The Blue Sky Guide Review

 

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The Blue-sky guide to resume writing is a guide designed to give job seekers all the tools they need to succeed in today's competitive job market.

• Creator: Louise Fletcher
• Contents: 135 Pages ebook
• Price: $49.00
• Official Website: www.blueskyresumes.com

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The Blue-sky guide to resume writing is a guide designed to give job seekers all the tools they need to succeed in today's competitive job market. Writing a resume is one of the most challenging aspects of a job search, but it's also one of the most important because your resume dictates if you'll get interviews or not. This guide has tools that are very helpful in writing a good resume. You get your presentation right by creating a document that conveys your unique background- and why it makes you the perfect fit- and all the relevant, compelling ideas and inspiration in the guide create the ideal environment for a good resume. Furthermore, there are lots of real-world examples with an easy-to-read format. This will save on frustration, confusion, and the source of the enormous stress resulting from the job search process and the need to write a good resume that will secure you the job.

In the guide, you'll learn step by step how to write a good resume that will open to interviewing invitations.

WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF THE BLUE-SKY GUIDE TO RESUME WRITING?

The author of The Blue-Sky Guide to Resume Writing is Louise Fletcher. She created the series of Blue-Sky Guides to share her resume writing and job search systems with anyone who needed help to get more interviews and better job opportunities. She co-founded Blue Sky Resumes in 2002 after a career as an HR executive in industries as music, video games, fashion, and advertising. Her career guides have been featured in popular magazines such as; Oprah Winfrey Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Ladders, among many other publications.

Louise Fletcher, in her guide, notes that the reasons why this particular resume writing system works so well are;

• It's grounded in an excellent philosophy.
• She takes you step-by-step through the whole process with lots of real-world illustrations so that you're never lost for ways to apply her ideas to your situation.

Her resume writing system is based on the premise that looking for a job is like marketing-only instead of the product you are selling yourself.

Anyone who works in marketing will recognize elements of her system because they closely relate to the ways companies brand and market any service. As you work through her modules, you'll be developing a solid understanding of:

• The needs and concerns of your target audience
• What you-and only you! -can offer them
• How to put that value proposition into words
• How to structure and format your resume so that your value is evident at a glance

Throughout the program, you'll realize that her goal is to teach you how to understand and communicate what makes you uniquely valuable.

The system in the guide has been designed to help you avoid writer's block, overcome your modesty, and write a compelling resume that truly does represent the real you.

The system is broken into five modules to help you overcome writer's block and develop the best possible content of your resume.

MODULE 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE  BLUE SKY APPROACH

Module 1 introduces you to this magnificent guide to writing a resume.

MODULE 2: RESUME DO'S AND DONT'S

Before you get started on your resume, this module gives the general writing rules-traps to avoid and tips on succeeding. These principles will be essential to keep in mind as you work through the subsequent two modules, and you can refer to them at any time in the guide.

The Dos:

• Accentuate the positive

No matter what level you're at right now or what you do for a living, your target companies want to hire winners. By accentuating the positive, you can show them that this is precisely what you are. So, as you work on your resume preparation, turn every negative into a positive. Eliminate negative thoughts, silence those voices, and focus on the positive aspects of your background.

• Invest time and Energy in your resume

Suppose you want a resume that sells you to potential employers. In that case, that makes the unique skills and abilities, and that communicates what's truly special about you so that the employers pick up the phone to schedule interviews, you'll have to put in some effort. It's certainly possible to write a resume quickly and easily. It's possible to do anything easily and quickly if you're willing to do it badly! There are no shortcuts, but there is a tried and tested formula. And that's what the author can give to you: step by step system for writing a resume that sells.

Consider this:

• Your resume determines whether you get interviews.
• It represents you to people who have no idea who you are but who have the power to decide your future.
• It often determines interview questions.
• It establishes your economic worth in the minds of potential employers.
• It stays on your personnel file for future managers to review.

Your resume quite literally determines your future. Given all this, it's worth investing some time in creating a document that genuinely sets you apart.

• Appreciate what you've accomplished

Your confidence increases as you realize your unique value to employers. You will gain a new appreciation for yourself and for what you bring to potential employers. Looking for a job can be a laborious process, and appreciating your accomplishments will help boost your confidence on days when things don't go as you hoped.

• Use your resume preparation work for more than your resume

As you work through this guide, you'll see that the resume preparation process is a great help in preparing for interviews. As you develop your resume content, you will also create a series of stories and anecdotes that will be very useful to you in discussions.

The DON'TS:

• Lie or Exaggerate on your resume
• You should not be dishonest- Tell the truth on your resume. There are many fabulous things about you-more than enough to make up for any perceived flaws or issues. Be proud of your experiences and be honest, totally honest about the ones you haven't had.
• Use "Resume-speak"- Many resumes are written in a very stilted, overly formal voice. Don't be tempted to use big words that you wouldn't usually use in real life. Your reader is busy and hassled and doesn't want to have to figure out what you're saying, so write your resume using simple, quickly understood words.
• Use Company Jargon- Large companies or government organizations tend to have special names and acronyms for everything. Avoid any acronyms or terms used only in your company and not in general. If you are not sure what is company jargon and what is standard terminology, have friends or relatives read the resume and point out words or phrases they don't understand.

MODULE 3: THE PREPARATION STAGE

At this stage, you are not focused on writing the actual resume. You're not worrying about format, structure, font choice, spelling, grammar, or even how many pages you write. Instead, you're focused on a series of exercises that will help you develop the content of your resume.

Because the pressure of writing the resume is gone, you will find this process more straightforward than you thought. You will gain confidence as you answer the author's questions and begin to realize just how much you have to offer future employers.

In this section, you'll cover:

• Choosing a resume template  

You can create your resume format from scratch or use one of the templates included in this guide. You are free to restructure the templates. The key is to develop a resume that sells you.      

• Writing a strong profile that communicates your value proposition

The resume profile summarises your skills, experience, and value proposition, and it usually takes up the first quarter to one-third of a resume.

• Writing an action-packed career chronology that gets employers excited about meeting with you.

This section is where you layout your career history for employers.

1. Writing about your education.
2. Deciding whether to include technical skills and where they should go on the resume.

Technical skills are those hard skills that are required for your line of work. Such examples include:

• Software used by people in your function, e.g., An accountant, should list financial software.
• Equipment commonly used in your field, e.g., computer hardware for a PC technician
• Skills needed to do your job, e.g., programming languages for a software engineer

Notably, you should include technical skills only if they help people decide whether or not to hire you and place them on the resume in direct proportion to their importance to the hiring decision. For example, if you are in a technology profession, your technical skills are essential to deciding whether to hire you.

• Deciding what other information to include

As your review the samples at the end of this guide, you will see many other types of information included at the end of the resumes. For example:

• Military experience
• Publications
• Professional development classes
• Speaking engagements
• Voluntary and community work
• Professional affiliations
• Board memberships
• Hobbies

When deciding what to include, you should ask yourself two questions;

Question 1: Does this piece of information help employers decide that they should interview me?

Question 2:  Could this information make an employer decide not to interview me for personal reasons?

Saving Your Resume In Different Formats

• MS WORD version- You have to have a resume in MS Word. You may also send a copy in other formats. Remember recruiters when you name your file. Many people don't know that these objects might not show up when the resume is emailed. This because Word has several settings in which users can view documents. If a user has their MS WORD set to display in "Print Layout View," the lines and the boxes will show on the screen, but if the setting is for "normal view," the lines and boxes will not be there.
• Emailing and posting online- You should never post anything online if your search is confidential. Always convert your resume to a text-only file; otherwise, it won't read properly when posted online. You can do this by simply saving it as a text-only file and then go through it to remove any special formatting.
• PDF files- PDF files solve this problem. The initials stand for Portable Document Format. It captures all the elements of a printed document as an electronic image. While it's nice to send a PDF along with your word version, never send a PDF alone. Many resume databases cannot store or search PDF documents, and therefore you will lose out on opportunities. A PDF file is a nice extra, but it is never a replacement for an MS Word resume. PDFs are especially good for the people like designers, who need to show their design skills on their resume, but everyone can benefit from having a Word, PDF, and a text-only version of their resume. To create a PDF, if you use a Windows computer, you will need a PDF converter such as Adobe Acrobat; Mac users can create PDFs without buying an extra program- simply choose to print your document as a PDF.

 Evaluating the effectiveness of your new resume

Once you've reworked your resume, it's time to evaluate how you're doing. Use these questions to assess your progress- and be honest. You must be truthful with yourself about how well you have done because if you cheat on a couple of questions, you are only cheating yourself.

• Does your resume lead with an introduction that clearly announces who you are and what you do?
• Do you provide a clear employment chronology, starting with the most recent job first?
• Are your job descriptions concise, and do they provide context for the reader by showing the challenges you faced when you were hired?
• Have you provided quantifiable evidence of your impact on your employers?
• Have you provided information on challenges faced, actions are taken, and results achieved?
• Would a stranger be able to look at your resume and see that you have a track record of solving the type of problems they are faced with?
• Are you're wowed' when you look at your resume?
• Are you receiving call-backs and getting interviews for the kind of positions you seek?

If the answer to this question is "no," you still have work to do.

How To Adapt Your Resume Effectively

Always be truthful when you adapt your resume. Include skills and experiences that you have, but never lie or exaggerate. It's not worth the risk of being found out, and, in the worst case, you might get a job you're not qualified for.

 RESUME FOR CAREER CHANGERS

Most career changers face the same challenge-getting interviews when they don't have relevant experience. Few companies will indeed hire you as a graphic artist if you simply send them a resume outlining your 15-year career in tax accounting. Even the best resume cannot hide that your previous experience has not qualified for the position you seek. The good news is that there are ways to gain entry into your chosen profession. The goal is to become your new profession. Don't wait until someone hires you before you think of yourself as a video game programmer; start thinking that way right now.

Keys To Success For Career Changers

• Get started. Don't wait for someone to pay you for what you want to be.
• Learn everything you can. Read guides, join associations, go to education events and trade shows.
• Make contacts. Build a network of influential people within the field you want to enter.
• Find creative approaches. Do not rely on the standard resume and cover letter.

You will work through a series of exercises designed to help you:

• Define your job targets
• Understand the needs of your target market.
• Draft content and develop ideas that will form the basis of your resume.

The exercises are based on the Blue Sky Resumes proprietary questionnaire "The Explorer" and the training given to professional resume writers. At the end of the stage, you will have all the raw content you need for your resume.

MODULE 4: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER- WRITING YOUR RESUME

Once you have developed all your content, you will find this stage much easier than you imagined. You will know what message you want to convey and you will have written everything you need. Now you will simply edit, polish, and format the information until you have a highly effective marketing document that generates interest and dramatically increases your job search success.

During module 4, you will:

• Develop a resume profile that communicates your value proposition.
• Write concise, context-filled job descriptions that set the scene.
• Edit your accomplishment stories into concise, action-packed bullet points that make employers excited to meet you.
• Choose a resume structure and format that highlights your strongest selling points (and downplays any weaknesses).
• Create various versions of your resume so that everyone can view it no matter what computer system they are using.

Once your resume is complete, we'll also cover adapting it to suit different situations, and you'll be able to assess your new resume using the author's proprietary resume questionnaire.

MODULE 5: SAMPLE RESUMES

In this guide section, the author gives you 20 actual resumes created for real people (although disguised to protect their personal information). You'll see how the principles of her system apply to real-world situations, and you'll gain ideas for your resume.

DON'T USE FUNCTIONAL RESUMES

Functional resumes are structured very differently than any of the resumes featured in this guide. Functional resumes simply don't work. Don't even go there. If you have a challenging situation and are concerned about presenting your skills in the best light, study all the samples provided in this guide. Go to the library and review sample resumes in other guides. Be creative. Find any way to present your skills other than a functional resume.

Conclusion

THE BLUE-SKY GUIDE is worth spending money on as it is a real treasure that helps you find a job. Also, it is a perfect option for individuals who need help to get more interviews and better job opportunities. Almost everyone embarks on a job search using an inadequate resume, which gives you a fabulous opportunity to set yourself apart. All you have to do is write a resume that truly represents who you are and what you have to offer. There's coverage on how to approach resume writing just like any other marketing exercise in this guide. You will learn how to identify your target audience, understand their needs, and describe why your unique blend of skills, experiences, and character traits will enable you to make a valuable contribution.

I know once you start using this guide, you'll start to see results very soon, and I hope the skills you will learn will serve you well throughout your career. Good luck!

Yes, I Want The Blue Sky Guide To Resume Writing!

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