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Resume Writing
Part Two

In part one of this two-part resume writing article, I discussed how to get started writing your resume. You should have a master resume that contains all the details of your professional life. These details provide the building blocks for your resume. In this second part, you will take those blocks and build yourself a resume that targets the job you want. So, get out that rough draft (or get busy and write it) and follow along.

Now you edit the text in your rough draft. Your goal is to revise, clarify, and focus your information. This is when you start thinking about your audience. An audience analysis can be an involved and detailed process. However, you can do a quick but effective job by asking yourself a few questions, then applying the answers to your article, web site, document, or whatever you're creating for use by others.

Some of these questions to ask and answer are:

• Who are the readers or users of this product (the document, web site, or article)?
• What do they need to know?
• What are they the most interested in knowing?
• How much do they already know?
• What are their expectations of a product such as this?

I like to add a couple of further questions:

• How will this product help them?
• How does this relate to them?

The answers to these questions help the writer put herself in the shoes of the readers and ensure that the relevant and important information is included in the document. What do they need? What can you provide them that illustrates that you can fulfill their need? You want to demonstrate through your accomplishments that what you did in the past gives you the credentials for this new position.

You need to weave your knowledge and understanding of the technical communication development process throughout your resume. If you've been writing or editing, you know the process, you just need to let them know that you know, you know? You do this by including terms like, "interviewed subject matter experts," "wrote documentation plan," "performed audience analysis," "created templates," and so on. Explain what you did, how you did it, and what the result was. Was there benefit or value to the company or group?

One way to state the above would be something like this: "Wrote procedure for systems administrators that reduced training time by 20%." This sentence states an accomplishment (wrote), a deliverable (procedure), the audience (network administrators), and the value to the company (reduced training time by 20%).

Also, aim to show that you know how to target a variety of audiences. The writing managers I've talked to about this say that they like to see that a writer knows how to write for more than one audience. Remember, even within a single company, you can have multiple audiences (managers, technical employees, office employees, customers, etc.).

Next, consider the visual design element or layout. You'll actually need two layouts for your resume. One layout will be a hardcopy version that you will mail or hand to a person, and one will be a plain text version to copy and paste into an e-mail or online form.

The hardcopy version can be visually formatted any way you want it to be. There are lots of ideas and samples on the web. Search around and find one that you like and copy it.

The e-version can also look however you like (all caps for emphasis, keyboard characters for bullet points, etc.). But the most important thing you can do with this version is always, always use a hard paragraph return at the end of each line, and two paragraph returns to delineate paragraphs. This is the only way to ensure that your formatting will look as you expect on anyone's e-mail system. I don't like sending attachments anymore. Why take the chance that a person won't read your resume because they're worried about getting a virus? Just paste your cover letter and resume as plain text into the body of your e-mail and you're done. They'll always be able to read it. The hard returns also protect your layout when one person forwards the e-mail to another.

When you proof your own work, read it backwards or cover the lines below the one you're reading with a piece of paper. Then read each sentence carefully to make sure it says exactly what you want it to say. Hold the paper at arm's length and quickly scan the entire document to see if the layout works. Think about the chunks of information. Do they make sense? Is the organization good? When you've done all of this, and revised accordingly, print a final version. Now find someone who will carefully read through the whole thing and give you feedback. Do not send this out until someone else carefully reads it.

Carefully read the ad again. Have you addressed all of the job requirements and expectations that you can? If the company says they need a self-starter who can work independently on customer documents, have you described how the self-starter and independent worker descriptions fit you? Did you include the work you did for that non-profit agency? Remember, every shred of experience counts, paid or not.

All of this thinking, work, and re-work takes time, but you'll have a much stronger resume when you're done. Think of your resume as your writing project. As a technical writer I'm expected to analyze my audience, determine their needs, plan and research my document, organize the content to best suit the needs of my audience, and then write, revise, and edit the information. That's what you need to do with your resume.

Readers of resumes are human though, so no one formula will work for everyone. Do your research on the company. Find out as much as you can about the company culture and working environment. Write your resume and cover letter to show them how well you would fit into their company. Last but not least, hang in there, be persistent, and be patient. You'll get where you want to be.

Next time, I will cover interviewing. Please contact me at gerifrick@yahoo.com if you have any funny or not-so-funny experiences to share. I'd like to include "real world" stories in my next column.

I'd also like to hear from you about other topics that interest you. Let me know if there's a topic you'd like me to address in a future column.

Geri Frick has worked as a technical communicator for over 15 years. Send Geri your ideas or questions at gerifrick@yahoo.com