An Interview with Resume Writing Authority Phil Baker
How do resume writing professionals know what should be on your resume? You know yourself better than anyone on the planet. You know what your past work experience is, your education, and what you have done on past jobs. So how does a great professional resume writer find out enough about you to accurately describe your background and skills? How can a professional resume writer make you look like a star candidate on paper to get employers chomping at the bit to interview you?
First you need to know there are not many great resume writers. Yes there are gazillions of resume writers on the web just like a gazillion kids grow up playing soccer, baseball, football, or another sport and yet how many become truly great? – Maybe one in a million.
One of the great resume writers is bestselling author Phil Baker. He wrote the book Employer Secrets and How to Use them to Get the Job and Pay you Want and created ResumeDictionary.com So when I set out to find out what a great pro resume writer does I asked him how he approaches resume writing for complete strangers.
“When I write a resume for a client I begin with purpose. The purpose of a resume and cover letter for job seekers is a common denominator. They want to get an interview. The purpose of the resume and cover letter for most all employers is to determine which candidates have the greatest possibility of performing the job,” responded Phil.
“My job is to mine the job candidate’s skills and accomplishments with measureable examples that were gainful or profitable to past employers. I do this by a survey form and also by speaking with them. Asking the right questions based on the candidate’s occupation, the position he or she is seeking, his or her skills, accomplishments, education and experience, and the climate of the industry is vital to success. I gather any information I can on the positions they are targeting and when possible the exact employers.”
“You do all this before writing?” I asked.
“Yes. I spend up to an hour or two collecting information. Then the writing begins. I use my talent with power word language to become the voice of my client and my client’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and accomplishments to present him or her as the best possible prospect for the employer and position,” Phil replied.
“Why did you create ResumeDictionary.com?” I queried.
“ResumeDictionary.com was built to help people better assess themselves and help them write their own resumes,” Phil answered.
“Won’t that put you out of the resume writing business?” was my next question.
“Holly some days I receive over 1,000 requests to help people with their resumes. Even with a few assistants we could not help everyone. In addition I am involved with several other projects. There are also many people who cannot afford to pay for resume help and with ResumeDictionary.com they can create a resume using many of the techniques professional resume writers use,” Phil informed me.
You can also put Phil’s talent to work with his powerful cover letters in the OneClick Cover Letter Creator.
by Holly Wright
Copyright 2009 ResumeDictionary.com
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