Outdated approach kills a job search

resume makeover

Candidate’s BaCkground

Sally, a licensed social worker whose company had recently downsized, sought to return to a direct-care environment. After spending the past five years working with patients over the phone, she was eager to return to her roots in direct care. Sally wanted to focus her search on county and state positions, specifically working with seniors through the Agency on Aging.

sally’s

Sally’s existing resume was designed and written in an antiquated manner. Not only did the content focus solely on day-to-day responsibilities, but also the format was less than appealing.

Sally opened her resume with an Objective Statement, followed by less than 200 words describing seven years of experience and ending with her education and volunteerism. In brief, her resume was not effective.

sally’s

Knowing that Sally wanted to return to her roots in direct care, and specifically target her job search to environments where she could work with an elderly population, I gathered the related facts about her background during our phone consultation. As with most people, Sally never thought of her positions in terms of the value she contributed. Instead, she was “just doing her job.”

While this may be true, a resume has to speak to what you did in a way that will differentiate you from other candidates. If we simply conveyed day-to-day functions and did not speak to the value Sally contributed, then she would look equal to her competitors and not get the interviews she wanted.

Fortunately, Sally had performed functions that were helpful in differentiating her candidacy, and although some were not traditional accomplishments, they were still effective in positioning her ahead of the competition.

Vitally important in the success of Sally’s new resume was creating a better format, presenting her as a social worker dedicated to the aging population and overcoming the fact that her last position was not in a direct-care setting. Through design of a soft and feminine resume combined with strong content and a focus on the transferability of her last position, her resume emerged as an effective tool in her search to secure a social work position in a direct-care environment.

sally’s

Sally was kind enough to tell me of her job search success. She stated, “I just wanted to thank you so much for the wonderful job you did creating my resume. It helped me land the job I have been looking for. I start next month and will be a case manager for the Area Agency on Aging ... which helps seniors age 60 and up who are on Medicaid stay independent in their own homes.”

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The best results always come from a combination of great resume marketing a great candidate. Sally had the Samantha Nolan is a certified professional resume writer and owner of Ladybug Design, a full-service resume-writing firm. Reach sam at 614-570-3442 or dearsam@ladybug-design.com.