Wendi Weiner is the founder of the writing guru.net. She spent the first 10+ years of her career as an attorney practicing law.
Then in 2010, Wendi decided to follow her lifelong vision and dream of helping others perfect their writing and succeeding in their career goals.
To facilitate her dream she founded the Writing Guru. Today, the writing guru is a top-ranked global writing service that specializes in creating executive resumes that transcend the competition and your career.
Wendi has over 15 years of expertise in resume writing, essay writing, and professional editing. She is a Credentialed Career Manager (CCM) and is one of only 43 Nationally Certified Resume Writers.
Wendi is the author of the book “How to Get the Highest Paying Job in Your Field,” which is a job seekers guide to writing the perfect resume.
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GETTING STARTED WITH RESUME TIPS
As one of 43 nationally certified resume writers, Wendi Weiner really is really a master of her craft. Additionally, she is able to take her background as an attorney and provide her client with a systematic and pragmatic approach to crafting their resume.
This is important because the average recruiter/hiring manager will typically only spend 5 to 7 seconds scanning your resume. 5 to 7 seconds. Think about that for a minute or 7 for seconds.
Go ahead. Count to 7.
Done? Well, guess what? That’s it. That’s all you the attention you get. The person who just reviewed your resume is moving on to the next one. Sadly, Goldfish have a longer attention span at roughly 9 seconds.
If really only get a 7-second glimpse at your resume, it would seem to me the resume is dead argument would actually make sense. I decided to ask Wendy what she thinks anytime she hears someone say the resume is dead.
Not surprisingly, Wendi disagrees. You see there are over 250 resumes submitted for every open position and in the vast majority of cases, a human being is not the first step for your resume. Rather, it heads into the applicant tracking system (ATS).
Realizing this Wendi has adjusted how she crafts resumes.
Right out of the gate your resume needs to get past the ATS, then capture someone's attention within 7 seconds. I asked Wendi Weiner if there is such as a thing as a perfect resume. Her answer was spot on and might surprise you.
3 DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESUMES
As I was researching for this show, I discovered from Wendi’s website, writing guru.net, there are actually 3 types of resumes. A chronological resume, a functional resume and a hybrid. I asked Wendi to explain each.
Chronological Resume
The chronological resume documents your work history in, not surprisingly, chronological order. This is what most of us put together. Or attempt to at least.
Functional Resume
Wendi uses the functional resume for career changers. Wendi uses it this resume to emphasize a candidate's transferable skill sets and will include a professional summary.
Hybrid Resume
Wendi refers to this resume as a chrono-functional. It allows her to combine the chronological and functional resumes. In this resume, Wendi will typically add a skills section below the professional summary. This resume is also good for career changers.
RESUME DESIGN TIPS
Wendi Weiner points out that much like a website, the top third of the resume is the most important part. Did you know the same is true of a website?
It’s true there’s even a phrase for it, Above the fold. This is anything that appears when you first load a website that does not require scrolling on your part to see. Anything “below the fold” may never be seen by visitors if the top 1/3 doesn’t capture the readers attention. Your resume is the same.
Because of this, Wendi recommends a minimalistic design that is alluring and attention-grabbing. She recommends centering your headings such as education and experience. Additionally, limit your headings to a 12 point font size.
Font types she recommends, times new roman the standard for years, is out along with all other serif fonts. A Serif font has the “little” legs at the bottom of each letter. Why are Serifs out? Research has shown that Sans Serif is easier to read on mobile devices.
Here's an illustration of the difference.
If you want to learn more here's a great article on the differences. It's also where I found the image above http://drmarkwomack.com/a-writing-handbook/style/typography
Wendi's suggestions for fonts include Ariel, Tahoma, and Calibri. To find out her personal favorite, you'll need to listen to the podcast.
MOST COMMON RESUME MISTAKES
As you can image, Wendi Weiner sees a lot of resumes. Which of course means, she sees lots of opportunities for improvement. She and I discuss some of the more common mistakes people make on their resumes. See if any of these apply to you.
- Using and objective statement
- No professional summary
- Focused on job responsibilities
- Not enough focus on results or achievements
- Using articles and pronouns
Wendi provides some very specific advice on how you can avoid these common mistakes.
THE APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM
I mentioned the applicant tracking system earlier. In this digital age, the ATS is the first hurdle job seekers most get past. Font types, font size, headings, none of that matters if you can't get past the ATS gatekeeper.
In case, you're wondering the ATS is simply a software program designed to scan resumes for specific keywords. Todd Lohenry and I spoke in detail about the importance of keywords in search during our podcast together, turns out they are equally important in the job search.
This is important because 72% of submitted resumes are never seen by the human eye. 72%!
If you want to get past the ATS, you need to know your keywords or better yet you need to know the keywords the company is using for the job opening. Wendi and I discuss this and how she determines the keywords to use for career changers.
The ATS is exactly the reason why my discussion about the Career Upgrade Roadmap with Olivia Gamber, is so important. If you can avoid the ATS step why wouldn't you?
COLLEGE ADMISSION ESSAYS
Some of you may know already know and for those of you who don’t, My oldest son Noah, will be heading to college soon. I’ll spare you my personal feelings on this but as we start the process of looking at colleges and the admission process one of the hurdles he will need to pass is the admission essay.
Wendi’s company, the WritingGuru.net also helps with admission essays and with my son so close to this stage in his life, I couldn't resist asking her about the admission essay.
A lot of parents and students underestimate the importance of the admission essay. Don't let this be you. The admission essay could be the difference between getting into college and not.
I liken the admission essay for a college applicant to a website for a job candidate. Consider this. You are reviewing two candidates for an open position. Both candidates look identical on paper, same G.P.A., same college, same major, same or similar experience. One candidate, however, has a website where they post their thoughts and comments on a specific topic. The other does not.
Which candidate is more appealing to you?
Looking at the admission essay in the same light, I asked Wendi what parents and students should keep in the forefront of their minds as the keys to success for the admission essay. Among other tips, Wendi suggests using the essay as a way for your student to be unique and personable.
YES, YOUR CHILD SHOULD HAVE A LINKEDIN PROFILE
I don’t know about you but I see a lot of parallels between applying for a job and applying to a college, including using LinkedIn. In this digital age, we need to give our children every advantage, this means they should have a LinkedIn profile.
Ok, for those of you who are thinking, “A linkedIn profile? That’s crazy. They don’t have anything to put on it.” I wondered this as well so I asked Wendi. She suggests including the following in your students LinkedIn profile.
- Community involvement
- Clubs or other afterschool activities
- Any volunteer or leadership roles
Additionally, just like adults, Wendi Weiner strongly suggests students clean up their online profile. One bad thing discovered online can keep them from getting into the school of their dreams. One bad thing. You know where I stand on this issue.
One bad thing. You know where I stand on this issue.
You know where I stand on this issue. As business professionals, we need to be purposefully building our brands online. And in this digital-first age, our children need to be building their brands as well.
Of course not to the same extent as you and I, but to the extent that they are aware what they post online stays there forever which means someday in some unexpected way it could come back to haunt them. Maybe even keep them out of a specific college.
WENDI WEINER, THE WRITING GURU, PODCAST SUMMARY
So now you know. There is a lot that goes into writing a resume. If you’re interested learning more about Wendi or the services offered by the writing guru here are the best ways to reach out to Wendy.
Website: The Writing Guru
National Resume Writers Association
LinkedIn: Wendi Weiner
