Is your resume remarkable so you are MARKETABLE?

How to make a resume remarkable? Writing resumes and job search is very different today than 30 or 20 or 10 or even 5 years ago. Tough market, changing technology, and the Great Recession all impacted resume writing and career marketing.

Make your resume remarkable so that you are marketable

  • Make your resume remarkable, chock full of accomplishments, keywords, strategies, with no dinosaur phrases like “responsible for”.
  • Know industry-specific terms for your industry or the industry you want to transition to for your next position.
  • Sift through stories, rewrite them in the funny language of “resume-speak” so you wow the hiring manager and she calls you for an interview.
  • That’s what I do.

Resume writing is an art

Excellent resume writing combines good listening skills with a clear understanding of quality resume writing, resume formatting, and diverse knowledge of multiple careers and industries. When I speak to people who are interested in my career, I explain that what makes me a great resume writer is the combination of love of people, technology, and writing.

A resume writer who doesn’t love people and helping people will never provide the kind of service to ensure the clients succeed. In my particular brand of resume writing where everything is done with the client as an active participant, it would never work if I didn’t enjoy helping others become successful.

Today’s resume writer needs to love technology because the entire resume writing business depends on technology. Most resumes today are delivered electronically. In addition, the vast array of software applications and social media platforms as well as the job boards require someone with above-average ability to rapidly grasp new concepts.

Finally, a resume writer who doesn’t love writing is just silly. Passionate writers make the best resume writers because resume writing is really writing marketing content for the product — the client. By finding interesting and creative ways to market the client for his particular career path, the resume writer is positioning the client to be selected by the employer.

Why I became a resume writer

For me, resume writing allows me to use the people skills I nurtured throughout my life. I love learning more about others and even finding ways to help them reach their goals.

I took a heavy dose of psychology and sociology courses in college. This is combined with an innate love of writing and reading. This background makes resume writing seem natural to me.

In every other role I had in life, I had some sort of writing and layout as part of my job. Writing newsletters and marketing fliers, creating posters, and even producing and writing an annual 60-page book for Wausau Whitewater made writing a key element of most of my career.

Clients tell me I have an amazing grasp of Microsoft Word. Sure. I use MS Word daily, hourly, every day. It helps that I am not technology phobic. I rapidly learn new programs, applications, and methods of doing things on computers.

All of this makes me a good resume writer.

Can I make my resume remarkable by myself?

Sure. But you need good writing skills and an understanding of resume layout.

Too many people try to put things in resume templates that don’t allow flexibility. Most people don’t possess the resume writing formatting skills that those who chose resume writing as a career find natural.

Trying to write about yourself is hard even if you have all the formatting, resume writing, and nuances down. People generally don’t leave the job description behind. Instead, they write dry copy that doesn’t showcase their skills.

How do you do resume writing different?

Imagine a consultative, collaborative, and interactive process where we work together to create a strategic plan to develop and refine every element of your job search initiative.

I work with you to devise the personalized approach to help YOU reach career happiness. Together we will create your resume, LinkedIn profile, and cover letter to capture your inherent and genuine value in a cohesive, unified career marketing presentation.

A client recently gave me this recommendation on LinkedIn:

Julie has a very different and all encompassing approach to resume writing. Through her skills assessments, she gets you to think about where you want to land and ensures your resume has the right verbiage to ensure your next role is one that will fit your criterion. I learned many things about my leadership style, preferred work environment and reasons why I needed to find these things in my next career move. I would highly recommend her resume/coaching packages as you will be very happy with the end result. She is extremely professional and easy to work with as well.

My clients may be halfway across the country or the world but when they work with me, a professional resume writer, we share coffee, laughs, concerns, and turn the scary resume writing and job search into creative, consultative writing and learning sessions. Learn more.

4 Comments

  1. Kimba Green on August 11, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    Hardest job on the face of the earth! Well, maybe not the hardest but darn hard!



    • Julie Walraven on August 11, 2010 at 1:20 pm

      Thanks,Kimba, and I am clueless about writing business plans and the thousand other projects you have done in your lifetime!



  2. Barb Poole on August 13, 2010 at 10:23 am

    Great read and so true, Julie! You offer that blend of objectivity, empathy and sharpened writing/listening talents to gather volumes of information, sift through to dig out the best morsels, and to make your clients truly shine–remarkable is indeed marketable! Very insightful!



    • Julie Walraven on August 13, 2010 at 2:56 pm

      Thank you, Barb, and after our e-mail exchange this afternoon about the choices some job seekers make to keep on doing whatever they were doing even when they are not getting results, being remarkable is even more critical. I know how tough it is for job seekers everywhere but if they are not working as hard as we do to understand the job search process and all of its nuances, it is no wonder they don’t get calls.

      The free resources that we all have available to job seekers if they would look, makes it difficult to look at very poor resumes and hear people say I don’t know what I am doing wrong. Read the resume writer’s samples, compare notes, read blogs, understand the process… and then if you cannot do it yourself get help. Sorry… venting…



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Julie Walraven, Design Resumes

Julie Walraven

Professional Resume Writer

Here are ways I can help you land your dream job.

You may be halfway across the country or the world. When you work with me, we share coffee, laughs, and concerns. This turns the scary job search into creative, consultative writing and learning sessions.