The Importance of a Professional Resume Writer

If you are actively searching for a job you must have your resume written by a professional resume writer. Even if you are not in an active job search, it is always a good idea to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date.

Resume writing is a highly specialized field and you will be putting yourself at a big disadvantage if you write your own resume. Many of the major online job posting sites including Monster, LinkedIn and Google Career are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to match job postings with your resume. The format and font can impact how the computer processes the information on your resume. Choose the wrong font or layout and you could be out of luck.

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There are two major credentialing organizations in the industry. The first is the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches (PARW\CC) founded in 1990. The credential is the Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) is earned through a self-study program and online test. There are approximately 1,600 CPRWs. To search by city, region or area code, click here.

The other credentialing organization for professional resume writers is the National Resume Writer’s Association (NRWA) from which members can be certified as a Nationally Certified Resume Writer (NCRW). The NRWA also has a Nationally Certified Online Profile Expert (NCOPE) credential which focuses on your LinkedIn profile. The NRWAs certification process is much more rigorous. Candidates must submit a sample of their work, have earned continuing education credits in the field of resume writing and pass a two-step examination before earning the credential. To search for a professional NCRW, click here. To search for a NCOPE professional, click here.

Reading List: Eat at Frog

Eat That Frog

by Brian Tracy

Why read this book? Written by the international best-selling author and leader in professional development, Eat at Frog will help you jump- start your professional development (or any other task in your work) with twenty-one proven methods and techniques. These methods are integral to accelerating your career: #7 Focus on Key Result Areas, #10 Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time, #11 Upgrade Your Skills, #13 Identify Your Key Constraints, #21 Single Hand Every Task.

Reading List: Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment

Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment

by George Leonard

Why read this book? This book is a bit esoteric, but I’ve included it here because “practice” and “mastery” are at the core of accelerating your career experience. I first learned of Leonard’s book through my own Aikido practice and really admire his Yoda-like lessons. These lessons transcend career and include all aspects of life.

Reading List: Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better

Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better

by Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway, Katie Yezzi

Why read this book? If you question the value of practice in your career, this is a MUST read. Many of the rules will show you how to set up practice routines for skills where the solution is not obvious. Rules most applicable to accelerating your career experience include: #1 Encode Success, #4 Unlock Creativity . . . With Repetition, #7 Differentiate Drill From Scimmage, #9 Analyze the Game, and #10 Isolate the Skill.

LinkedIn Official Blog

There is no better source of information about the most important professional networking platform in the world than the LinkedIn Official Blog. If you want to learn more about LinkedIn, go right to the source. There are hundreds of blog posts arranged by topic and searchable by keyword.

Reading List – Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations by Stephen M. Kosslyn

Why read this book? Kosslyn is a renowned cognitive neuroscientist and pro- fessor of psychology at Harvard University. This book provides eight simple principles for designing a presentation based upon the human perception, memory, and cognition. While rooted in science, this book provides practical advice. It includes hun- dreds of images and sample slides that illustrate the principles. If you use PowerPoint as a regular part of your job, you MUST read this book.

Adapted from my book, Career-ology: The Art and Science of a Successful Career, Chapter 5: Public Speaking & Presentation Skills. Click here to download 2 chapters of the book for free. Available on Amazon today.

 

 

The Best Resource for Mastering Public Speaking

When it comes to mastering public speaking, there is no greater resource than Toastmasters International(TM).

Toastmasters International offers its members a venue for practicing communication and leadership skills. Clubs meet regularly and members fulfill different roles at each meeting. There is a proven curriculum of increasingly more challeng- ing topics, techniques, and formats. Fellow club members evaluate speeches for each other. They also give support and encouragement to speakers of all abilities. Toastmasters In- ternational has grown to 14,650 clubs in 126 countries since its founding in 1924.

I encourage you to join Toastmasters. Each club has its own personality, so visit several clubs to find the one that best suits you. Visit the Toastmasters International website to find a club near you.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 5: Public Speaking and Presentation Skills from Career-ology: The Art and Science of a Successful Career

Reading List – The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by Strunk & White

Why read this book? Truth be told, you probably won’t read this book cover-to-cover, but it is an invaluable reference tool. This is the standard reference tool for all English-language writers. Consider keeping a copy in your desk. There is a related online resource at Bartleby.com that allows you to search for rules by key word or browse the full contents of the original 1918 ver- sion of this book—all for free.

Adapted from my book, Career-ology: The Art and Science of a Successful Career, Chapter 4: Business Writing. Click here to download 2 chapters of the book for free. Available on Amazon today.