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Young and Rice. Hall and Oates. George and Gracie. Laurel and
Hardy. Heck - even Mary Kate and Ashley.
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Companions are better together than they would
otherwise be alone. Likewise, resumes are stronger if accompanied by one
or more companions. Today, we'll talk about three very closely related
resume companions.
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Portfolio. I
continue to tell my clients to have a portfolio because...well...not everyone
has one. Having one, therefore, sets you apart. Don't worry if you're not
an artist or writer. If you're a manager, you likely have statistical
documentation of your triumphs. In sales? You probably have paperwork
showing your sales figures. Customer service rep? Pipe fitter? You have
copies of your reviews and hopefully print outs of favorable e-mails. No
matter your occupation, you should have a portfolio - and give-away copies
to send with your resume.
CD. Tech prices are
dropping all the time, which makes burning a CD quite inexpensive. Scan in
the hard copies (or have someone do it for you). Burn your portfolio to a
disk and make a bunch of copies. Send a labeled CD along with your paper
resumes (and make sure a copy of your resume is on the CD itself).
Website. As long as
your portfolio is electronic, you should upload it to the web. A friend
joked a while ago that soon, every child born will be issued both a Social
Security Number as well as a URL. You don't need to have a "dot
com," though by having one you'll get an easier-to-remember URL and
more space. Microsoft, Yahoo! and others offer free (though somewhat
limited) web space. Sign on with them and use their wizards to upload your
portfolio. Add a few links and make sure everything is interconnected
(we'll talk about the nitty-gritty of that in two weeks). The key is to
include your URL in the signature of every e-mail you send out to
employers. A word to the wise - keep your identity safe and list only your
email as a contact method (safety first, last and always doncha know).
...Um,
yeah. You may have noticed we didn't talk about cover letters, which
would seem to be a natural companion to resumes. Not to worry, gentle
readers.
We'll
talk about them next Monday.
IN THE CARAVAN: Your
resume will be stronger with a companion or two.
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bSafari.c
The Lion’s Pride: Resumes
