Opinion
Resume buzzwords: ‘Creative’ and ‘change’
By: Jeff Dufour
Editor at Large/Columnist, "Yeas & Nays"
11/24/08 12:05 AM EST
How to get hiredWith more than 200,000 resumes already registered on Barack Obama’s transition Web site, change.gov, how does anyone have a chance at getting a job with the new president?
We asked Kathryn Troutman, owner of The Resume Place and a federal resume consultant during five administrations. This year, there is “absolutely much more interest and enthusiasm,” Troutman said.
Prospective Obama administration employees are best served, she said, by using words such as “creative” and “change” in their curricula vitae, which should be two to three pages in length.
She also recommends checking out the government’s Plum Book with its 9,000 jobs and clearly stating what you’re applying for. “Think about the person that has to go through all the resumes,” she said. “Make it easy for them. … Even tell them how much money you were making before.”
But don’t worry if you don’t get hired in January, Troutman said. She said this is merely the “calm before the storm,” especially if one assumes that Obama will start new agencies, which may make even more jobs available after the first 100 days.
What about Republicans? Perhaps they’re hoping that Obama’s message of change includes unconventionally hiring from both parties.
Troutman said the “phone is not ringing off the hook” with calls from those soon to be out of a job. “It’s all pretty shocking for them,” she said. “They’re just thinking about what they’re going to do.”
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