Outplacement Agency

Yesterday, Wed 4/8, I visited the Boston office of my outplacement agency. I had a web-based orientation, with about a dozen other clients from the northeast. Lots of people looking for jobs right now... The moderator was great. She went over all the career assessment and company search tools available to us.

Today I met one-on-one with my outplacement job consultant. She was great. Understanding, patient, encouraging. At both the orientation and my one-on-one, I learned that the biggest difference in resumes now than ten years ago is the focus. The focus should be results-based, accomplishment-based. And it should reflect what you want to do, not necessarily what you have done. The resume shouldn't just be a chronological listing of what you've done. It should show how you've made a difference at a company, something you can achieve at your next company. Or how a project allowed you to grow and learn something.

So my resume's summary is the following:
Resourceful, poised, versatile IT project coordinator with over twenty years of experience in hardware platform management, interdepartmental collaboration, staff development, vendor management and full lifecycle application development. Caring, honest, inquisitive individual with interpersonal savvy, adept at problem solving and multi-tasking.
Any feedback would be appreciated!

My job counselor turned me onto something called "The Book of Lists." It's put out by the Boston Business Journal annually. It lists largest life science companies in MA by employees, greenest publicly traded companies in MA, largest gainers in MA hospital employees, etc. One fascinating and totally unapplicable list is highest paid athletes in MA in '07-08. Can you guess who they are? Hint above -- picture courtesy of EveryJoe.com

Meanwhile I've volunteered to help the local The Wellness Community location set up their website. They provide free support group programs for cancer patients and their caregivers. Good thing I brought home my HTML book from my old company :-)!