Blog
Debra Wheatman, President of Careers Done Write, provides expert insight to the job search process that puts your career in gear with tips for interviewing, networking, job search strategies and how to create a winning resume and cover letter.
Résumé Help: Too Much Personality?
Careers Done Write is a finalist in the prestigious About.com Reader's Choice Awards for "best career blog." Being nominated is a great honor and in the spirit of “reaching for the brass ring", we want to win! Please click here to vote for us. You can vote once per day February 19th through March 19th. If we win, we’ll celebrate with an…
Résumé Help: Digging Deeper to Uncover a Valuable Achievement
Careers Done Write is a finalist in the prestigious About.com Reader's Choice Awards for "best career blog." Being nominated is a great honor and in the spirit of “reaching for the brass ring", we want to win! Please click here to vote for us. You can vote once per day February 19th through March 19th. If we win, we’ll celebrate with an…
Résumé Help: Muddled to Marvelous
In today’s example, we see a muddled résumé that is an interview-blocker! First the reader must be patient enough to read this tiny print. The next hurdle is the tight spacing and disorganized layout. Jump that hurdle and the reader must read through long explanations with the result hidden at the end. Whew! This candidate…
Résumé Help: Font Update
Today’s sample has several possibilities for discussion. However, we’ll show today how a small, quick change can make a big difference. The proper font will help create a professional image and facilitate a quick read. If the font is too compact, it may interfere with readability. If it is too busy, it will distract from…
Résumé Help: Too Much Education?
In today’s example, it is not that the candidate has too much education. The issue is that she has too much information in the education section of her résumé. She has included some unnecessary or outdated information that we need to strike. She has some items shown under the heading of education that would be…
Résumé Help: Work Experience Blahs to Ahhh!
<Yawn> Excuse me! I just finished reading today’s résumé sample from Jim and I almost dozed off. It is very “blah” as in boring, which means no interviews for Jim. Jim is an extremely bright guy with a great work history, but his résumé shows a lack of effort, professionalism, and confidence. That is a…
Résumé Help: Responsible for a Bad Résumé
The biggest issue on this résumé example is that every job description begins with “Responsible for.” What does “responsible for” connote? For one thing, it does not clearly say you did anything. I may be responsible for producing sales of $5 million, yet I only produced $300,000. It also sounds like a job description issued…
Résumé Help: Asking Questions to Uncover Accomplishments
Clara’s résumé has great potential. The best way to improve her resume is to add a few strong achievements. Clara shared many of her job functions. However, Clara has had a difficult time going beyond her daily functions. This is very common. If you feel like your résumé does not have the punch you feel…
Résumé Help: Strategies for Recent Grads with Limited Experience
Today’s candidate, Don, is a recent graduate with limited experience. If you have very little experience, you must make the most of the experience you do have. It appears that Don copied and pasted the job descriptions onto his résumé. We only see the minimal requirements and skills. Also, Don duplicated the information from one…
Résumé Help What Not to Do: Part 2 of 2
In our last Résumé Help blog entry, we introduced this two-part series, “What Not to Do.” I suggested that we need to see and discuss the truly disastrous résumés to learn what not to do! We thought things were bad in the first half. In the second half, we see more mistakes, mostly of a…