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.
Resume Help: How to Make a Good First Impression
You have probably have heard that your resume is read very quickly. If you don’t make a positive impression in a few seconds, you are eliminated. That’s the cold reality. When Brenda presented her resume to me, I knew why she was not getting interview invitations. At a glance, the reader can see that her…
Spiritual Healing on Your Résumé?
Dear Deb: I am an insurance claims manager for a national property and casualty company. That’s been my day job for 15 years. My passion is spiritual healing. I discovered that I had the gift during my college years. I also practice massage therapy. Recently I wrote a book about my journey as a healer.…
4 Key Cover Letter Strategies to Get you Noticed
The cover letter remains a critical component of a successful job search despite what you may hear anecdotally. It may be true, however, that a great cover letter will not win you an interview or be the defining factor in getting you the job you want, but it is certainly true that a terribly written…
Cover Letter Help: Write Clearly Using Plain English
Today’s candidate has painstakingly chosen every word in her cover letter. She wrote to me asking for help. She can’t understand why she has had no response to her cover letter and resume. I had to break it to her. The letter stinks, or as Dara would have written, it is regrettably deficient. Some candidates…
How Much Detail on a Project Manager’s Résumé
Dear Deb: I am a civil engineer with 13 years of experience. My résumé is 5 pages long because of the many projects in my career. In my field it is important to show several details of the project, like budget, type work done, local government involved, and other details. My recruiter said the résumé…
Resume Writing Solutions for a Career Change
Resume writing is a challenge for many. It can be a very frustrating experience if you are planning a major career change. It does not have to be frustrating. With the right approach you can craft a resume that paves a path to your new career. Whether you work with a professional resume writer or write…
Resume Help: Improving Your Profile
Today’s candidate presents a very bland resume. That can easily be corrected with more sophisticated formatting. The biggest improvement that she could make is to revamp the top third of her resume. You guessed it! A new profile would take her from unnoticed to “in demand.” Let’s look at three major updates for this candidate. Objective…
Music Experience on Accountant’s Résumé?
Dear Deb: I was a concert pianist in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I had to start a career in accounting to make ends meet. My husband said that I should omit my musical experience from my résumé. I had ten years in my adult life during which I played in regional concerts with…
Job Search Letter Help: Letter of Recommendation
Today I heard from a college student, Sarah, who is concerned about the letter of recommendation her college professor wrote. Sarah thought that she had a nice rapport with the professor and was surprised the letter was so impersonal and short. Below is the letter that he wrote. She is correct to be concerned. The…
Resume Help: Overcoming Short Term Jobs and Career Gaps
Today’s candidate, Ben, has sent his resume to dozens of firms over the last six weeks and has not had a single response. He asked me to assess his resume. My first reaction was that these were just rough notes and not an actual resume. The multiple short-term jobs and career gaps are one…