the opportunity to learn from you and contribute to the company in this role. Being able to be a part of the team that launched the (name of project) that sparked the division to its highest revenues ever is something that I will always remember.

One of the most difficult things about moving on is the loss of your guidance. I have greatly benefited from your leadership and mentoring, and I would welcome the opportunity to keep in contact in the future, as I sincerely value your knowledge and experience.

We will need to work out my final work schedule as well as disposition of my accrued vacation/leave time and employee benefits; I will await your guidance on how to handle these issues.

Personal correspondence can be sent to me at my home address (list address), or via email at (personal e-mail address).

I wish you — and the company — all the best.

Sincerely,

(Your Name) 

In the next blog post, I'll talk about the "etiquette" of departure — basically, some "dos" and "don'ts" surrounding a jobseeker leaving their company.

There's A Right Way -- and a Wrong Way -- to Leave Your Job (Part 2 in a Series)

In my previous blog post, I talked about some examples of people who left their jobs in dramatic fashion. While they make for exciting news headlines, it's not a great strategy for our jobseeking clients if they value their career.

I also outlined the three phases for jobseekers who are thinking about leaving a job. The first step talked about what they should do before you start their job search.

In this blog post, we'll talk about how to advise clients to conduct a job search while they are still employed.

Research shows it’s easier to find a job when you have a job, but there are special considerations jobseekers must take into account when conducting a job search while they are still employed.

Here's what I tell my clients:

The first is how they interact with a future/prospective employer. In correspondence with prospective employers or recruiters, mention that you are conducting a “confidential” job search. You can use a phrase such as “I am contacting you in confidence about this position.” However, keep in mind that prospective employers are under no obligation to respect your wishes. Also be careful when replying to blind advertisements (ones that do not provide a name for the prospective employer). More than one jobseeker has accidentally submitted a résumé to his or her current employer this way.

Don’t conduct your job search on the company’s time — or dime. Reserve your jobseeking activities to before work, on your lunch hour, or after work. If necessary, take personal leave (not sick time) to go on interviews. (You can simply say you have an appointment.) Don’t use your company computer (including accessing your personal email account) for your job search. Don’t take employment-related phone calls during your work time; allow these messages to go to your voice mail, and return the calls during breaks or before or after work. And don’t list your employer’s phone number or your business email address on your job search documents.

How you dress during your job search can also be tricky. If you work in a “casual” workplace, wearing “interview attire” to work can be a red flag that something is up. You may want to change into your more formal clothes before an interview (don’t change at work!) — or schedule job interviews on a day when you’re not working.

Providing job references is also likely to be an issue. Even if you’ve told the prospective employer that your current employer doesn’t know that you’re looking, you may still want to mention that you do not want the company to contact your current employer for a reference until they are ready to extend a job offer, so as not to jeopardize your current position. In this situation, you may need to provide several references outside of your company who can speak to your credentials and expertise.

Finally, put your LinkedIn profile up sooner rather than later. Developing a comprehensive LinkedIn profile — and building up your network of contacts — is something to do right away. If you create one before you start your job search, you can honestly say that you’re doing it to create a network of contacts to assist you in being more effective in your current position. Having a newly-minted LinkedIn profile (especially one that mentions you’re open to “new opportunities”) can tip off your supervisor (or co-workers) that you’re looking for a new position. Routinely updating an existing profile, however, is not as suspicious.

In my next blog post, I'll tell you what I advise my clients about when and how to let their supervisor know they're leaving a job (including a sample letter of resignation).

Read “There’s a RIght Way — and a Wrong Way — to Leave Your Job (Part 3)”

There's A Right Way -- and a Wrong Way -- to Leave Your Job (Part 1 in a Series)

With the new year comes the flood of jobseekers looking to have their resumes written, their LinkedIn profiles updated, and their interview skills burnished. As resume writers, we have a responsibility to do more than just prepare these career documents — we also need to prepare our clients.

One of the most important things we can prepare our clients to do is to leave a job gracefully.

Every few months, there's a viral example in the news media of someone who left their job in dramatic fashion. Examples include the JetBlue flight attendant who famously deployed the emergency chute on the runway, or the Goldman Sachs executive who wrote a “Why I Am Leaving” article in the New York Times.

These stories catch our attention because they showcase an over-the-top way to exit a company — but they are also cautionary tales for jobseekers. When at all possible, we need to remind clients not to burn bridges at your their employer. I tell my clients, "You never know when you’ll run across your co-workers — or current supervisors — in the future." It's an adjunct to my most-common saying — which is, "Omaha is a big small town." (Omaha, where I live, is a metropolitan area of 1 million+ people, but you'd be amazed at how "small" it can be when it comes to who you know.) The same is true in almost any industry — they are smaller than you think!

When someone is thinking of leaving their job, there are things to consider in three phases of the separation — things to think about before you even begin to apply for a new job, considerations to keep in mind as you look for a new job while you’re still employed, and how to leave your current job gracefully.

In today's blog post, we'll look at the first part: The Preparation

Here's what I tell my clients:

Before You Start Your Job Search

When you decide to start looking for another position, take the time to review your old files and make a list of your accomplishments in the position. If you haven’t been collecting accomplishments all along, now is the time to start. This information will be useful in developing your résumé as well as in interviews. Make copies of documents that support your accomplishments (unless company policy prohibits it). You may not have access to this information once you submit your resignation. (I've had clients who told their boss they were quitting and were immediately escorted off the premises.)

The first thing to consider when you’re ready to resign is whether your company has a policy or guideline about how much notice you should provide. You should also check your employee handbook and any employment agreement you have with the company. If you’ve worked at the company for any length of time, you should have some idea of how resignations are handled. Does your boss ask the resigning employee to leave immediately, or do they generally ask him or her to stay on until a replacement is found? How much time is it customary to offer to stay? You should always offer to stay two weeks, but have a contingency plan in place if you’re asked to leave immediately.

Before you notify your supervisor of your resignation, make sure you are prepared to leave. You don’t want to tip anyone off that you’re leaving — things like taking your photos off your desk or boxing up personal items on your bookshelf are noticeable — but you can quietly clean out your desk and files. 

This includes cleaning off your work computer. If you have personal documents on your computer, save them to a jump drive or CD, and then delete the originals from your computer. You can forward any personal email messages you want to save to your non-work email address, and then delete the originals. (Be sure to delete messages in your “sent mail” folder from your work account too.) If you have online accounts that use your business email address for the log-in, change the accounts over to your personal email. If you downloaded software to your computer that isn’t related to your job, be sure to uninstall it. And, finally, learn how to delete your computer’s browsing history, cookies, and saved passwords from your Internet browser.

When cleaning out your desk and files, shred or trash old files that won’t be needed by your successor. 

If you bring home a few personal items at a time, it won’t be as noticeable. The goal is to be able to easily bring home all of your personal belongings in one or two boxes — and, to be able to leave your job without leaving behind any personal information.

In the next blog post, I'll share my advice for jobseekers on the second phase of jobseeking while employed.

Read “There’s A Right Way — and a Wrong Way — to Leave Your Job (Part 2)”

Feed Your Need for Blog Post Content

If you have a blog, you know that you constantly have to feed it. I've had this blog since 2007 and one of the constant challenges is creating a continuous stream of engaging, interesting blog content.

For those of you who are new to blogging — or even those long-time bloggers like me — here are some ideas to help keep the content flowing!

• Repurpose What You Have. Look at your most popular content according to your analytics and engagement. Turn this content into different forms, and expand the content by adding case studies and additional data. Turn a 10-point blog post into 10 more in-depth blog posts about each point. Create video content and embed that on your blog. 
• Read Group Discussions. Check out jobseeker-targeted groups on LinkedIn and see what your target audience is talking about. Read the active discussions. The ones where people ask questions and people offer a lot of different answers are the best places to get ideas. Every question can be a blog post and the discussions can help you come up with more ideas.
• Take Notes. Keep a notepad near you or use your smartphone to take notes about conversations, questions, and other information as you see it and hear it. You'll often get ideas while driving your car, taking a jog, or listening to other people talk. Keeping notes and writing it all down will help. I keep my idea lists in Evernote.
• Create a Calendar. Create a content calendar that is designed to inform, educate, engage, and activate your audience. You can use a source like the National Day Calendar to look for ideas for content.
• Create Trending Content. Outside your calendar, you'll want to keep your blog exciting by adding in trending, newsworthy content that's all about what's happening right now. Can you tie in something from current events into your blog — like when this JetBlue flight attendant quit his job in spectacular fashion?
• Use Pass-Along Materials Content. A great way to get content that you can use for your blog is to use Pass-Along Materials content. This done-for-you content can help you come up with ideas, act as research, and be used "as is" or with few changes.

When you understand who your audience is and what your goal is with the content you're publishing, it will be a lot easier to come up with ideas that are fantastic, thought-provoking, fresh, and effective in meeting the needs of your audience.

Resume Writers: Engage Your Audience

One of the best ways of attracting and retaining resume clients is through content.

True audience engagement is essential. Engagement includes getting responses to your social media posts, with real conversations happening. That leads to a relationship with the audience that gets them to do what you want them to, and remain committed afterwards. But that doesn't happen by itself — it happens by design.

Here are some things you should consider:

1. Grow Brand Awareness
The reason you want to grow your brand's awareness is that it will help more people know about you and your offerings. The more people who know, the more chances you have to make them part of your audience. The more audience members you have, the more opportunities you have for audience engagement. 

To grow brand awareness, youíll want to create content such as white papers, webinars, blog posts and other content that is designed with the goal of brand awareness in mind.

2. Build an Active Community 
The best way to grow and improve engagement is to have more people to engage with in a community environment. When you build an active and vibrant community, engagement will happen more easily because they feel special and part of a group or tribe. 

A great way to build an active community today is through Facebook Groups. You'll need content for your community too, such as memes, challenges, infographics, and more. (Bronze members of BeAResumeWriter, check out the 100 More Social Media Conversation Starters on the download page.)

3. Drive Traffic to Your Website
You'll want to work on driving traffic to your website because the point of engagement is to get traffic to your website, and then get your visitors and hungry buyers to sign up for your email list so that you can engage with them in new ways. You can use your community and the content that you use to build brand awareness to help you drive traffic to your site. 

4. Generate Leads and Sales
As you grow brand awareness, build an active community, and drive traffic to your site, part of the point of engagement is to generate leads and sales. You can then have engagement with your prospects and customers. 

When you set these four goals, remember that they're only goals. You will also need to develop a strategy that allows you to approach these goals, with measurable objectives and tactics that increase your chances of succeeding. 

Goal-Setting (Part III): How Do You Get There?

In yesterday's blog post, I talked about how to decide where you're going — setting the goal or goals you want to achieve.

Once you know where you want to go, you can chart the course for how to get there.

So the next step after setting a goal is to create a series of steps you need to take to accomplish the goal. 

There’s that saying: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. When I get stuck on how to approach a goal, I make a list of all the tasks I need to take to get it done. Then I work on one. If I’m really stuck, I set a timer on my phone for 15 minutes, and I commit to working on a task until the timer goes off. Sometimes that’s enough to get me out of inaction.

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, it is a really important part of the process to actually write things down. It requires a lot of effort and energy to try to remember what you need to do. You also have to spend time thinking about what you need to do next. When you write things down, it makes it easier to figure out where to spend your time. Also prioritize the list. Designate what to do first, and next, and next. That will help you move from task to task quickly, because you know what’s next on your list.

The other important piece is the “T” in “SMART” — putting a deadline on your goal. To turn a goal into reality, you need to know what you have to do on a monthly, weekly — or even daily — basis to make it happen. And you can’t do that unless you have a time frame for when you want to accomplish your goal. You start at the end, and figure out what it will take to get there.

One of the goals I gave as an example yesterday was "I will pay off $6,000 in credit card debt by Dec. 31, 2019."

That means you need to pay off $500 a month in principal to wipe out your entire credit card debt over the course of a year. Making a $500 payment each month sounds more manageable than tackling an entire sum.

But you can break it down even further. Five hundred dollars a month is $115 a week, or $16.50 a day. Once you have a goal and a timeline, you can take the appropriate action to make it happen. 

You could pick up a little extra work each month to make your $500 a month goal. Or cut your expenses by $16.50 a day and allocate the savings to debt reduction. 

But having a goal and action steps in place makes it much more likely that you will reach your goal than hoping that there is extra money at the end of each month to throw towards your credit card. And, if you have a plan for your money, you’re more likely to reach your goal of paying off your credit card because you know exactly what you want to do with that extra money you earned, or saved, or both.

So take a few minutes right now and write down the series of action steps you need to take for each of the goals you defined from yesterday's "homework" assignment.

Goal-Setting (Part II): Where Are You Going?

In hockey, it's easy to measure your accomplishments. The scoreboard reflects your success.
Photo credit: UNO Libraries' Archives and Special Collections

In yesterday's blog post, I talked about the importance of reflection in goal-setting.

Today, we're going to talk about intentions, which are a critical component in setting goals. 

Goals give us focus and direction. A goal is a statement of intention — about what you want, what you plan to focus on, and what you intend to accomplish. Choosing a goal gives you a destination to choose a path for. Only when you know where you are going can you decide how to get there. Goals get you into action, keep you on track, and allow you to measure your progress.

You're probably already familiar with the S.M.A.R.T. system for goal-setting. 

S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-Oriented

When creating your S.M.A.R.T. goals, use the present tense. See yourself achieving the goal. 

"I will create and launch a new signature system for jobseekers by January 31, 2019."
"I will earn $96,000 in revenue in 2019."
"I will pay off $6,000 in credit card debt by December 31, 2019."

Beyond setting the goals is making them a reality. It's one thing to write down a goal. It's another to look back a year from now and see what you've accomplished.

But writing down the goal is important. You're 42% (or 47%) more likely to achieve a goal that you write down. (I found both numbers in my research — either way, that's a lot!)

So take a few minutes — RIGHT NOW — and write down between two and four S.M.A.R.T. goals you hope to accomplish this year.

Read Part 3 here: “Goal-Setting (Part III): How Do You Get There?”

Goal-Setting (Part I): Where Have You Been?

Goal-setting is one of the most important activities you can do to be successful. The start of a new year is a natural time to stop and take stock of where you want to go. To start 2019, I'm going to create a series of blog posts that will give you an opportunity to look back at the past year, figure out where you are now, and also determine your direction for the new year.

Today's post is about REFLECTION.

Goal setting isn't just about looking forward. It's also about learning.

In 2018, what was your biggest disappointment or regret? This one might take a minute to come up with — or it may spring right to your mind. Was there a project you didn’t finish? Something you wanted to get done in your business that you didn’t? Or how you handled a particular client or opportunity?

Did you have plans for yourself in 2018 that weren't realized?

Were there things that you wanted to accomplish this year that you didn’t get one? What was the reason — or reasons — you didn’t get it done?

• Did other priorities and activities distract you?
• Did you forget to work on it? 
• Did you give up because it was too difficult to accomplish?
• Was your “WHY” not big enough?

That last one is important. Your motivation for wanting to accomplish something is vital to you achieving your goal. This is sometimes called “Your Big Why.” Do you remember why you wanted to do this? If you don’t know that, you’re going to have a hard time achieving your goal because your motivation needs to be big enough to overcome the resistance that you’re going to face as you work toward your goal.

Change can be great — but it’s also intimidating (even scary!) and difficult. If you don’t have a big enough why driving you, it’s easy to do the stuff that’s more familiar and predictable. It can be very useful to look at why you didn’t achieve your goals — and figure out what you can do differently.

For example, if you want to stop smoking, you may have a great WHY behind the goal, but you probably also have a reason that you’ve been unsuccessful in achieving this goal previously. Maybe you have friends — or a spouse — who still smokes. Or maybe you’re afraid about gaining weight if you give up smoking. Recognizing the obstacles that have stopped you before will help you be more successful this time around.

But I don’t want to get too caught up in the past. This is about creating the future you want, becoming the person you want to be, and finishing things you’ve never been able to finish before. But the more motivated you are to achieve your goals, the more likely you are to achieve them — because motivation gives a lot of fuel to the fire.

That's step one.

Happy New Year!

Read part two here: “Goal-Setting (Part II): Where Are You Going?”

"Tell me something I don't know already or don't waste my time."

Want to know how to get your client's resume to turn into a job interview?

Remember this phrase (or, better yet, print it out and tape it to your wall):
"Tell me something I don't know already or don't waste my time."

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a shift in resumes came about. Instead of the resume being a "career obituary" listing the job responsibilities, professional resume writers began focusing on accomplishments. Quantifying the numbers, percentages, and dollar amounts behind the job applicant's work remains relevant today.

But too many resume writers (myself included, sometimes!) are still including information that is too basic or should be "understood information" for any applicant with that particular job title.

Dig deeper. Ask the client more questions. Work to uncover information that isn't "basic" but that will "surprise" the reader by giving real insight into the client.

Tell them something they don't already know … or don't waste their time.

"You Are Where You Are Because of You"

I posted this graphic to my Facebook profile today.

I excerpted it from the "Positive Encouragement for Jobseekers #4 (Tweetable Tips)" Pass-Along Materials content. (This content package gives you quotes that you can turn into shareable graphics, just like this.)

I like this quote because it has multiple meanings, and how you interpret it is up you.

Positive: I am responsible for my own destiny when it comes to my life and my career. If I don't like where I am, I have the power to change it.

Negative: If I'm unhappy with my life or my career, it's because of the choices I have made. I am a product of my decisions. If I've ended up somewhere I don't want to be, it's because I, and I alone, have made the decisions that have gotten me here.

I'd love to hear what this quote means to YOU. Comment below!

Associations for Professional Resume Writers (updated 2018)

I had previously written a blog post about professional resume writing associations, but that was several years ago, and it's out of date now!

Consequently, here's an update!

If you're looking for networking opportunities, certifications, industry research, information, and more, there are several associations devoted to the professional resume writing and careers industry.

These include:

• Career Directors International (CDI). Originally founded as the Professional Resume Writing and Research Association (PRWRA), this association is run by Laura DeCarlo. Dues are $267/year or $25/month (first month is $97, then $25 thereafter). The organization offers several certifications, including the Certified Advanced Resume Writer (CARW), Certified Expert Resume Writer (CERW), Certified Resume Specialist (CRS), and Master Career Director (MCD) designations. It also offers an annual resume writing awards contest: the Toast of the Resume Industry (TORI) awards. There used to be an annual conference in Florida, but it's apparently on hiatus at the moment.
• Career Professionals of Canada. The pre-eminent organization for Canadian career professionals (including resume writers), CPC offers four credentials (Certified Resume Strategist, Certified Interview Strategist, Certified Employment Strategist, and Certified Career Strategist), a rigorous training program, and outstanding networking opportunities (including tele-networking as well as in-person meetups in Canada). Also offers CPC Award of Excellence, recognizing the accomplishments of professionals in the industry. One unique benefit for Canadian members is the opportunity to purchase group-rated liability insurance. Dues are $180/year (CAD).
• Career Thought Leaders (CTL). This organization, now owned by Marie Zimenoff, traces its roots to the Career Management Alliance (originally founded as the Career Masters Institute, or CMI). CMA was purchased by Kennedy Information (which became BNA Subsidiaries LLC), but they decided to close the organization. Wendy Enelow, the original owner of CMI, created CTL and the organization has regained the certifying authority for the Master Resume Writer (MRW) and Credentialed Career Manager (CCM) designations. The organization also offers certifications in personal branding, career transitions, resume and profile writing, the hidden job market, and social branding. The dues are different than most other professional organizations – a one-time fee of $399 earns you the title of "CTL Associate" with inclusion in a membership directory and discounts on CTL programs. The organization hosts an annual conference (symposium) -- the most recent one was in Spain in 2018. 
• CertifiedResumeWriters.com (part of The Career Experts). Not really an "association," this is an online directory for resume writers that has morphed into an "information resource site" for resume writers as well. Maria Hebda puts together an impressive line-up of teleseminars -- some geared towards member education and others designed to help members get exposure to jobseekers. There is also an active private Facebook group (membership in CRW not required to participate).  There is a one-time (lifetime) membership fee of $427.
• The National Resume Writers' Association (NRWA). This is a member-driven organization, with a volunteer board of directors. The association offers an annual conference (the 2018 conference is in Seattle) and rigorous certification -- the Nationally Certified Resume Writer credential. It also offers one of the best resume writing training programs -- Writing Excellence -- available as both a live training and on-demand. Writers can receive recognition for their work with the annual ROAR awards (Recognizing Outstanding Achievement in Resumes). Dues are $175/year.
• Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC). Founded and owned by Frank Fox, PARW was the "original" resume writing association, from which many other associations branched off. PARW offers the most common resume writing certification, the Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) credential. It also certifies individuals as Certified Employment Interview Professionals (CEIP) and Certified Professional Career Coaches (CPCC). The organization's newsletter, the PARW Spotlight, is the longest-running publication in the industry and its E-List is among the most comprehensive sources of information to get your questions about resume writing answered. The organization used to offer an annual conference, and it looks like it is coming back in 2019! Membership is $150/year (and has been since at least 2011).
• Resume Writing Academy (RWA). Not an association, really, the Academy is a training program originally developed by Louise Kursmark and Wendy Enelow, and now owned by Marie Zimenoff. Programs offered include E-Summits (webcasts) and a three-month resume writing training curriculum. Resume writers can earn the prestigious Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW) credential, which is a preferred certification for many resume contracting firms as well as a certification in federal resume writing (with a self-paced training program) and social media (including LinkedIn) profile development.
• Resume Writer's Council of Arizona (formerly the Arizona Resume Writers' Association). This small group maintains a website to market members' services collectively to prospects in its geographic area. Membership is open to resume writers in Arizona. Dues are $125 for new members (including website listing) and $75/year to renew.

And, of course, there is BeAResumeWriter.com, my membership site for professional resume writers, offering resources to help you be more effective in your work and in your work with clients. Bronze members receive access to done-for-you content you can use with jobseekers, a new special report each month, and a new Career Worksheet each month (part of Evelyn Salvador's Career Worksheets for All Professions), plus access to Expert Interviews (live and recorded teleseminars and webinars on resume writing and business development topics) and the entire archive of back issues of Resume Writers' Digest. Bronze membership is $13/month (recurring payment) or $144/year.  Join here.

Did I miss any organizations? Let me know!

Q&A: I Think Subcontractors Aren't Getting Paid Enough

I sent out an email last week to promote a subcontracting opportunity for one of my listings in the "Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor" membership program and received the following response.

I think the 20% to the writer is the wrong way around. Especially for only a couple of assignments per month.

A fairer business model would see the writer getting 80%+ and the originator getting a 10% - 20% “finder’s fee”, based on the premise that the writer is doing the majority of the work. Also, I think the client gets a better result when the writer interacts with them directly, rather than adding links into the chain of communication.

Having said that I am definitely interested in subcontract work and will check out your site and the YouTube.

Just my two cents!

– G.S.

Compensation for subcontract writing projects generates a lot of controversy.

Ask a subcontract writer, and they will tell you the pay is too low. Compensation is generally ranges from 20-35% of the project fee. Factors affecting the percentage include: the amount of client contact (and whether writing from worksheets vs. conducting the phone intake session) and whether the subcontractor or the contracting writer handles revisions. In general, the more client contact and the more of the project the subcontractor handles, the higher the percentage the subcontract writer receives.

Ask a contracting writer about compensation, and they'd remind you how much more goes into the project than the actual writing of the resume. There is marketing and client acquisition time and costs, selling the client on the project and fee (including determining project scope), getting payment and onboarding the client, conducting the information-gathering process, and managing the project through completion, including project finalization. There's also the risk of chargebacks, which is almost always fully realized by the contracting writer, with the subcontact writer paid regardless.

The author of the question above raises several excellent points. Skilled writing should be compensated well. How much better? I would argue that 30 percent should be the mininum amount, and that should be writing from worksheets with no client contact and no revisions. A project with direct client contact (including conducting the intake session) should be compensated at a higher rate than a ghostwriting opportunity.

But it's never going to be an 85/15 or 80/20 split in favor of the writer. The industry standard for compensating referrals is 15%. That's the "finder's fee" model the original email referred to. But that's very different from subcontracting.

It can be tough to find a qualified (especially a certified) writer who will work on a project for less than $200 (their percentage). At current rates, that means the contracting writer would have to charge $600 (at 35%) to $1000 (at 20%). With the industry average for resumes currently at $500-$600, that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room.

One more point: The author mentioned "especially for only a couple of assignments per month." Many subcontractors only take on a few assignments per week or month. (The industry average for most writers, according to the Resume Writers' Digest Annual Industry Survey  is 1-2 projects per week, or 4-8 projects a month.) Many resume writers pursue subcontract opportunities while they build their own client base, to smooth out the peaks and valleys. Most subcontractors are looking for extra income, experience, and the opportunity to learn how other writers run their businesses and interact with clients. Some subcontract full-time (or as their only work), but that's not the majority of subcontract writers.

Interested in subcontract resume writing? Check out the Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor membership site. Your annual membership includes the "Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor" special report (with information for subcontract writers about compensation, project management, and more -- and profiles of other subcontract writers), plus access to the Directory of Subcontract Opportunities, with more than 25 full listings for subcontract writing (with more being added and updated all the time).