Resources

Better Written Materials

Mary shares how improving her written materials was key to her job search.

“When I was looking for work, I just pulled out my old résumé, added some of my new experience, and figured I was ready to go. My résumé was now three pages long and loaded with all sorts of great things … kind of impressive. Or so I thought. I started using my résumé to apply for several jobs that I was well qualified for. I got a total of zero responses. Something was definitely wrong. I would have been great at any of those jobs, so why weren’t they calling me? I finally decided I needed some help. I prayed for assistance and started doing some research and talking with others about résumés. I soon realized the résumé that I thought was so great was really pretty bad and probably wasn’t being read at all. That was humbling.

“I went to work fixing it. This took time and a lot of effort. I started customizing it to each position, making it more readable and replacing my boring lists of responsibilities with exciting accomplishments. It really helped me to look at good résumé samples and try to follow those models. I knew I was on to something when I started getting a lot more calls for interviews. My written materials were finally working for me instead of against me. Those interviews led to job offers.

“It took a healthy dose of humility for me to realize I needed help, but once I did, Heavenly Father directed me to resources. I look back at my old résumé and laugh. I am thankful that I learned a better way. It made a huge difference for me.”

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