Erika for President

My second grade teacher, Mrs. Tucker, passed away recently. Everyone adored her, myself included. Like other losses suffered by the close-knit community in which I grew up, her passing sparked a series of nostalgic Facebook posts and animated phone calls of remembrance. I hadn’t really pinpointed before, but I realized talking through memories that Mrs. Tucker was the first adult who encouraged me to become a writer.

That was one of the years I missed a lot of school. The blizzard of ’78 took everyone out for a while, but the chicken pox followed up with a bad upper respiratory infection stretched my absence to nearly a month. One of my make-up assignments from Mrs. Tucker, an “essay” on how the blizzard affected us, only needed to be a paragraph or so – typical of what one might expect from 7 year olds. Bored as I was from being home and confined to my room much of the time, I wrote a series of little stories. I wish I had them now. I remember one was about my mom’s cousin delivering groceries on a snowmobile and having to transfer them through my brother’s (2nd floor) bedroom window, which actually happened. Another one involved hooking up the neighbor’s dogs to a sled and assisting in a search and rescue, which happened only in my imagination.

On the day I finally returned to school, Mrs. Tucker asked me to stay at her desk as the other kids left for lunch. I can’t recall exactly what she told me, but I do remember a funky warm sensation of bashful mixing with pride as she walked through my stories and pointed out things she felt were especially well done. I don’t believe she ever came right out and said ‘you should become writer’ or anything like that; rather, I think the time she took and the attention she gave encouraged me produced a much larger spark.

She had done something similar with reading, too – convincing me to take on my first chapter book earlier that school year (Charlotte’s Web) by telling me the ages on the shelves in the school library were simply ridiculous and I shouldn’t pay them any attention at all. That I do remember word-for-word because ‘simply ridiculous’ became my go-to phrase for quite some time.

Teachers, especially elementary school teachers, tend to be such lovely, wonderful people. It takes a special heart to be one and take on the responsibility of someone so very important in the lives of children. Mrs. Tucker, especially. Such a nice, nice lady.

Finally

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Once upon a time, way back in the day when people typed two spaces after a period, some dowdy old typing teacher sporting a facelift via her severe bun probably told you the “rules” of writing a resume. It mustn’t be longer than a page. All resumes begin with an “objective.” You should always be extremely formal and do not abbreviate or use contractions. You didn’t believe her when she said your skirt was too short, did you? So why are you still listening to her today?

It’s possible that resume served you well back in high school when all you really had to show was your afternoons and weekends gig at Taco Bell. But now?  Watching true and proper grown ups trying to cram a couple decades worth of education and experience into 8 1/2 x 11 makes my brain hurt. And Oh My Zod, when I have to actually read them. So. Freaking. Boring.

So first, forget everything that teacher told you (except the part where she said to spell everything right and, of course, don’t lie). The truth is that even a formulaic resume can (and should) be interesting. As a technical writer, I’ve written hundreds of resumes, mostly for submissions to government and public sector industries in responses to requests for proposals. The requirements for response range from wide open to forms (think tax returns). Yet for every pile of proposals on a selection committee’s desk, it was my job to make my firm’s proposal stand out. I’ve always taken this same goal to task when writing an individual’s resume.

When I did some filler/side work for a company called Career Pro Plus (owned by a great lady, Barbara Adams), I wrote, almost exclusively, resumes for individuals wanting to enter the Senior Executive Service, which is the highest level of government that is not appointed by the president. In addition to the formulaic Federal resume format, candidates must also submit Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) using 5 character-limited essays that narrate specific examples demonstrating 28 competencies through the person’s experience in leading change, leading people, building coalitions, business acumen, and driving results driven.

Sound challenging? I actually had a lot of fun with them and, just like any other resume, the ones that got noticed (and won the jobs) were interesting to read. How? Well, I could probably give enough tips to fill a series of blog entries, but let’s just start with the basics.

1. Use active voice
   • On both your resume and cover letter, look specifically for these and remove/replace as many of these as possible: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been
   • Don’t say “I am running the department” when you can say “I run the department”
2. Tell a story / give context
   • When you say you planned a dinner party, you know what that means because you were there; however, it doesn’t mean much to the reader
   • If you say “I planned and executed a four-course meal for 27 people with two days notice resulting in two immediate re-bookings for parties of 50+ people” the reader can picture it
   • The example above uses a simple formula that’s great for describing examples of experience – Situation, Task, Activity, Result (STAR)… give context, describe the task, add some details, and give the results
3. Be measurable
   • The “give the results” portion of STAR – now that’s the real meat for any potential employer – so don’t skip it
   • When reviewing resumes, I may find it relevant that someone served on a committee to introduce Six Sigma to their company if I’m specifically looking for that keyword, but tell me that effort saved the firm $1.2 million dollars and you have my undivided attention even if I’m not all about the Six Sigma (yet)
4. Pro Tip
   • So this may be more of a pet peeve, but for goodness sake, Gmail addresses are free –  so don’t use your thisismystupidemailname@gmail.com address

Hopefully this is helpful to some people. If you’re interested in having your resume professionally written, I do recommend the folks over at Career Pro Plus. They write corporate resumes in addition to Federal resumes (both for SES and regular submissions for government positions). Also, if you’re a writer looking for a neat challenge, they’re always on the lookout for strong writers. It’s fun and flexible, but does require you be available during business hours.

“I seek a place free from distraction allowing me to be alone with my thoughts and the blank page.” Five bloggers tell us about their writing spaces.

Source: A Place to Find Our Words: Bloggers and Their Writing Spaces

Mexican-born artist Arturo Vega is best known as the designer behind The Ramones’ iconic logo. He was also the band’s stage illumination director and a New Yorker, from 1971 until his death in 2013…

Source: Ramones Designer Arturo Vega’s Irreverent ‘Insult’ Paintings