Introduction to This Issue

Abstract

Welcome to the CPADN Journal's special edition on Career Communications - Resumes, Cover Letters, LinkedIn Profiles, Bios, Networking Conversations, and Interview Messages. When asked to guest-edit this edition of the Journal, Louise Kursmark and I immediately accepted since both of our careers have been as resume writers, authors, trainers, and more-all within the careers industry. Most significantly, we have worked tirelessly to help our colleagues thrive in their own careers, and we know that this publication will be a value-add for all.With more than 30 years' experience as a resume writer, I've witnessed a massive evolution in career communications. This evolution started slowly as the Objective became the Skills Summary and then re-appeared as the Career Profile, a section that now often includes a job seeker's Personal Branding Statement. While some things have changed, as just noted, other things have largely disappeared (e.g., Personal Information, References) and new things have emerged (e.g., Technical Qualifications, hyperlinked Multimedia Presentations).The pace of change has further accelerated over the past 7-10 years as technology has revolutionized job search, candidate sourcing, and recruitment. Today, social media has also taken hold and we've experienced even more significant changes now that LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels have become key players in job search and employment.As the evolutionary cycle has progressed, the way in which we communicate on a daily basis has also changed dramatically. Who would have ever thought that 140-character tweets would be a common method of communication? Yet they are. Those changes - impacting all of our communications - have had a profound impact on career communications as well, and that's what we'll explore in this edition of the Journal.Before I take you through an overview of what you'll learn from reading this edition of the Journal, here are a few essential notes:The term resume writer refers to people who write resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, and other career communications. In 2014, almost all resume writers write a multiplicity of documents to meet each job seeker's unique goals and pathways to success.Although derived from the French word resume, today's resume is an American English word (particularly throughout North America and rapidly spreading worldwide). No accent marks recommended! Personally, I see resume as dated, and that is not a good thing in today's competitive - and young - job search market!A key element in writing outstanding career communications is to be able to do so with a modern, clean, and lean writing style. What does that mean? Your challenge is to tell your client's whole career story in half the words!Today's resumes must be written for both the human eye and technology: specifically, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which we'll explore in detail in several articles. The impact of this is enormous as it changes content, format, design, and keyword usage.The Articles and The AuthorsWe start with one of the most important articles - Today's Modern Resume - written by my fellow guest editor and business partner, Louise Kursmark. She will explain - and demonstrate - what makes today's resumes so much different from resumes of 5, 10, or more years ago. These evolutions, as I've just mentioned, impact content, format, design, linkability, keywords, and a long list of other considerations. Not only does Louise write about this information, she shares specific examples of what to do and how to do it. That is truly valuable!We all know that resume writing is not a one-size-fits-all process, and that's why this article - Answering Clients' What If and Yeah, But Questions Related to Career Communications by Kimberly Schneiderman - is so important. It's filled with practical information on how to deal with a broad cross-section of job seeker needs, challenges, issues, and excuses. …