I’ve always been a cover/query letter junkie. My freshman year of college, I learned from my most favorite professor of all time that all resumes looked the same. It was the cover letter that set you apart.
So when I fled the corporate world five years ago to freelance full-time, I was relieved. Finally, I thought. I can toss that resume into my virtual recycle bin.
But I was wrong.
First I needed a resume for that post-college internship I decided to take on so as to beef up my portfolio and build my network.
Then I needed a resume for that permalance gig I applied to so as to beef up my income.
And I’ve needed a resume so many times since then, even for the smallest of projects.
What can I say? Some clients are traditionalists. The query letter / online portfolio / blog / social media awesomeness / online empire doesn’t do it for them.
Unfortunately, my resume was a snore.
That’s where Jenny Foss came in.
I’ve already mentioned this in the past but, just to recap, I hired Jenny a year or two ago to help me re-do my resume. It cost a few hundred dollars. I was totally sweating the cost, as I still wasn’t entirely convinced using a resume service was the best way for a freelancer to spend her money, but when I received the finished product, I was way impressed with the vision of myself that Jenny had created. It basically convinced me that I should throw all of my money at Jenny, because she totally deserved it and could probably make me successful in spite of myself.
I went on to recommend Jenny’s services to everyone on the planet, including my husband. The first time he used his Jenny-fied resume, he was hired on the spot, for more moolah than he had even asked for.
Fast forward to just a few weeks ago, when Jenny announced she was launching the Ridiculously Awesome Resume Kit. I actually squeed out loud, because this is the type of thing that excites me. This and cotton candy and snow cones and my cats.
I was excited for Jenny, because I thought it was the best idea ever. And I was excited for you, because I knew it would be incredible. I knew it would be an incredible product that would provide you with an insane amount of savings.
When I finally got a chance to look through the Kit, my expectations were exceeded. It was pretty. It was full of Jenny’s sparkling personality. And it had some really fantastic information. Not only did it include the questionnaire that would help readers construct their own resumes, but it also covered stuff like:
- what mindset to get yourself into when sitting down to write your resume
- common resume mistakes, such as the failure to use important keywords
- what to name your mothereffin’ resume file!
There was even a section on common questions Jenny received, like:
- how do I handle my oldest work experience?
- how do I handle gaps in my resume?
- Can a resume be more than one page?
There were even appendices with sample resumes and cover letters, and a list of the 79 most awesome resume words.
And at the heart of it all was Jenny, spreading the gospel of mind-blowing resumes:
“Hiring managers hire people who shine. They hire people who invest in themselves. They hire people who share what they’re good at, what they’re proud of and how they can kick ass in their chosen professions.
They relegate ‘everybody else’ to the no pile.”
At $39, Jenny’s Ridiculously Awesome Resume Kit is already a steal. Despite that, I’m giving away a copy to one, lucky Freelancedom reader. Just tell me in the comments below:
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
I’ll email the winner Friday, August 17, at 5 p.m.
p.s. The links to Jenny’s resume kit are affiliate links. Know that I’m an affiliate because I love Jenny’s work so damn much, and because I believe it’s absolutely worth paying for.
Related: Jenny Foss Reveals the Secret to Freelance Resume Success
I’m most proud of launching my full-time freelance career in the middle of a flipping recession…and succeeding at it!
Love your site, Steph! Thanks for all the kick-ass info and inspiration that you deliver here!
Thanks Ronda. And kudos to you! I did the same thing with my career… though I did feel a bit stalled for about a year there. I once read something, however, that’s always stuck with me. I think Peter Bowerman wrote it in one of his Well-Fed Writer books. He wrote that he once thrived during a recession because he didn’t realize people were struggling to find work. He behaved as he always had. He hustled for the work as he would have anyway. And it paid off.
Is it cheating to say that my proudest professional accomplishment is the fact that I’m able to make a living as a food writer? I never thought I had it in me to go freelance, but when push came to shove, I had a lot more inner strength and willpower than I ever imagined. Some days I think it’s nothing short of miraculous.
I’m most proud of the summer when I worked at three different internships. My brain was a little fried by mid-August, but I saw value in all three opportunities and made it work.
I’m most proud of earning a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine. It took a lot of hard work, perseverance, and tears, but I made it to the finish line. And now I’m using some of the skills and knowledge I picked up along the way to do things that I love: biomedical writing and editing!
By the way, I love your site. 🙂 I just transitioned into full-time freelancing back in January, and I’ve found a lot of helpful information here. Keep up the blogging awesomeness! 🙂
My first byline in the New York Observer felt so, so good.
I keep a Master CV with everything in every field I do. From that, I pull what I need for individual resumes. It’s a big help. I update my freelance resume approximately every 3-4 months, and my fiction resume twice a year.
The bio paragraphs are important, but so is the resume.