Will these strategies
work for you?

click here to read
these successes!

... salary is DOUBLED
... 50% salary increase
... 26% increase
... $18,000 increase
... $30,000 to $50,000
... offered $45 to $60 an hour
... plus dozens more
successful career moves
and salary increases!

Let's look at an example for Lisa who is an Executive Secretary. Lisa types 80 wpm and is extremely accurate (again, please keep in mind that the examples I use here can be universally understood by everyone - but the concepts apply equally well to all careers and positions). This description is typical of what you see in the average resume. Compare that to the bottom line benefits of Lisa's skills in the right hand column below. Which do you think an employer will be most interested in?

Benefits We Never Think To Share With Employers
Lisa told me that she had gotten so good at preparing real estate contracts that the attorney she worked for had been able to stop proofreading each and every contract she prepared. He billed his time at $190 per hour and they estimated she had saved him over 10 hours of proofreading per week. She was also able to eliminate the temporary staff the attorney brought in at peak times because her production was so high. Compare the before and after statements below. By using numbers, being specific and selling benefits you can see how much the after statement expands Lisa's image and provides reasons why employers will want to interview her.

It's Hard To Identify & Market The Benefits of Our Skills!
Most of us have such achievements in our backgrounds but we never stop to think about them. Ask yourself what your skills and abilities mean, in bottom line results, to employers. I regularly spend 2-3 hours, and frequently more, helping each person write their resumes and identify their top skills.

Having spent more than 10,000 hours counseling job seekers I've learned that we all tend to discount our skills and de-emphasize them. It's hard enough just listing them let alone trying to figure out what they mean to employers. Having to go through a similar process to help each and every job seeker, at all income ranges pull out their skills, use numbers to describe them, and create powerful resume statements, I developed an extensive set of questions that anyone can use to help them document their experience!

For example the secretary above could add much to her resume by answering questions from my book such as: How many staff did you support and what were their titles? How many departments did you coordinate with to do your job? Answers to questions like these add meat to a resume, make it stand out and present the job seeker as a top candidate--since most resumes provide statements like the before examples above. Here's another testimonial that speaks of the value to be gained from purchasing and using my newest booklet of 148 pages, Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries! It provides you with over 60 questions to help you describe and sell the benefits of your skills! Click the title below for a full description!

As you've been learning throughout these workshops, identifying top skills, learning how to solve employer needs and sell the benefits of your skills results in resumes that can put you in the top 5% to 10% of applicants. My Increase Salaries booklets really are jam packed with strategies like these that can help anyone write an excellent resume!

Now let's move on to the next workshop and talk briefly about the importance of creating Targeted Resumes!

$9,000 Salary Increase
The first resume workshop in this site shows how Fran's after resume resulted in a $9,000 salary increase.  Fran wanted a $33,000 Corporate Customer Representative job but her resume created an image of her being at a $20,000 to 24,000 salary level -- that's $9,000 to $13,000 beneath her goal.

What Level Does Your Resume Market You At?
If you are curious to see what level your resume is marketing you at … then be sure to read and use the graphing techniques in my first workshop.  By graphing the job titles used in Fran's resume it's easy to see why her resume failed … and once you understand this … you will understand why the majority of resumes fail.  You'll then understand how to analyze your job titles and see if you are better off using them or replacing them with skill headings that market you more effectively. 

Most People Have Job Titles that Weaken Their Image
I estimate that at least 85% of all job seekers have job titles unrelated to their current career goals … and that they are much better off using skill headings rather than job titles to land higher salaries and double and triple their interview rates.

For example, Fran had been a Directory Operator but in most people's minds that doesn't sound like she's at the level of a Corporate Customer Representative making $33,000 … that's because most people don't view directory operators as providing true customer service.  Most people say that Directory Operator sounds like someone making only $20,000.  However, by using the 12 Questions in my Proven Resumes Series, Fran wrote a new description of her duties as a Directory Operator that described her being selected out of 100 Directory Operators to provide specialized Customer Service to the Governor's Office and Political Dignitaries in the Washington State Capitol … now that information begins to change our image of Fran doesn't it?  That makes her sound much more like someone being able to command $33,000. 

Which sounds like a better match for the $33,000 Corporate Customer Service Representative goal… her old job title of Directory Operator  … or a skill heading like Customer Service Representative to State of Washington Account.  In Fran's actual resume we used the heading of Customer Service Representative but you can see how you can play with skill headings to control and elevate your image … this is one strategy I explain in detail with examples throughout my book, Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries, and one of the strongest things I can offer you as a resume writer … just in case you don't have the time or patience to write your own.

Going from 0% to 100% Interview Rate
By using skill headings that matched her goal, Fran went from a 0% interview rate to a 100% interview rate -- meaning none of her prior resumes had landed an interview but her new resume landed an interview for each position she applied for.

Click here to learn other ways we improved Fran's resume and landed her a job paying $9,000 more click here to read my first set of resume workshops!  If you've entered my site via this page, be sure to go to my home page for an overview of more than 60 Free Resume & Job Search Workshops that include tons of Resume Tips for 45 Career Fields, Job Search, Electronic Resume, Cover Letter, Interviewing, Networking and Confidence Building strategies. 

The testimonials at the top of this page and throughout my site describe salary increases ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 and more.  Here's one of my most recent ones: 

In Summary
If you are in the process of writing a resume---or have already written one but not gotten the results you want it may be because your titles or skill headings are creating a weak image of your skills---if so consider purchasing my Strategies That Increase Salaries series written for job seekers in the $20,000 to $100,000+ range. This powerful trio shows you how to create resumes and cover letters that use powerful skill headings that control and elevate your image to match the jobs and salary you want---and there are no other books available that teach you this! You can then learn how to carry these powerful strategies into your interviews by using my interviewing booklet so that you position yourself as a top candidate!

You may also want to supplement the Strategies That Increase Salaries booklets with one of the Career-Specific Resume Booklets described below in order to obtain resume samples written just for your career field.