Resume Writer: Making It Look Easy

By Robert P. Poindexter

I had seen portions of sailboat races on television growing up, and if you’re a kid growing up in the deserts of the West Texas oil fields, television is as close as you’re likely to get. Like most people who don’t have an intimate knowledge of what it takes to properly motivate and propel these graceful craft, I didn’t understand what the big deal was.

You put a tall pole in the middle of a hull designed to float, strap on some big pieces of fabric, and let the wind do the rest. Right?

It wasn’t until years later that I figured out just how wrong that opinion was. For since that time, I have not only been a part of the crew numerous times, I have owned and still own a sailboat. While it’s true that any neophyte can figure out how to raise a sail and eventually get the boat moving in a certain direction, this falls far short of being able to call yourself a sailor.

That designation belongs only to those who have learned the dance. And believe me when I tell you that are many steps to that dance. And if any of those steps go unheeded, the consequences range from simple embarrassment by onlookers, to loss of ship and crew.

I won’t take the time to go into all the details here, but in order to provide some insight and to make my point below, I will list just a few of the major concerns.

1) A sailor must know what direction the wind is coming from before a sail is ever raised. This will determine which way to point the boat.

2)  They must know the wind speed and the ability of their own craft in different winds. These help decide how much sail to fly.

3) They must know how tightly or how loosely the sail should be adjusted in order to take maximum advantage of those winds.

And that’s just the beginning.

I think we can all agree that at some point in our lives we have been surprised to find out how much knowledge, planning and skill go into events or activities that we have little or no understanding of until we look at them a bit closer.

Before I met Jacqui, I had little, if any knowledge of the careers industry. Some of you reading this now think that is still true, and you may be right. I will tell you, however, I am still surprised at what goes into preparing a career document.

The hours spent on researching, interviewing and preparing information are staggering. After that, a professional, usually degreed, writer, painstakingly takes the information that has been gathered and transforms it into a comprehensive story designed to help their clients achieve their desired career goals. If you have never witnessed this process firsthand, it is difficult to appreciate the amount of effort expended in the creation of these documents.

Many of our clients who may have been price sensitive in the beginning of the process admit later on what a bargain it was having these documents professionally prepared based on what they now know.

The reason most things look easy to those not in the know, is because of the skill shown by those who are.