To better highlight our upcoming Professional & Career Development Day on April 8th, 2010, this month's Monthy Member Missive features custom content from one of the nationally-known break-out session speakers we will feature at the conference.  To feature your firm another month, please contact Maren Amdal.

 

Google "résumé writing tips" and you'll get a glut of advice about optimizing your résumé. Power words, catchy design, bullet points, and so on. Problem is, by mid-career you need a lot more than that if you want to shape your own professional direction.

I use a "purpose, content, design" approach in my résumé writing practice. Purpose is most important, content plays second chair to purpose, and design serves the needs of both.

Before sitting down to reshape your résumé, consider doing this:

1.     Step away from the résumé. Expressing yourself through restricted formatting is obviously what you're about to do. But the recall and creativity required for a great résumé should not be restricted. Step away and ask yourself, "Who am I today? Where do I want to go? How does my experience align with what my audience needs?" Once defined, be sure those points are clear at every step. You'll have a better shot at marketing yourself on paper. (A freshly written document is much more effective than appending to the one you began at age 22.)

2.     Differentiate your background. Do you manage 10 employees or 50? Is your budget $20M or $100M? Where does your firm stack up against others in terms of ranking and size? Your candidacy will be weighted on these points, so position yourself for the next sensible step in your career by identifying and presenting size and scope. (Only if it's public information, p.s.) Frame your work and the work you want to do with the mindset that you're looking for a professional fit. (This exercise might also help settle internal questions about direction and fit.)

Only then can you sit down with the clarity needed to fully take advantage of all those Google tips.

Jared Redick, Writer & Principal

www.TheResumeStudio.com

San Francisco-based résumé writer, Jared Redick, helps people discover the marketable intersection between their background, interests, audience expectations, and career goals. His strategic "purpose, content, design" approach helps people transform rusty résumés into barrier breaking documents.

Jim is a retirement actuary in the Twin Cities office of Towers Watson.  He has more than 20 years of experience working with various types of retirement plans and has assisted clients with plan design, risk management, contribution planning, forecasting, reporting and administration.  Jim has worked with clients in diverse industries including utilities, health care, transportation, publishing and manufacturing.  He has been a public speaker and has written articles on topics such as risk management, the Pension Protection Act, phased retirement and proposed age discrimination legislation.

Jim earned his B.A. and M.S. degrees in mathematics from Creighton University.  He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and an Enrolled Actuary.