AD AGENCY BRED, WHEN I FIRST STARTED MY BUSINESS IN 1990, I developed branding materials for businesses (such as logos, brochures, flyers, content writing, websites, and the like). In 1992 when asked by friends to do their resume, I figured I'd give it a shot. When they got interview calls immediately, I thought it was luck or they were in the right place at the right time.
But when that happened time and again, I realized I was on to something… Most resumes were written like job descriptions but because I was accustomed to branding my business clients, I automatically capitalized on my personal clients' assets, benefits, competitive edge, value proposition, and return on investment along with their matching achievements—both visually and verbally—in their resumes. Not knowing it then, I became a Personal Branding Pioneer (the phrase wasn't coined until 1998); and this became the start of my resume writing practice.
AS AN ARTIST, DESIGNER, AND WRITER, I AUTOMATICALLY DESIGNED MY CLIENTS' RESUMES which personally branded them visually and resulted in their getting called before other applicants because they stood out and were read first amongst all the bland white resumes. In 1998, when the President of The National Resume Writers' Association and Director of Career Directors International saw them, they were astounded and asked that I make them available to other resume writers. Hesitantly at first because they were my secret competitive edge, I agreed to share them with my colleagues so they could use them for their own clients, and Designer Resume Templates became my first product.
As my own practice grew and I became very busy, in 2004 after 12 years of writing resumes, I got totally burnt out taking on more clients than I could turn around resumes. I realized I was spending way too much time consulting trying to garner their relative background information and had to do something to shorten this timeframe. Scientific-minded, I knew I just had to figure it out. It was then that I developed Resume Worksheets for my own client use.
MY CHALLENGE: To turn one-hour consults packed into as few quality client minutes as possible. Thirty minutes was my goal. Less than ten minutes was the result. And that included the pitch, obtaining their previous position titles and years there and their targeted profession, my resume strategy, the sale, and knowing which profession-specific Resume Worksheet I needed to email them to obtain their detailed career information.
I SURPASSED MY GOAL AND WAS THRILLED. To my surprise, though, the benefits didn’t stop there…
Because the Career Worksheets For All Professions worked so well in my own practice, I extended them to career practitioners around the world. As a result, they, too, found them extremely helpful in writing their clients' resumes. And this became my second product. (Career Worksheets won the prestigeous Career Innovator Award in 2008 and has been updated significantly since.)
WHEN I REALIZED THAT THESE TYPES OF SOLUTIONS COULD HELP NOT ONLY MYSELF BUT ALL CAREER PRACTITIONERS, over the years I developed a line of innovative Resume Products that cover a broad spectrum, helping resume writers serve their clients better while exponentially growing their business. Such as the Resume Writer System-in-a-Box that contains everything needed to run a resume writing practice. (The Resume Writer System also won a Career Innovator Award in 2010 and has been updated significantly since.)
In 2004, I created Resume ClipBullets and in 2006 my Job Function Clips—both containing prewritten, completely customizable Professional Experience bullets that practically write the resume for you. (Resume ClipBullets won the Career Innovator Award in 2018.)
Also in 2004, I developed my Resume Keywords for All Professions—which contained 8,000+ keywords. Today Version 6 contains 70,000+ keywords. (Resume Keywords won the Career Innovator Award in 2020.)
Plus in 2006 after creating a number of forms over the years for my own business, I put together a Client and Business Forms package that contains every type of form a career practitioner might need.
Then after learning just how important a positive web presence is for jobseekers to have for when hiring managers search them on the Internet before deciding to call them in for an interview, in 2008 I created a line of Web Portfolio Design Backgrounds, and started developing Web Portfolios for my clients and also made these designs available to others.
I am also currently in the throes of devising DIY Resume Writing Kits that combine all of these tools to simplify the entire writing process for every type of—not just profession but—position. Along with my published how-to career books that take you step by step to write interview-generating resumes, personally brand yourself, and attain the job you desire—many of which are currently available.
Over the course of three decades, my award-winning resume products have been tried and tested and exceeded my, my clients’, hiring managers’, and my colleagues’ expectations. They came about when I needed to resolve challenges in my own practice—when I found an intrinsic career-related need that was not addressed elsewhere. And as of 2020, all of these tools have since been significantly updated!
I PUT THOUSANDS OF HOURS OF RESEARCH AND WRITING into these tools so others don’t have to. Previously only available to career practitioners, I found these products did such a fantastic job of positioning jobseekers in the top percentage that I decided to make them available to jobseekers as well to develop their own resumes.
I know my tools will help you, too, and invite you to select the ones for your profession. All products and books are comprehensive, yet very easy to use with step-by-step directions. They work for everyone—from entry level through executives—in all professions.
I INVITE YOU TO REVIEW THESE TOOLS and select the Products and/or Books that fit your needs.
HERE'S TO CATAPULTING YOUR CAREER!
