If you did a quick search on the Internet, you will find that
professional resume-writers in Hong Kong, Singapore and the USA
charge the following fee range for students and freshgraduates
(i.e. 0 to 1 year experience):

1. Resume Review US$129 (HK$1,000) onwards.
2. Resume Writing US$128 (HK$1,000) onwards.
3. Cover-letter Writing US$79 (HK616) onwards.
4. Interview Preparation US$179 (HK1,400) onwards.

And these fees do not include “express” (within 48 hours) and
“rush” (within 36 hours) service.

I think this is the reason why I received several emails after
sending out our resume-writing Summer Special over the past 2 weeks
all of which said something to the effect of:

“Are you crazy??!”

“Don’t you have to eat?!?”

I guess I am crazy to be offering such a low rate. But I do want to
help as many students as we can get a good start in their
job-hunting and career. This is our mission.

Incidentally, I did get emails from one lady repeatedly asking me
WHY do we charge for our resume-writing service.

Well, my answer is simple: If my team and I are dead (no fee = no
income = no pay = no food = dead), we can no longer provide any
benefit to you or anyone!

We do need to survive in order to continue with our work and that’s
why we charge. Much like why you pay school fees, doctor’s fees,
bus fare, hostel fees, etc.

So, here it is (with more stuff)!

“Resume + Interview Coaching” Special!
To upgrade your resume, simply email your current resume (with the
industries and jobs that you are interested in as well as your
strengths and interests/hobbies) to the Career Architects resume
dropbox resume@careerarchitects.com.

It will be reviewed and we will revert to you within 36 hours.

Using the Career Architects resume-writing service, your resume
will be RE-WRITTEN by one of our Certified Professional Career
Coaches or Certified Employment Professionals.

Our usual fee for students is HK$250.
Summer special HK$150 (i.e. 40% off)

Our usual fee for freshgraduates is HK$300.
Summer special HK$150 (i.e. 50% off)

Our usual fee for Interview Coaching: HK$880.
Summer Resume + Interview Coaching package HK$680
Send in your resume to resume@careerarchitects.com. Indicate
“resume + interview” in the email if you’d like to be receive
personal coaching on job interview preparation.

Offer ends 31 July 2009.

I say “useless” in the sense that it is not serving the purpose
that it was written for.

A resume is a personal leaflet intended to bring the potential
employer’s attention to the job-applicant’s capabilities,
competences, experiences, character and personality. It is meant to
“show-off” your features and the value that you can bring to the
company.

However, too many job-apllicants simply do not put in any effort
into crafting their resume (and, might I add, their cover-letter)
and opt to “follow the herd” without using their minds
appropriately to market and promote themselves (they search the
Internet for templates or buy resume-writting books from the
bookstore). After all, job-hunting IS a personal marketing and
promotion exercise.

How, then, do you market yourself through your resume? Here are the
top 10 resume tips you won’t get from anywhere else:

1. Keep your resume to 2 pages at most! Employers are busy and do
not have time to read (in fact, they don’t read, they skimp).

2. Give your resume a professional look. Make it look like it was
created by a professional instead of an amateur or student. Would
you read a leaflet or brochure that looks amateurish even if it was
stuffed in your face?

3. Your resume MUST carry a CORE message – that is, how do you fit
the job? What value will you bring if hired? Instead of stating
your “Career Objective,” I’d suggest that you state your unique
job-match message. Look at it this way, employers are not
interested in what you want, they are interested in knowing what
you can do for the company.

4. State your achievements in ALL your experiences, including
education. Most people will simply state what they have done (job
responsibilities/duties) and what education they have gone through.
What’s the point of telling employers that you have done
photocopying without telling them HOW WELL you did it? This is
similar to receiving your university results transcript that gives
only the subjects you have done but without the grades you have
achieved.

5. Leave out unnecessary and irrelevant items from your resume like
whether you are married, your passport/ID number, your photograph
(unless required or you are applying for a sales position),
referees.

6. There is no need to list your referees in your resumes. There is
also no need to say “Referees available upon request.” It is a
given that you have referees ready for work verification and
experience checking.

7. List items in reversed chronological order in each section. This
means, the most recent ones should be listed first.

8. If you are a freshgraduate, your education section should come
first (after your particulars, job-match message, and brief
professional profile) followed by experience, affiliations,
awards, non-work involvements, skills.

9. If you are have work experience, exhibit your experience section
before education.

10. Make the resume content easily readable. Use active verbs and
tangible numbers and percentages (e.g. Increased the company market
share by 100%) with bullet points instead of paragraphs of
description.

Remember this: If you follow the herd, you will step on sh*t. : )

It draws attention because the employers will be thinking: “Were you fired?”, “Why didn’t you line up a job after quiting?”, “Why is it that you can’t land a job quickly?”, “Will your skills remain up-to-date and sharp?”, “Will you need more time to pick up work again?”, “Did you not get along with your team?”

When it draws my attention, I will certainly ask the candidate what he/she did during that period in an interview. Interestingly, the most common answer till date has been, “Oh, my mother was unwell during that period in time and I quit my job to look after her. Now that she is well, I decided to look for a job again.” The answer is usually given with a variation of a direct relative, usually father or mother.

While I do not doubt the truthfulness of such an answer, it lacks a punch. To turn your explanation of a gap in your employment history into an advantage, my suggestion is to make your answer more compelling by completing your answer with, “During this time, I remained connected to the industry and field of work. I kept up-to-date with industry (or professional) development via industry journals, books, associations, events, etc. and did freelance/part-time work in my field.”

To put the interviewer’s attention back to your suitability and away from the gap, always express, very proactively, your keenness to get back into the job circuit. Reiterate how you fit the job and company inspite of the gap and highlight the value that you will bring to the organisation and your readiness to contribution.

Top 10 problems most (99%) of the applications have:

1.    Did not follow instructions given in the job advertisement.

2.    Did not send cover-letter.

3.    For those who sent a cover-letter together with their resume, the cover-letter and resume are one-size-fits-all. Some even contain another company name which they previously applied to. Much to my amusement, there was even one applicant who simply forwarded the email, along with his resume, he sent to another company to us!

4.    Did not bother to research the company.

5.    No effort was spent understanding the company needs.

6.    No effort to demonstrate that they possess the job requirements.

7.    Resume poorly formatted (i.e. does not provide easy reading).

8.    Achievements from previous experiences not evident in the resume.

9.    Self-focused instead of job and company-focused.

10.  Poor use of English. Very poor for some. And yet, they say in their resume – Fluent in written and spoken English.

Looking from the employer’s perspective, recruitment is a highly time-consuming business activity. Executives are already hard-pressed for time to handle their own daily work. Going through 100 resumes (or more) to shortlist candidates and then sparing time to interview the shortlist is certainly not something that is high on the priority list.

Hence, it is absolutely vital that, if you want the job, you do yourself a big favour by making reading your cover-letter and resume an easy task!

With this in mind, job (internship and permanent jobs alike) applicants must remember these points when crafting your application:

1.     Hiring managers are extremely busy. They are highly unlikely to give much time to YOUR resume. Expect between 5 to 15 seconds maximum. So, how do you stand out??

2.     Your resume is your personal brochure – make sure that it sells and promotes you as the best candidate for the job!! If you are going to send out a boring, general resume, you are better off not sending it at all. It wastes your time as well as the employer’s.

3.     Ensure that your resume is only 2 pages long MAXIMUM. Nothing more! Nobody likes to read long, boring documents.

4.     MAKE SURE you send a cover-letter other than your resume. As a professional, a cover-letter is a MUST! It allows you to sell your services specifically and demonstrates your writing style.

5.     Whatever you put on the resume and cover-letter, make sure they are highly relevant to that company and that job.

6.     Do all you can to help the hiring manager understand why and how you fit the job and the company.

7.     Your resume must show your previous job experiences and achievements. Experience alone says nothing!

8.     Always send PDF versions instead of WORD versions.

9.     If you are emailing your application, make sure your cover-letter is in the email content itself with your resume attached.

10.   There are tonnes of resume and cover-letter writing books and materials out there in the bookshops and the Internet. However, not all advice are good. Be very selective of the advice you follow. Just think of this: If everyone follows what those books teaches, will their application still stand out?

Remember that your cover-letter and resume can’t get you the job. They are tools to get you an interview. Make sure you use them prudently.