How Creating Resumes Is Like Creating Memorable Characters

By Jennifer-Lynn Keniston

“Conducting resume interviews and how the writer in me pulls out missing and key information; How “Wow, I’d hire me! You have a Gift!” is like hearing a praise of a character I created in my story.”

One day I woke up and decided to launch my own business. My reasoning was simple: I loved helping others pull out the best of themselves and perfect a resume. Since that day, I’ve become aware of how the writer in me puts on two completely different hats of book author and certified resume writer, yet each of these “hats” are interconnected. For example, I have discovered that both final “products” reap a reward not tied to financial wealth. In the end, if a book’s character and a resume are properly written, the final praise(s) can elicit invaluable positive reviews where “Wow, I’d hire me! You have a Gift!” is almost as wonderful as hearing from a reader their praise of a character in my story.

After all: it’s all about interest. The final goal of a resume and the purpose of characters in a novel are to illicit interest and keep the interest of a reader and a hiring manager. As Martin Yates observed in Knock Em Dead, “If it (a resume) works, you work; if it doesn’t work, you don’t work. Quite simply, it’s the most financially important document you will ever own.” Without memorable characters in a book, a book will not sell, a reader will not finish reading it, or give a second thought or comment about the characters, and you won’t be asked how long until the next book will be done.

When writing a resume, I research hiring positions and companies and decide on the best format for it. Of course, I focus on strengths and not weaknesses in a resume, whereas when writing a book, I work to create a character profile that is also filled with character flaws. Readers want to relate to and even love to hate, a character with flaws. But let’s go back to that resume interview: I ask questions and find strengths to play up, outside activities that can enhance the cover letter, and missing talent key words and skills never mentioned on a previous resume. For some clients, what they personally might view as a potential weakness, I may choose to use it and twist it into a strength. For example, an older client who has over 40 years’ experience and is now competing with much younger candidates, is often afraid to list past qualifications that may set them ahead and apart from others, fearful these will expose their age. But for the right client, I’ve carefully found ways to include what may otherwise have been omitted and it has paid off.

Interest goes hand in hand with timing. I read somewhere that it only takes six seconds for a hiring manager to recycle a resume or look closer at it. Similarly, with a novel, the key is to draw the reader into the story in the first sentence, then the next paragraph, into the second page, each subsequent chapter, and finally, as an author, you hope the reader almost regrets when they have reached “The End.”

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