Seminar Review - Resume Writing

So, tonight I led a seminar on resume writing.  This is a topic that I find quite important.  In my experience, most people don't like writing resumes, and many just follow some advice they received about writing resumes, without ever thinking critically about that advice.

This is not to meant to be insulting to people.  I understand why people hate writing resumes.  I used to hate it to.  It's only as resume writing has become part of my job, and I've started thinking strategically about it that it no longer seems like a wretchedly labourious chore.

And that's what I should stress, as with the rest of your job search, you need to have a strategy when composing your resume.  Be thoughtful and deliberate.

Anyway, this post isn't about resume writing, per se, it's about about the seminar.  It's so difficult to judge these things.  A few people were asking questions, and this is always a good thing; it keeps me from falling into lecture mode.  I could talk about resume writing for five hours (literally... the last time I did these, the seminars were three hours, I spoke the whole time, and still had to leave information out).

So yeah, I feel pretty good about it, but let's go through the reviews from the participants.

The first few are pretty good.  No one is completely dissatisfied, and most seemed please.

The rest are pretty much the same.  All but one were quite positive, and even the worst review gave the seminar a mediocre grade.  That's a pretty good batting average.

Unfortunately, no one had any suggestions.  It's understandable.  It's an immediate review, so no one has the opportunity to ruminate on it very much - and I imagine people were eager to get home - but it would be helpful to get some pointers.

(Ya know, I just re-read that, and I think it might come off a little ungrateful.  I don't mean to demand that I get good reviews and constructive advice.  I'm quite pleased that people liked the presentation.  I just mean to say that I am under no delusion that I am perfect at this, and I am eager to improve.)

Well, that's two down.  Tomorrow night, we'll be looking at interview tips.  I think the class might be full, but if you're interested, you can try registering here.

And if anyone who has seen these presentations is reading, feel free to leave further comments.