RedRocketResume

It's Law School Application Season!

2011-10-17T13:37:00.003-06:00

For many people, fall means time to apply to law school. Each year RedRocketResume teams with Admission Statements, LLC, to help law school applicants put together their entire application package. We've developed strategies and procedures to make your law school resume fit within expected standards and sync with your overall application.

Admission Statements, LLC shares RedRocketResume's commitment to combining expertise with truly personalized service. Their editors are highly qualified attorneys, university professors, and writers who take the time to make sure your application tells your unique story.

Here's just one of the many success stories from former clients of Admission Statements, LLC:

"I received an amazing scholarship, solely attributable to my admission statement. This was the first step to getting into a great school and launching a successful legal career."

If you're considering law school this year, contact Matt at Admission Statements, LLC for further information.

Verbs: Too much of a good thing?

2011-05-11T10:42:00.000-06:00

Verbs are your best friend in resume writing. Powerful action words give a resume an active and energetic tone. A good resume is full of leading verbs: cut costs, increase revenue, lead teams, build programs, open offices.

But you can have too much of a good thing.

I recently worked on a resume that included this bullet point:

Plan, develop, coordinate, and execute projects and activities…

That’s four verbs. While each is a strong player on its own, strung together they are bulky and distracting. Remember that the main point of a resume is to showcase your career information in a clear and condensed manner so the key points pop.

My client’s original intent with this list of verbs was to indicate that he managed projects from conception through completion. One simple edit to convey that point without a laundry list of verbs is to indicate the start and stop points.

Plan and execute projects…

As a rule of thumb, never string more than two verbs together. Any more and your bullet point becomes murky and even a little silly.

Resumes for Career Changers

2010-06-16T12:11:00.004-06:00

"Within 24 hours of utilizing the resume which you supplied, I have received 2 job offers and 1 proposed interview...My career search has lasted well over a year without any type of formal or informal reply by potential employers. These results speak volumes in regards to your insight, professional outlook, and products offered...To have such an impact in today's fiercely competitive job market is absolutely phenomenal." -J.J.

The challenge this job seeker faced was his goal to make a major career change, from data analysis in the military to private-sector IT work. While his existing resume provided ample information on his background and military accomplishments, it needed major reworking to position him for his new job target. We condensed non-relevant information and expanded sections on his IT training and experience. In addition, we reorganized the presentation of information to give top billing to the most significant items.

Jumping to a new career track is often a savvy move in terms of long-term career progression. But it certainly creates challenges. A professionally written, re-targeted resume from RedRocketResume can help open doors to a great new career direction.

Career Coaching Partnership

2010-03-24T10:24:00.006-06:00

"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going,
because you might not get there."

- Yogi Berra

Occasionally a job seeker comes to me for a new resume, but as we begin discussing their job target we realize...they don't have one!

That's why I'm pleased to partner with Linda Panaro of Metacareers. Linda is known as "The Career Activator," and her clients agree. She offers comprehensive job search services--identifying your job goals, networking, self-marketing, interviewing--with a 7 day Jump-Start program.

A Success Story

A few months ago, I began working with J.P. on his new resume. J.P. had some great career experience, but was unsure where to focus his career search, or even what type of job would best suit him.
I referred him to Linda, who helped him target the positions and companies that best matched his skills, goals, and desires. Just two weeks after delving into Linda's program, J.P. landed a new job.

Linda has a very approachable communication style and she is invested in working one-on-one with each client to lead them to success--values that RedRocketResume shares. Her initial consultation is free, so there's no risk in checking out her services.

If you are unsure which career direction to take, if your job search is stalling, or if you know you need the competitive edge, I encourage you to visit Metcareers or contact me for a personal introduction.

The Proactive Career Transition

2009-11-11T12:45:00.005-07:00

We recently received this email from a former client. This client was a longstanding journalist and editor in the newspaper industry. Her paper was undergoing major reorganization and downsizing as that industry adjusts to the electronic age. We rewrote her resume with the goal of transitioning her career into the related fields of public relations and communications. Here's what she has to say:

hi!

i wanted to let you know: your resume got me a new job! (well, hopefully it
was a combination of your resume and my skills, but . . . )

you helped me stress the skills i've honed as a journalist so that i could
transition into another career. i just landed a job with a global
engineering/design firm, as a senior proposal manager. more money, good benefits
and room for growth.

thank you SO much. i continue to give your name out to anyone who needs
their resume redone.

best, c.s.

C.S. has recommended RedRocketResume to several of her colleagues, who are now creating their own career transition success stories with the help of their new resumes.

Is it time for your career to transition to greener pastures? Is your industry or company undergoing changes that put your job at risk? Be proactive and invest in a stellar resume before a layoff becomes inevitable. Contact us at RedRocketResume today!

Beauty AND Brains

2009-06-29T14:52:00.002-06:00

At RedRocketResume we work hard to provide top-tier resume expertise plus unbeatable customer service plus economical pricing.

But there's no reason we can't look good while doing it!

RedRocketResume just ranked on JobMob's Top 105 Beautiful Job Search Company Logos That Will Wow You. Check us out!

Top 5 Tips for the Perfect Resume

2009-06-19T15:58:00.004-06:00

The purpose of a resume is to land you the interview with your future employer.

Think of a resume as your personal advertisement that sells your skills and tells your future employer what you will do for them. A perfect resume grabs the attention of your future employer, gets you placed in the YES pile and results in the call for the interview.

1. Start Strong
An Objective tells a reader what you want. Instead, start your resume with a Profile section that briefly identifies your strongest qualifications and tells your future employer what you will do for them.

2. Quantify
Don't just say you're good at sales. Give ballpark figures on how many sales you've made, how many clients you've brought on, or how much you've reduced costs.

3. Stay on point
A resume isn't a full disclosure document. Omit anything more than 15 years old, any jobs that lasted less than a year, and anything personal or irrelevant.

4. Keep it clean
Complicated formatting, like bolding, italics, or font changes, is distracting and unprofessional. Use an attractive and readable resume design.

5. Get professional help
Do you want your resume to land the interview or gather dust on someone's desk? Don't rely on the advice of friends or coworkers. Consult with a professional who knows industry standards and best practices to make your resume a stellar marketing tool.

Compiled in collaboration with Linda Panaro, the Career Activator. Visit Linda at http://www.metacareersnow.com/ to learn how to combine her career transition services with a new resume from RedRocketResume.

What's the Real Message of Your Resume?

2009-04-03T10:16:00.006-06:00

An effective resume delivers a clear, unified message about your skills and abilities. But how can you be sure what take-away message your resume really conveys?

Here’s a fun way to test the key word balance of your resume. Paste your resume into Wordle and it’ll create a Word Cloud that visually portrays which words appear most frequently--the more often a word appears in your resume, the bigger it is in your Word Cloud.

Here’s a Word Cloud from a highly successful Operations Manager. Despite this job seeker’s solid career accomplishments, her resume used the resume-killing phrase “Responsible for” numerous times. In addition, soft skills like communication, coaching, and mentoring were given too much emphasis. If this client were seeking a training job, those key words would be appropriate. But in this case, they distract from her more relevant and compelling accomplishments in cost savings and marketing.

The key words from this Word Cloud give a much stronger impression of this Business Development professional. A quick glance gives a pretty accurate impression of this job seeker’s career goals and track record.

If you need help creating a resume that sends a strong message, contact RedRocketResume today.

RedRocketResume Launches Sister Site. Check out GreenLightResume!

2009-03-09T14:34:00.003-06:00

Now more than ever, job seekers need all the help they can get. That’s why RedRocketResume is pleased to announce the launch of GreenLightResume.com, designed to give job seekers tools that are effective and affordable, fast and easy to use.

GreenLightResume combines two powerful job search tools into one economical package.

1. Resume Tune-up
A trained and certified writer will add a Profile section, edit content, and rearrange sections to showcase your career history in the best possible light. You’ll get your new resume in just 1 business day.

PLUS

2. Fast Track Resume Distribution
Once you’ve got your new resume, Fast Track automatically posts your resume on up to 95 online job boards--big names like Monster, HotJobs, and CareerBuilder, plus dozens of industry-specific sites. Manage it all from one integrated control panel.

With GreenLightResume, you’ve got a great new resume blasted to over 1.5 million recruiters and employers. It’s an incredible time-saver—easily saving the average job seeker 100 hours writing and designing their resume and posting it on online job boards.

The process is easy. It takes about 10 minutes to log on and submit your existing resume. Then it takes about 15 more minutes to access and launch your Fast Track account.

We know money can be tight for job seekers. That’s why we’ve bundled these two powerful job search tools to get your job search going in no time.

Visit GreenLightResume today to learn more about how to get your job search going.

Interview with a Certified Professional Resume Writer

2009-02-03T13:40:00.002-07:00

Interview with Angela Ashurst-McGee, President and Founder of RedRocketResume

How do you start writing a client’s resume?

Whenever I start a new resume project, first I review the client’s old resume, plus any additional information they may have provided along with their order. I confess that occasionally, when I first look a client's old resume, I think to myself, “This person really just doesn’t have much to offer” or “There won’t be much I can do with this resume--this person just doesn’t have strong career accomplishments.”

But I schedule a phone consultation with all my clients to discuss their resume strategy. This is an essential part of the services we offer at RedRocketResume. In almost every case, once I’ve had a chance to actually talk with the client and hear them describe what they’ve accomplished at each of their jobs, any bad impression I may have had is erased. I find out that the problem wasn’t that the client had an unimpressive career--they just had a bad resume. By the time I hang up the phone, I’m really excited about this client.

People have a hard time writing about their successes. But once I talk with them on the phone, I’m able to find the pieces of information that will make a great resume. Once I have that type of information in hand, I’m able to put together a resume that really shows what they can do.

Why are professionally written resumes so expensive?

I’d say what’s really expensive is not having a good resume. I’ve seen so many people stick with jobs that they don’t love or that don’t compensate them as well as they’d like. They think they don’t have any other option or that they wouldn’t be able to get a better job. But once they have a great resume, they suddenly find that they can get a better job. So I’d say the money spent on a professionally written resume is about the best investment you can make.

Of course, writing someone’s resume is labor intensive. You need to take the time to really get to know this person. Not only their career, but also what makes them special, what they can bring to an employer. So that takes time. And then putting all that into words, and then making sure each document has perfect grammar and is formatted perfectly and has no typos.

At RedRocketResume, we only hire writers who are CPRWs--Certified Professional Resume Writers. So our writers are highly trained and talented writers.

What is the biggest mistake people make on their resumes?

Well, to tell you the truth there’s a variety. One big mistake is when established professionals put the Education section at the top of their resume. That’s only appropriate for students or recent graduates because it puts focus on school rather than on real on-the-job experience.

Another common mistake is when people write their resume basically like a job description. In fact, I’ve had clients whose resume basically is a cut-and-paste from their job description. If a company wants to hire an accountant, they already know the basic duties and responsibilities of an accountant--as far as doing reconciliations and reporting and managing the general ledger. So if your resume just repeats that type of information, you’re really not persuading the hiring manager that you are the best person for the job. Of course your resume needs to briefly touch on your basic responsibilities and the scope of your work. But most focus needs to be placed on the results of your work, the benefits your employer saw because of your work. That’s why I emphasize accomplishments so much.

Maybe the biggest mistake I see is what people put at the top of their resume. I already mentioned that for most professionals, this shouldn’t be the Education section. It also shouldn’t be an Objectives statement. An Objective tells what you want. But with a resume, it shouldn’t be about what you want. It should be about what you have to offer, and how you can provide what your potential employer wants. Plus most Objectives I see are very vague and cookie-cutter. They all say something like, “Seeking a fulfilling position where I can utilize my skills and progress in the company.” Well, who doesn’t want that? That doesn’t make you stand out at all.

So what you should put at the top of your resume is a section called a Profile or a Summary of Qualifications, or just Qualifications. In that section you tell in a nutshell what you have to offer and what makes you special. Something like, “Revenue-generating Retail Manager with 5 years’ experience exceeding profit benchmarks, cutting costs, and reducing turnover.” With just a few phrases, you summarize the key points you want a hiring manager to know about you--the take-away points. Basically, you’re doing the work for the person reading your resume. They don’t have to carefully read the whole page or two pages to figure out what your deal is. A cheat-sheet is right there at the top of the page to tell them who you are and what you can do. Then if they’re interested, they’ll be motivated to go ahead and read the rest of the details you’ve provided in the resume.

Making a Good First Impression

2009-01-16T17:48:00.007-07:00

We recently created a new resume for Blake E., a Human Resource executive. Blake is currently employed and has not yet begun an active job search, but he felt that overall changes in his industry are threatening his job stability. Blake came to us to provide a strong resume to help him overcome a negative job market should the need arise.

Blake has been recruited to each of his jobs and has a strong career record. But he still felt a stellar resume would be important to a successful jbo search. With his extensive background in recruiting, candidate selection, and hiring, Blake put it this way:

“I know my resume is the first avenue to open the eyes of someone out there.”

Blake’s previous resume was a rambling 3 pages long. Major accomplishments were hidden in a long laundry list of tasks and experiences. Here’s the resume we created for Blake to highlight his experience and accomplishments.

For a larger view, click here.

To learn more about what RedRocketResume can do for your job search, visit us here.

Resume Success Story: Psychology and Employee Assistance Program management

2008-11-22T15:54:00.007-07:00

Yesterday I received an update from Carol C., a psychologist in California. Last month Carol and I worked together to create a resume to help Carol win a position in the area of Employee Assistance Program (EAP) management. Employee Assistance Programs are employer-sponsored programs that offer employees services such as assessment and counseling to support employees' overall well-being.

Carol was highly qualified for such positions, with background in EAP as well as clinical psychology and organizational consulting. In fact, her background was so extensive and diverse that she felt hiring managers were unable to clearly see what she had to offer. Carol had hired not one but two other resume writing firms but felt that neither had created a resume that really pinpointed her strengths.

Carol had clear ideas about what her resume should accomplish, and she felt strongly that the resume must match her personality and working style. So I carefully reviewed all the information she sent me, including several versions of her resume and a few job postings. She and I communicated by phone and email to develop her resume strategy. We ended up using a few unusual techniques to group her experience. Throughout the process, I made recommendations and she provided feedback until we developed something she felt good about.

Here's what Carol says now about the results:

"Angela's is amazing! Prior to hiring her, I had worked with two other resume-writing services yet obtained no results. My job search started on 1/1/08 and I hadn't been getting any interviews all year. Within a week of sending out my resume that Angela wrote, I had three interviews and am now considering two offers. I had been so discouraged before I found Angela. Working with her was a transformational process for me that yielded excellent, results-oriented outcomes. I cannot recommend her highly enough ... she worked miracles for me!"

Our resume-writing expertise and personalized communication were the key to this success story. Congratulations, Carol!

~~~~~~~~

Update: Carol recently contacted RedRocketResume to update her resume. Turns out, she accepted one of the two offers she received within a week of sending out her new resume. She is now planning on leveraging that new position to seek a position in a related field.

Welcome to RedRocketResume's blog!

2008-11-20T13:42:00.005-07:00

RedRocketResume is approaching its first anniversary. In that time, we have helped dozens of clients from across the country develop winning resumes and cover letters. We're worked with clients in accounting, restaurant management, telematics, business development, engineering, environmental science, retail management, manufacturing, property management, and many other areas. Our clients have ranged from new college grads and mothers re-entering the work force to entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 executives. And of course we've helped many people from the turbulent mortgage, lending, and financial services industries.

Here is just some of the feedback we have received:

This is very impressive and a huge improvement over my old versions! Thank you so much for your help and hard work....I'm thrilled with the results! - J.K.

You are the best in resume services!!! - F.S.

Let me say I am so glad I hired you to redo my resume. I knew I was hiding in there somewhere and you have captured me and brought me to life in stunning 2D. I am glad to endorse you to my C level friends...As for the cover letter, once again, I am extremely happy with this. You are a pro, no doubt about it. - J.L.

My resume and cover letter look great! Thanks so much for your fast, professional service. - S.K.

Got it - it looks great! I can't see anything I would change. I contacted a number of other agencies - you were certainly the most professional and capable of the bunch. - G.R.

It’s been a long haul to finally find a person who understands who I am and what needs to be conveyed...Again, I am SO pleased and enormously grateful for the work you’ve done on my resume. It feels like me and that’s refreshing and amazing! - C.C.

I can't be happier with the results and I can wholeheartedly recommend RedRocketResume to anyone who wants a fast, professional resume and friendly staff to work with. - T.B.

I am 100% more confident handing out my post RedRocket Resume than I was with my pre RedRocket resume. Thanks for all of the help you gave me, and I love the finished products including cover letters. Thanks. - M.M.

In the coming year, we look forward to opening doors for even more job seekers. Especially as our economy continues to tighten, a great resume is essential to get hiring managers' attention. Now is not the time to squeak by with a mediocre resume!