Life Strategies | 05

Reinventing the wheel

I told Liz that it wasn’t necessary to reinvent the wheel when it came to resume writing.  There are so many examples online. You can even type in “How To Write a Winning Resume” and dozens of examples with advice pop up.

My advice?

• Keep it short and to the point.
• Resumes should be written in the third person.
• Start with a very brief profile of yourself and what your key skills and strengths are.
• List your achievements when giving your work history and not just your responsibilities.
• Have a “master” resume and cover letter which you can ‘tweak’ according to each job you apply for.
• Don’t fill your resume with unnecessary detail.

The most important detail for Liz to remember was that if she was going to visit aged care facilities and hotels and restaurants that she needed to leave behind resumes that include any relevant work or volunteering.

Liz’s homework was to write her resume, ready for our next meeting. Meanwhile, I asked her if she had made any appointments. She hadn’t at this stage so I suggested that making appointments would hasten her progress regarding her resume writing and making those decisions regarding her next position and earning the money she needed.

We also discussed what she would be wearing to these non-interviews as presentation was probably more important for ‘front-of-house’ than aged care where ‘neat and tidy’ would have been acceptable.

Liz left our meeting full of resolve and had started thinking about her new position as being a career move as opposed just something to bring in some extra money. Where originally, she was thinking if part time work to supplement her meagre savings she was now looking forward to full time work. I suggested to Liz to keep an open mind until she had her ‘non interviews’. I also discussed with her the probability that restaurateurs or hospitality personnel were usually busy people so not to expect that everybody she would be targeting would have time to see her. Fortunately Liz is reasonably pragmatic!

Next week Liz visits prospective employers and we analyse the feedback.

If you missed the first parts of Liz's journey in my Life Strategy series, you can go back an have a read!

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