Customer Reviews

Writing a Great Resume (Cliffs Notes)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am often asked to write resumes for others. My wife gets me into this for her family and friends and I can't say no to her. I earned a reputation for writing winning resumes. As individuals got jobs using my resume products, it built up my self-confidence. However, I've never asked nor been offered anything for this service.

The basic elements of a resume haven't really changed nor has the way of organizing them. This 1999 CliffsNotes edition gives a very concise and accessible explanation of the chronological, functional and hybrid formats and the elements of each one. As a background on writing resumes, I like this book. I have others too that I like, but you can't beat this price.

For the price of this well-written used edition, you'll get a thorough understanding of resume theory and guidance on how to build your particular resume. This book is concise, so you'll get going quickly. If you need an industry-specific book on resumes, you should try to get that in addition to this book.

Beyond this edition, you'll benefit from seeing sample resumes of individuals in as similar a situation to yours as possible. You might be able to find plenty of sample resumes just by searching for them on the Internet, but you also might find one or more additional books that include appropriate sample resumes. Samples are good for getting ideas for action words, industry-specific language, formatting and presentation ideas. If you can't think of what to write, start by following the pattern of a sample resume. Then you can continually improve and individualize it until you're done.

Use this CliffsNotes edition to get the concept, to understand what a resume is all about. This will help you reach decisions about regarding the presentation of your resume. You'll see how different approaches play to different situations. I have a personal bias toward a chronological resume with perhaps some hybrid aspects. My bias is a result of sifting through countless resumes when I participated in hiring decisions that went through a resume process. For example, a previous employer would place help-wanted newspaper advertisements and it was my job to select resumes from the batch received to call applicants in for an interview.

With a little understanding about resumes, you'll probably grasp what a perspective employer would see in your resume. That is as close to a silver bullet as you can get, apart from literally having the perfect background. You might get a job through a referral but still have to provide a resume. In that case the resume is not what got you the interview, but it must conform to expected standards. But where your resume is what gets you the interview, you need to be aware of all the things to avoid doing. That is why you should get a foundational understanding of resumes such as provided in this CliffsNotes edition.

As one might expect from Cliff Notes, this book teaches all the necessary aspects of resume writing without superfluous detail. Both the chronological and functional styles are succinctly addressed, with additional advice on preparing your resume for scanning and Internet posting. More sample resumes would have been nice, but what can you expect from a 100-page book?