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Job Search Tools: Susan Ireland’s book and blog

I just got Susan Ireland’s new book: “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume”  —  she does a great job covering a lot of job search info simply and concisely.

Among her excellent “Resume Commandments”, I especially want you to think about these two:

• Thou shalt not write about your past, thou shalt write about your future. 
• Thou shalt not write about stuff you don’t want to do

I see these errrors all the time!

First, Thou shalt not write about your past, thou shalt write about your future. Why?

Writing about your future is the way to get the job you want. It means you need to write about your achievements so as to support the job you want next. Which, of course, means you have done your research and figured out what job you want next!

Second Why: Thou Shalt Not Write About Stuff You Don’t Want to Do

So many folks do put stuff on their resumes that they don’t want to do again because they think they must! Not true. She says:

“Never write about duties you don’t want to do again, no matter how good you are at them!  Nondisclosure on your resume could be the ticket to landing a job you really love.”

She gives an example of a man who had been a manager but did not want to manage people and so focused his resume comments of that job entirely on his programming achievements. And she follows this idea through in her sections on how to write your achievements to sell your future desires.

Those of you who have been to my seminars will recognize the similarities with both our advice and the differences, but thought this excellent advice.

Full disclosure: she also has had some of our videos on her blog. You can see her blog and resume samples at: http://susanireland.com