Writing Prompts

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Resume Writing Resources

Quality resume-writing is critical to presenting yourself well when searching for a new job. Your resume is the single-biggest factor that will determine whether you will even “get your foot in the door” to be considered for that all-important job that you so desperately want.

In fact, your resume (or curriculum vitae), combined with the cover letter, are the master keys to opening the prospective employer’s mind and door so that you can proceed to the next step in the process – the big interview!

People ask me to write or edit their resumes on a regular basis. Almost every time, when I review their “draft” or “old” resume or cv, I find one or more of the following common problems:

COMMON RESUME PROBLEMS

  • It is almost always too long.
  • It doesn’t focus enough on what you can do for the new employer “today”, in the job at hand.
  • It tends to give equal weight to “ancient history” with not enough emphasis on recent experience.
  • It does not focus enough on actual results achieved in the various job experiences described.
  • It does not make a clear statement as to what the applicant is looking for job-wise and career-wise.

If you have spent any time looking around online for resume writing info and help, you will be well aware that there are literally tens of thousands of self-proclaimed resume writing “experts” out there, all of which claim that they can write the winning resume for you. So, who do you choose, and why?

To further complicate matters, if you look closely at the sites of those “experts” who actually share their philosophy and approach to resume writing, you will find a number of different viewpoints as to how a resume or cv should be written and presented. It’s not always easy to know what to do.

So, what I have done here is put together this central “resume writing resource page” containing links to various resume writing resources that are hidden away in various parts of this site. For each resource I briefly describe what you will find there, followed by the clickable link.

RESUME WRITING RESOURCES

Resume Writing Tips
This article summarizes my personal approach to resume writing; brief, focused and to-the-point. These are the 10 rules that I always apply when I write resumes for clients.
http://writingprompts.com/resume-writing-tips.html

Resume Writing Tools
This is a short-list of a few resources that I have come across that I believe will help you write your own resume should you choose that route.
http://writingprompts.com/resume-writing-tools.html

Resume Writing Services
This is a short-list of what I consider to be some of the best resume writing services available online, should you decide to have your resume written for you by a professional resume writer.
http://writingprompts.com/resume-writing-services.html

Resume Writing Samples
Just to get you started, I have posted 12 to 15 sample resumes online, based on actual resumes that I have written for clients. These should give you an clear idea of my focused and to-the-point approach.
http://writingprompts.com/sample-resumes.html

Self Employment – A Real Option
I realize that you likely came to this page looking for resume writing help to apply for a job. That’s great for you. I just want you to be aware that these days there are hundreds of thousands of people (including me) that are making their living online. Check out this link to find out how:
http://writingprompts.com/self-employment.html

Jobs For Retirees
This website encourages its visitors to find happiness with their ideal retirement jobs, for income or for satisfaction, by following their passion. Site covers retirement planning, cash gifting, traditional jobs search, entrepreneur jobs, online ideas, building websites, volunteering, connecting with family, hobbies and education.
http://enjoy-retirement-jobs.com

Remember, no matter which way you decide to go; whether you choose to purchase a tool to help you write your own resume, or you end up hiring a professional to write it for you; the old truism “…you always get what you pay for”, is especially true for a resume or CV.

Your resume and cover letter are two of the most important documents in your life; so my advice to you on this one is DO NOT nickel and dime yourself out of the job and/or career that you really want just to save a few bucks.

Resume Writing Tools – A Short-List

If you decide that you want to write your own resume or CV by yourself, without using a professional resume-writing service, you will find that there are a number of tools designed to help you do just that.

In fact, if you look around online you will find quite a few such “resume writing tools”.

I have spent a bit of time looking around at what’s available online and as a result I can recommend the following short-list or resume-writing tools without hesitation:

Resume Writing Tools

Blue Sky Resumes, offers you a downloadable self-study guide and formatted resume templates. This product was developed and is back up by a team of professional writers and job search experts based in the USA and the UK. In addition to the resume templates, they offer professional career advise and exceptional customer service.
Check out Blue Sky’s unique product here.

Resume Builder is helps you with every facet of your resume, from your actual resume to the cover letter and more. Creating your resume with resume-builder.net is the finest way to make sure your resume appears well-formatted and professional looking. We want to help job seekers to create professional, successful resume to get better jobs. This online resume builder allows you build professional resumes effectively for free!
Check out Resume Builder here.

Jimmy Sweeney has helped more than almost 20,000 job-seekers (at last count) in over 25 countries, land more quality job interviews and job offers in dozens of highly-competitive fields using his breakthrough, step-by-step resume formula.
Check out Jimmy’s System Here!

Job Interview Answers “The Ultimate Guide to Job Interview Answers” includes 177 Proven Answers to Job Interview Questions that you can download. You will discover over 177 MODERN, TRUST-BUILDING, EMOTIONALLY-INTELLIGENT, and TOTALLY PERSUASIVE interview answers designed to help you warmly and confidently answer the difficult questions you can expect given the HR behavioral hiring practices of today’s complex business world.
Check out Job Interview Answers Here!

Specialty Careers

Did you know the pharmaceutical industry is almost recession proof? Or that a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative can make between $45,000 and $70,000 in their first year? The products on this site are specifically written to help you become a pharmaceutical sales rep! It tells you what pharmaceutical sales recruiters are really looking for.
Become A Pharmaceutical Sales Rep!

Acting Jobs – Quick-Start Guide This Home-study Course Teaches How To Get Acting Work Quickly! Weekly Video Instruction For 24 Weeks, Downloadable Course Materials, Monthly One-to-one Coaching With Tony. Not A “just Watch” Course. Students “do” And Start Working Within A Few Weeks!
Click Here To Get Acting Jobs




College Sports Programs

Searching for, selecting, and successfully applying for college sports programs is very difficult. This is a very specialized field and their are very specific ways to go about it if you hope to be successful. Here’s a service provided by Ivy League coaches that helps aspiring Lacrosse players get into their ideal program.
Get College Sports Program Help Here!

That’s my current short-list of resume-writing and related tools. I’ll add more as I come across products that I like and trust.

MLA Format: Summary of Rules

Many people who visit my writing help websites are looking for help with formatting and adding citations to their academic and/or professional papers. A lot of those folks are required to use the standards of the Modern Language Association (MLA).

In its more than 330 pages, the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers covers literally thousands of technical details for the writing and publishing of papers, and should be consulted if that level of detail is required.

Nevertheless, there are a number of overall rules and general guidelines, which are normally sufficient for the preparation of most papers at the undergraduate level that require use of the MLA standard. For the purposes of this article, I have divided those into three distinct sections, as follow:

  1. Overall MLA Paper Format Rules
  2. MLA Rules For In-Text Citation of Sources
  3. Compiling and Formatting the MLA Works Cited List

Each of the above sections below contains a link to an actual sample pages of of the format being discussed.

Overall Paper Format – MLA

  • The paper should be typed and double-spaced, on standard 8 ½” x 11”, 20-pound white paper.
  • All four outside margins should be set at 1 inch.
  • A header with consecutive page numbering should appear on the upper right-hand corner of each page. It must be flush with the right margin, and one-half inch down from the top margin.
  • A title page is not necessary (unless otherwise requested). Instead of the title page, four double-spaced entries are made, beginning at the top left-hand corner of the first page, listing author (your) name, course instructor’s name, course name/number, and the date.
  • The title of the paper should be centered, one double-space from the bottom of the previous entry (either the header, or the date if there was no title page).


In-Text Citations of Sources – MLA

  • When citing a work within the text of a paper, try to mention the material being cited in a “signal phrase” that includes the author’s name. After that phrase, insert in brackets, the page number in the work referred to from which the information is drawn.
  • For example: [ In his final study, Smith said that the response “far exceeded our expectations” (253) ]. The reader can then look up Smith in the works cited list for complete information about the publication for which page 253 is being cited.
  • In cases where the author is not mentioned in a “signal phrase” the author’s name, followed by the page number, must appear in parentheses. Example: [ When he left that job he felt it was time to move back to the sea (Smith 309). ]

Works Cited List – MLA

  • Sources are referred to in a “Works Cited” list that should begin at the top of a separate page after the last page of essay text. (do not capitalize, underline, etc.).
  • All entries in the works cited list should be double-spaced with no extra line spaces between entries.
  • The first line of each entry in the works cited list should be flush to the left margin, and each subsequent line for that entry should be indented one-half inch (i.e. hanging indent).
  • For the title of the work being cited, use underlining or italics, not both. They are equivalent in this case. Whichever convention is chosen must be used throughout the essay for all titles cited.
  • The works cited list should be arranged in alphabetical order, based on the first word of each entry. For most entries, this will be the last name of the author.
  • As a general rule, the names of authors are inverted (i.e. last name first). In cases where a work has more than one author, invert the first author’s name only, followed by a comma, after which the other authors are listed (names not inverted).
  • If more than one work by the same author is cited, the entries should appear as consecutive entries in the list, in alphabetical order by title. For the second, and all subsequent entries for that author, replace the author’s name with a line of three hyphens at the beginning of the entry.
  • In cases where an author appears both as a sole author of a work, and as the first of a group of authors for another work, place the solo-entry first.
  • If the author of a work is unknown, alphabetize the entry by the title of the work.
  • Generally, when citing BOOKS, arrange the information into three units, each followed by a period and one space as follows: (1) author’s name (last name first), (2) title and sub-title, underlined (or italics), (3) place of publication, publisher, and date (in that order).
  • Generally, when citing ARTICLES, list the information in the following order: (1) author name (inverted), (2) article title (enclosed in quotations), (3) title of the magazine or journal (underlined or italics), (4) date and page numbers (in that order).
  • When listing ranges of page numbers, use the format 354-359 for an article appearing on those pages. The efficient form, 354-59, may also be used.
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