I'm not a career coach, and that's okay
Okay, so by default, I weave guidance into my in-depth resume writing processes that smacks of coaching. Recently, Recruiting Animal (@Animal) took note of this in his blog post: "The Resume Writer."
However, today, I beg to differentiate myself: I am a word wrangler, message clarifier and career story teller (i.e., resume writer) - not a career coach. At the end of the day, my clients hire me for the influential 'words' that erupt from the virtual and literal pages that we create, for the words that spring from their lips during job interviews, networking conversations or when caught unaware in casual conversation.
As well, my job as a career writer is to push, prod, ask the reporter's 'who, what, where, when and why' questions, drive for deeper understanding of where the job seeker has been and even more importantly, provide them the spade to unearth their unique value drivers that help define where they want to go!
As a good career reporter, I do my research. This involves a barrage of questions, the answers of which often lie dormant in the job hunter's head and involve intellectually rigorous recovery and regurgitation (My clients work hard! Likewise, I lift intellectual weights on their behalf!). Moreover, the job seekers I write for find themselves performing research to illustrate their go-forward goals.
Serious about my writing trade, I maintain ongoing niche-specific credentials (including Master Resume Writer) qualifying me to build the engine for a job seeker's career vehicle, tapping the job seeker's truth and powering it up with word fuel that drives the message home to the target reader. It's all about the audience reading the story, after all!
It's been bugging me for awhile, this tendency to lump resume writers and coaches into one entity, almost as if to say, that without adding 'coaching' to our label, then we're 'just' resume writers with perceived lower value.
I applaud my resume writing colleagues who equally market their career coaching and resume writing talents, for many are passionate about blending the two professions. However, that's not me. My overriding value proposition is my career reporting skills: abilities in in-depth research, asking the driving questions, unearthing career gold nuggets, whittling 25 pages of career brain dump down to 2-3 crisp, compelling and focused pages, and marketing the job seeker's value to the right reader, influencing them to call.
Article by Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, one of only 26 Master Resume Writers (MRW) in the world, who has a B.A. in Writing and is owner of Career Trend, a career strategy and writing firm serving a global market. Jacqui composes career positioning documents that land interviews for forward-thinking executives and professionals, unearthing and translating their 'value into words.' Connect with her on LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquibarrett. Follow her on Twitter - @ValueIntoWords
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