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1.
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What
is a resume anyway?
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Remember:
A Resume is a MARKETING PIECE--not a "career obituary!"
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2.
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What's
a resume ABOUT?
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It's
NOT about past jobs! IT'S ABOUT YOU, and how you performed in those past
jobs--which predict how you might perform in a future job.
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3.
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What's
the FASTEST way to improve a resume?
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Remove
everything that starts with "responsibilities included..." and
replace it with on-the-job ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
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4.
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What
the COMMONEST MISTAKE made by resume writers?
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Leaving
out their Job Objective! (Equivalent to: Somebody knocks on your door.
You open it and say, "Hello, what do you want?" They say, "Duh
...")
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5.
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What's
the FIRST STEP in writing a resume?
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Decide
on a job target (or "job objective") that can be stated in about
5 or 6 words. Anything beyond that is "fluff" and indicates
lack of clarity and direction.
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6.
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HOW
FAR BACK should you go in your Work History?
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Far
enough; and not TOO far. About 10 or 15 years is enough--UNLESS your "juiciest"
work experience is from farther back.
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7.
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Don't include
"Hobbies" on a resume.
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UNLESS
the activity is somehow relevant to your job objective. OR it clearly
reveals a characteristic that supports your job objective. (A hobby of
Sky Diving (adventure, courage) might seem relevant to some job objectives
(Security Guard?) but not to others.)
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8.
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What
if you don't have any EXPERIENCE in the kind of work you want to do?
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GET
SOME! Find a place that will let you do some VOLUNTEER work right away.
You only need a brief, concentrated period of volunteer training (for
example, 1 day/week for a month) to have at least SOME experience to put
on your resume.
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9.
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What
if you have GAPS in your work experience?
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You
could start by LOOKING at it differently. If you were doing ANYTHING valuable
(though unpaid) during those so-called "gaps," you could just
insert THAT into the work-history section of your resume to fill the hole--for
example: "1993-95 Full-time parent" or "1992-94 Maternity
leave and family management" or "Travel and study," or
"Full-time student,"
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