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Can Your Resume Talk?

by Richard A. Hart

49 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0555; ISBN 1-4120-0187-0; US$14.95, C$21.00, EUR13.70, £9.50

Is your resume an advertisement or an obituary? Give your resume CPR! You can make your resume TALK! Mr. Hart's suggestions can help make your resume educate the potential employer.

Read more!

about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book One recruiter made this statement after reviewing the book: "This book is a gem for the ABC's of putting a great resume together. Dick Hart combines his classroom and real world experience to guide the reader in a practical, no-nonsense approach of ways to make your resume talk for you." Can your Resume Talk? goes through all the required and optional sections of a resume with suggestions to make the resume talk for you. Suggestions are made to make someone preparing a resume think about who they really are and how good they are. Suggestions are given to make the Objective a headline and how to write the work experience to support that headline. "Before" and "After" versions of resumes are shown with critiques of the "before" versions given to show ways to make the resume stronger. Then, the "after" version is a re-write to show the changes so the "after" versions will talk for you. Ten different types of resumes are shown so the reader can use resumes that fit their particular circumstances. Unemployed workers who have taken Mr. Hart's classes have found good results from the information in this book, as indicated by this statement from one of his students: "I went over a year with no interviews after attending a professional resume class. My thanks to Dick Hart for getting rid of my obituary and getting me to write an advertisement of my skills and abilities with results on one page with a technical addendum. I am now back at work with a very challenging job." The contents are not long and are written as simply as possible because shorter is better. The book is easy to read and the suggestions are straightforward. Using the suggestions in the book will make you think about what you need to do to put some life in your statements so they will talk for you. The Chief Administrative Officer and Human Resources Director of an engineering company in Raleigh, NC reviewed the contents in the book and provided her view: "Finally, an easy-to-use, real-world approach to resume writing! Dick Hart's recommendations are right on target. Resumes written according to his guidelines will surely grab the attention and recognition of hiring managers and HR professionals. I just wish I had it when I was writing my resume!"

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About the Author Richard A. Hart is a contract instructor for Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, NC. He teaches two classes - Can Your Resume Talk? and Career Development and Assessment. He is an accounting graduate from West Virginia Institute of Technology where he was captain of his basketball and baseball teams. He was also college student government president. His major and activities in college hardly fit the personnel and human resources area. However, during his 35-year career with the US General Accounting Office he spent 13 years in the training area, having served as Director of Training for 10 years. In that capacity, he was also Director of Outplacement where he personally reviewed resumes and gave practice interviews to assist exiting employees. He has worked with two support groups for unemployed church members to assist them in preparing resumes and preparing for interviews. When challenged on his approach to what makes a resume talk and why he thought his approach was right, he went out into the community and interviewed all types of employers, recruiters, and human resource companies to see what made them read resumes and what made them throw them in file 13. His satisfaction comes from seeing others refocus their resumes showing how good they are, finding challenging jobs, and then becoming successful in those jobs.

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Sample Excerpts

"Can Your Resume Talk?" explains the ABC's of putting a great resume together. Hints and examples are given for better ways to write the most difficult parts (an objective and a work statement) to make human resources personnel want to read more. Mr. Hart critiques the "Before" resume examples and gives clear and definitive suggestions.

The "before" and "after" examples with critiques of the "before" resume and how it was improved in the "after" version are quite helpful.
For example:    

Objective (BEFORE)
I am seeking a greater challenge of growing sales and profits within (company name). My goal is to be recognized as a top performer in my market.    

Critique
a. Resumes are written in third person. Applicant cannot use I, me, or my.

b. Career objective is too general. Objective needs to include a targeted job, targeted company, and the experience and skills the applicant can bring to that job.    

Objective (AFTER)
Technical sales representative for (company name) which would utilize 23 years of successful sales and marketing experience and skills in generating new accounts and increasing existing accounts in the building materials field.

Note the difference when a targeted job, targeted company, and skills are added to the objective.

The same holds true for the work experience statements.    

Work Experience (BEFORE)
Sales for my area tripled in 3 years with 20% increase in margin percent.    

Critique
Experience section needs task statements to start with past tense action verbs in a "bulleted" format and need to include what was done to get the result so the resume can talk for the applicant.    

Work Experience (AFTER)
Tripled sales in 3 years with a 20% increase in gross margin by expanding product mix with existing and new customers in the factory built segment.

Note the difference and how the statement comes to life when the format is changed and the reason for the success is added.

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Catalogue Information

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