WINNING RESUMES BLOG: July 2011

7/20/2011

WEAK OR BASIC RESUMES RESULT FROM USING RESUME SOFTWARE

Using any lazy, fill-in-the-blanks type of resume building software can only result in a very weak and "basic" resume.

This will be a GENERIC resume -- not the strong and focused resume you need to succeed today. Today's job resume needs to be a MARKETING document that sells you to tough employers -- in advance.

While resume software may help you to organize your information, it WON'T and it CAN'T help you to SELL YOURSELF. With so many resumes and cover letters streaming in, your resume needs to do most or all of the selling -- up front. That's what a tailored resume does. Employers don't have time to read cover letters that are usually boring, amateurish and unfocused!

Let's do a quick reality check:

1. Will the resume building or resume creation software show you where and how to SELL yourself in the resume? NO!

2. Does the resume building software help you to analyze, identify and express your best "SELLING POINTS"? NO!

3. Will it show you where and how to address or target the employer's specific needs or job requirements? DEFINITELY NOT!

4. Does resume creation software show you what to include and what to leave out? NO! It leaves those crucial decisions for you to make.

5. Will the resume building software show you how to deal with too much or a lack of experience or too much or too little formal education? NO!

6. Does any resume building software help you "fix" your resume blemishes (such as gaps in employment) or how to deal with other potentially fatal "red flags"? DEFINITELY NOT!

7. Can you ask the resume building software any tough QUESTIONS? Of course not! It's only dumb software -- not a real live professional resume writer.In short, resume building software gives you a false sense of security. It makes you believe that it helps you create a winning resume. But 95 times out of 100, this will NOT happen! You will only create another GENERIC resume that will be screened out in less than 20 seconds. I know.

What about on-line resume services (with a terrific website) that offer you a "Resume and Cover Letter builder." This morning, a desperate and urgent client, Bob V., sent me the resume he had prepared online with a resume outfit that invites you to "Write A Great Resume Online!"

Bob had used their "Resume BUILDER and PUBLISHER" but his Sales Manager resume was a complete disaster -- as a MARKETING document. It had NO "sell" and had been produced by filling-in-the-blanks! His dates made him look like an unstable "job hopper" and not a single one of his accomplishments was highlighted in any way. Bob had to pay me $125 to focus the resume and convert it into a marketing document suitable for a Territory Sales Manager. It worked!

The exercise of preparing your resume carefully to sell or market you on paper, has another huge benefit.

"The process of preparing your resume is also the best interview preparation a person could have."

This is the view of James X, my respected blogger and he is 100% correct. Working with a professional writer will involve doing the necessary "homework" and also prepare you for job interviews. This valuable process of interaction and preparation is NOT included in any cheap resume building software package or is offered by any "quicky" online resume writing service.

DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN SOLVE YOUR RESUME WRITING PROBLEMS FOR ONLY $9 OR $49 OR $150? Please wake up and smell the coffee before resume creation software causes you to lose yet another job opportunity. In this recession, there are fewer jobs to apply for and you can't afford to miss out on any. Don't be "Penny wise but Pound foolish" as the English say.

E-mail or call me for a FREE consultation or price quote. I promise to be reasonable.

mattgreene@aol.com
Tel.: 1-718 436-3504

Copyright, 2006-2011 by Matthew Greene. All rights reserved

7/10/2011

WHY RESUME SOFTWARE WON'T HELP YOU WRITE A WINNING RESUME FOR 2011

Resume software WON'T help you build or write a winning resume. All you'll create is a weak resume that will NOT impress anyone. It WON'T help you to sell yourself to employers.

Recently, James X, a reader of this blog, wrote a comment: "You could do everyone a service by addressing the fill-in-the-blanks, cookie-cutter resume creation software that cranks out GENERIC 'resumes' that are harming careers."

During the past 25 years, I have checked out most resume software programs. These are quick, do-it-yourself resume writing "solutions" that DON'T help!

First, no one can create a winning resume in 60 minutes -- with or without this software. Many things will be wrong with it. Second, these programs DON'T show you how to sell yourself and that's the most important aspect of any resume.

Frankly, resume building software offers you a modern SNAKE OIL type of answer for your resume writing problems. Those programs DON'T help you create a good resume that will help you to get hired. Nevertheless, they are used by thousands of innocent job seekers who don't know any better. All they'll be able to create is a very weak basic resume. In this recession, that type of resume is worse than having NO resume at all. It will be screened out in seconds.

ALL resume software does NOT help you build a strong and effective resume for today's recession -- a focused or better still, a tailored resume with "sell". Such software and resume templates are a lazy "solution" intended for good times when jobs are plentiful.

Unfortunately, resume building software also fools you into believing that you'll construct a resume that will work for you. You WON'T. Not a chance! You need a tailored resume.

When you later find out that it does NOT work because it CAN'T work, you'll turn around and blame the job market. In fact, the GENERIC resume you produced CAN'T even start to compete against the custom-made resumes written by expert professional writers. Yours will look like thousands of other cookie-cutter resumes! All will end up in File C -- the circular file.

Frankly, you are wasting your time and money on any type of resume building or resume creation software. It may well be the cheapest way to create a resume but it is the WORST solution for trying to impress today's employers. You will lose job opportunities. Guaranteed!

mattgreene@aol.com
Tel.: 1-718 436-3504

Copyright, 2006-2011 by Matthew Greene. All rights reserved