Steve Burdan – Page 4 – Real Clear Resumes

About Steve Burdan

As a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW), Steve brings over 22 years of writing clear, concise and effective resumes and CVs for thousands and thousands of clients at every level around the world – entry, professional, management and executive levels (project pricing variable). He is familiar with job dynamics and responsibilities in a wide range of industries, such as Financial Services, Accounting, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, Customer Service, HR, Advertising, PR, Education, Non-Profit, Government, Military Transitions and other niches.

3 BASIC RESUME FORMATS

Believe it or not, every single resume can be traced back to 1 of only 3 resume formats. When or how this happened, who knows – probably back somewhere in the misty past of job search history. Even if you write your own resume and put a personal spin on it, you will still create a document that is easily recognizable as 1 of these 3. Let me outline them a bit and give you my professional opinion. 1. Functional: This approach front-loads the vast mass of your skills and achievements right up front – sort of a data burst that tries to cover all the bases right away. So you may have separate skills categories – 4 to 6 of them, each with bullet points. Then you simply list the companies, titles and dates with no other details, and then the education and training sections. Functional resumes tend to look top-heavy and unbalanced with information with no chronological context for any of the quantifiables at each position. So an award could have occurred last week or last millennium. 2. Chronological: This format is at the other end of the spectrum, where there is an over-focus on the names, dates and places, but no initial orientation for the reader about what you offer the potential employer. This actually is the easiest and most common type of resume that is circulating out in the vast sea of the job search. Again, this is not the route to go because the reader has to work harder to figure out what you are capable of. And that is not good – you have to connect the dots for the reader and not assume everyone can figure out what [...]

By Steve Burdan|2020-10-29T14:02:22+00:00October 1st, 2010|Home|1 Comment

5 COMPONENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL JOB SEARCH

To get a job and complete your search successfully, you have to put together an actual plan, a campaign, that consists of 5 separate components. This will, at the very least, give you a sense of traction in a process that typically has so few "road markers" to let you know how you are doing or what you can do next. 1. Personal Networking: Identify and build a contact tree of people you know professionally, and even personally, who could be helpful in getting wider distribution of your resume and putting you in front of the people you need to connect with. Never let a contact line go cold! 2. Recruiters: Research and contact professional recruiters who may have leads to great opportunities and can act as the “middle man” with corporations that need someone like yourself. Keep in mind, though, that recruiters are only as good as the openings they have available. Check out the Directory of Executive Recruiters for specific info. 3. Online Posting/Surfing: Go online and sift through all the services available for posting your resume, such as TheLadders.com, Careerbuilder.com and others. This option is particularly attractive if you don’t care who knows you are looking; it is also sort of like online dating – lots of smoke and some fire. However, you are looking for only 1 job! 4. National Newspaper Want-Ads: Scan through the job opening in such resources as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Business Employment Weekly, Crain’s Business and other national publications. You never know where you will dig up that “golden contact” that leads to your new position. 5. Community Networking Groups: Check out what is available as a job search network through your [...]

By Steve Burdan|2020-10-29T14:02:22+00:00September 24th, 2010|Home|1 Comment

RESUME TIPS

Here are 3 basic tips for keeping your head on straight and staying focused, while pursuing that job for which you are fully qualified. Tip #1 – Focus on what is within your control in the job search and not on what is outside your control. The biggest things you can control is the actual resume you are using and how hard you are working the job search process. The biggest thing outside your control is Timing – you cannot control the mood of the potential employer, when they read your resume or whether they feel “chemistry” with your background. Tip #2 – Avoid the temptation to be “Marvin the Mind Reader” with potential employers. Do not waste your time trying to guess what may or may not be in the mind of your resume’s reader. There is no way you will ever be able to do this. Rather, concentrate on how well you are packaged and what kind of message you are sending. You will forego an ulcer by not worrying about things beyond your control. Tip #3 – Keep in mind that resumes by their very nature are polarizing. You cannot expect everyone to love your resume. Every employer has their own, slightly different “spec-list” and you want to “mirror” what they are looking for as much as possible. Bottom line, you want to talk to employers who want to talk to you. Keep in mind that you are only going after one job, however many prospects and interviews you have.

By Steve Burdan|2020-10-29T14:02:22+00:00September 17th, 2010|Home|0 Comments

WELCOME TO REAL CLEAR RESUMES

Welcome to RealClearResumes – a site devoted to helping people get through their job search with a much better resume than they ever had before. Getting a new job can be one of the great sources of stress and strain for even the most qualified candidate. Why take your chances with a sub-par resume and miss the opportunity to move into the position you want? With 20 years combined of professional resume writing and executive search, we can give you that edge, make your resume that much better and smooth the typically rough path of the job transition. We have worked with demanding customers in pretty much every industry and at every level, including Sales, Marketing, IT, Operations, Logistics, Finance, HR/OD, Customer Service, Legal, Manufacturing, Engineering, Military and others.

By Steve Burdan|2020-10-29T14:02:22+00:00August 23rd, 2010|Home|0 Comments

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