Yeah, seriously.

What brought this up

I’ve been doing, inadvertently, a lot of thinking and reading about search engine optimization (SEO) lately. For the company I’m contracted with, we’re trying to come up with a solid strategy to rank better in our industry, get more online attention, and attract sales leads. For a couple of my clients, I’m trying to implement some simple changes and add information to get them as visible as possible. For my blog, I’m always looking for ways to help my ranking.

Working for other people and helping them build an online presence is a whole hell of a lot easier than doing one for myself. I can help someone easily summarize what they do, help them pick keywords, and put them all in the right places. For myself, however, when trying to pick a niche, I find myself in these very existential moods. I’m picking 8 words or phrases too some up everything I can do for people. Wait, I have to sum up my professional interests in 8 words?! How?

Keywords… those effing keywords

The problem isn’t finding things to write, thinking of relevant tweets, titling my blog posts, filtering what I want to write about versus what I should write about, the problem is picking keywords.

To rank well in a search engine, you have to write content targeted at a certain audience of people. Think about who you want to sell to and get to work, right? Wrong.

First, you have to summarize the things that people are going to search to find you. In other words, what headings do you want to be found under? This isn’t too hard, I did it and came up with 50 things. We already have a problem.

Now, put those things in a keyword generator like Google’s and see what else comes up. Not only will you add 50 more words that never occurred to you in the first place, you’ll find that the words that were the most interesting to you are the hardest words to rank for. Not only that, once you start picking words that you have a chance in hell of ranking with, you find yourself limited and a bit off-center from what you actually do or want to do.

I want to do it all and I want to do it from right here

So what do you do? No really.

I do a lot of different things... some of them don't even involve a computer

Searching for keywords for something as important and, dare I say, intimate as your freelance work (or writing or anything) puts you in this terrible position between passion and pragmatism. I want to write about art and science and the internet and web design and email and writing. I also, however, want my writing to help me reach people that need what I have to offer.

Part of my problem, in a business sense, is that I don’t have a well-formed “elevator pitch” for what I do. The value proposition (I hate that phrase but it’s relevant), the text at the top of this pitch, is about as close as I get. I help people build a web presence for their business or their own personal endeavors. That’s cool, sums it all up, right?

But I also help people with writing projects, advertisement design, document layout, and self publishing. I alter photos, help people write resumes, layout print ads, teach HTML and CSS, customize email templates. I teach people about social media (what little I know), explain technology concepts to friends and family, and fix computers. I set up printers, cure slow-running computers, and answer questions. I do it all, Josh Can Help, dammit.

Good for you. Now prioritize

That’s the key, prioritization.

First, I’m going to need to think about the work that I want. The most important reason I have a website/blog is to build a reputation, display my work, and get more clients. If I was guaranteed not to get any clients or feedback from my website, it would look worse, be updated far less often, include a lot more boring personal junk, and have less people who read it. Already, I’m making a pragmatic choice by centering it around my professional life.

I want to work with people to build or repair their website. I want to help them make it as visible as possible to all the major search engines. I want to show them what else is out there that can build a more robust presence (social networks and media, blogs to read, online resources that are valuable). I want to explore advanced web development stuff like PHP development and Javascript coding on my own time, implementing interesting functionality for people who never thought they could have one of “those websites.”

The people I want to help are small businesses and individuals. I love helping people in the art world because it keeps the right half of my brain active. I also, however, really want to get into the industry that I’m going to school for, chemistry. I want to help small technology companies do great things with the web and reach more people. I would love to work for a green technology company, either as an employee or a consultant.

Endgame

Off into the sunset...

In the end, I want all of this to lead to something amazing, something massively fulfilling, something that I can be proud of. I want to look back at a long list of people and companies and know that I did something great for them. I want to write a book, I want to help people do what they want to do, I want to make things easier for people, I want to work on a broad spectrum of things for a broad spectrum of people.

I want to bring people together, help them work better on things they are passionate about. I want to help people concentrate on what they’re doing because they want so bad for it to work. I want my name on something. I want to be accountable for something.

I want to work with a team of people that can’t be stopped. I want to work long, long hours, not because I’m forced to do so but because I can’t help myself. I want to collapse into bed with a smile on my face, mind racing, a million more things to do tomorrow.

I want to help you because I can help and I want to help. What’s the keyword for that?

Ha! I thought forgot about the last one, huh? Nope.

On Friday, I posted the 5th step to a great resume, writing a “final” draft.

Step 6: Lay it out as you go through it again (and again [and again])

blueprint by dog on wheels on flickr

This is the final step and possibly the most important one. This is called “checking your work” or “avoiding the if-only-I-had’s.”

If you haven’t formatted the document, now is the time. You’ll probably want to check out my guide on simple typography in any document to give you an idea on how to keep it simple and effective. Remember to style for the position. If you’re applying to a law firm, keep it tight, simple, and classy. If you’re applying to a graphic design company, spice it up a bit, use some color, and show them you know a thing or two about alignment.

I like to style as I read - as long as it is the first re-read of many. Reading concurrently keeps the flow of the document in mind as I put it together. It also breaks things up because reading, re-reading, and editing can wear a little thin, especially if it’s your writing.

Read it through normally once or twice, then mix it up a little bit:

• Read it out loud to yourself or someone else. If it sounds awkward, it’s probably wrong. If it’s awkward to you, the person who wrote it, imagine how it will be to someone else. Toss the sentence out and re-write it or consider breaking it up. Sometimes, the only problem is a missing period and another capital letter.
• Read it “backwards.” Start at the end and read each sentence in opposite order. This is annoying and a bit frustrating but it does work. Since you wrote this masterpiece, your brain knows what is coming next. If you read it in the wrong order, it forces you to think about each sentence individually. This is a good thing.
• Give it to someone else to read. This is a critical step, especially for resumes. It’s improbable that a second set of eyes WON’T catch something that you missed. Bite the bullet and hand it off to a spouse, friend, or parent.

If you’ve read it more than 3 times, tried all three tips above, and feel good about it, then it’s time to get it ready to print.

Final steps to get ready to send these out

I said six steps but here’s a few bonus ones that bring this process home…

Save a copy of each document with some kind of indication in the file name telling you the position to which it corresponds and the date it was finalized. Obviously keep an editable copy but also make sure you’re making PDF versions and sending those out. A PDF will look the same on every computer in every program without exception and that’s a good thing. Get yourself a free PDF maker (CutePDF works great if you don’t have the Word plugin or Adobe Abrobat) and make yourself some PDFs.   Make sure to review the PDF before you send it to make sure nothing changed during the translation (rare but it happens).

Keep a copy on a USB drive if you have one with you, in online storage if you use it, or email it to yourself so it is always accessible. There’s nothing worse than needing your fresh, amazing resume and not having it. Plus, keeping it in your email makes it easy to forward out at any time. Google Documents now allows PDFs so you have no excuse to have this important document handy.

Finally, make sure you have some printed copies around. Go to Kinko or FedExko’s or whatever and have them print it out on nice paper. Don’t go crazy with the marble-finish, 98% cotton paper, just get something nice, relatively thick, and nice to touch.

Following this process to a “T” will make sure that your resume puts your best attributes forward. If you need helping writing or deigning your resume or want to put together an online presence to promote yourself, please get a hold of me!

Yesterday, I went through the fourth step in my resume-writing process, creating a rough draft. We’re in the home stretch!

Step 5: “Final” draft time… buckle down

Greyhound Racing: Home Stretch by sombraala on flickr

OK, you have a resume, you’re about 80% there. Now it’s time to bring it all together.

First, lay it all out. Personal statement is first, then what? Education? What is the most important thing about the job you’re applying to? If you’re applying to be a web developer, your skill set is probably more important than your BA degree from a few years ago. If, however, you’re applying to be a college professor, your education is probably pretty darn important. Don’t stress too much about the order, however, because there’s plenty more to do.

Once you’ve got everything in place, it’s time to start collecting, cutting, and collating. In your skills list, group similar skills together and cut out parts that are non-essential or just distracting. Use commas, connectors, and creative words to cut down on length and content.

Next, take a hard look at your positions and do the same. You want to reduce the length of your resume as much as possible but include the most important things. This is a delicate balance and it might take a few iterations to get it right.

You also want to be telling an interesting story about your employment. Stop laughing, I mean it. It’s all connected and you had the jobs you had for a reason. For each position, you want to show your progression and why you were important at each step of the way. Just because you did the same thing everyday for 3 years doesn’t mean you weren’t an integral part of the process. Make sure that the progress and the story you’re telling ALWAYS relates back to the job for which you’re applying.

A few tips:

• Watch your tense. If it was a previous job, then use the past tense (you “were responsible” for this and “facilitated” that). If it is a current position, then use the present tense (you “are responsible” and “facilitate” this and that).
• Go easy on the stock “jobby” words (like the two I used above). You can only say that you were responsible for so much before it gets a bit repetitive. Be creative in your speech and color it up a bit. Say what you need to say but inject your personality in there.
• There is no absolutely correct way to write a resume. One place might look down on a super-corporate, dry, humorless resume while another might expect it. The only thing you need to be sure of is the grammar and the punctuation. If you suck at either or both of these, there are services out there that can help you for cheap. It’s worth it to spend a few bucks to make sure it’s right instead of ending up in the “no” pile just for a mis-key.

Get it written, make sure it’s not over a page (unless it really needs to be [show-off]), then give it a rest. The more you work on something so boring and important, the more you’re going to hate it. Crank it out and put it down for a day.

Yesterday, I wrote about the 3rd step in the Josh Can Help resume process, writing personal statements. Check it out!

Step 4: Put it all together (rough draft)

Writing Tools by this is your brain on lithium on flickr

Now, we’re going to take those personal statements, skill lists, and positions, and start building the different resumes. Don’t worry too much about formatting right now, just build the information (baby steps).

Create a new document for each resume and paste the completed personal statement at the top. Next, give your skills list a heading and copy and paste each relevant skill from the major list. Don’t be too concerned about the length or how specific/general you’re being. Writing a resume is better as an iterative process (step by step, doing and correcting). What you want to concentrate on is relevancy to the position you’re going after. The more targeted your resume is, the better you’re going to look.

Now, list your positions from newest to oldest, grouped by company. Under each of the positions, paste the experience that is relevant (see a pattern with that word?). If you think it qualifies you, put it down. If you think it doesn’t really relate, leave it out. For now, do these as bullet points and you can convert it to a paragraph later.

By the end, you should have a “completed” resume: statement, skills, and experience. The quote marks around completed means that you aren’t actually complete but this is  the meat of the task. You still need to list relevant education, awards, certifications, and experience. These can be all together in one section or separated depending on what you’re going for.

• Are you a medicinal chemist going for a senior scientist position? You’ll want a section for education (very important in the chemical industry) and another section for publications (also important).
• Are you a furniture maker going for a lead construction position? You’ll want to include any awards, mentions, published work, and education, possibly in one general section.
• Are you an experienced manager going for a VP position? List your education prominently if it relates to the industry but make sure your great ability with people shines through (soccer coach for your kids? Volunteer somewhere?).

This “misc” section really depends on what you’ve done and what you’re looking to do. Remember that you want to highlight the most important things kin your past based on the job. For some jobs, your education is paramount. For others, it’s your knowledge. For others, it might be your unpaid work. Think about what makes you unique, what makes you stand out, what gives you an edge, and lean into that.

Check out yesterday’s post, the second step towards writing a great resume, listing all of your experience.

Step 3:  Write a personal statement for each of the resumes you need to create.

write by the trial on fickr

This is the worst part of writing a resume (well, next to the cover letter). Some people will tell you that these are unnecessary and I rarely see a company that requires one but better safe than sorry. Also, it’s a good exercise and won’t look BAD on there.

A personal statement, also known as an objective, is, in your own words, why the job you’re trying to get is good for you. It’s really the only time during the resume process that you get to be selfish. Why, in your grand plan, in your overall scheme, does this job help you? Why are you applying? Why do you care whether you get it or not?

What you DON’T want to do is to make this one of “those” statements. You know what I mean, the two-sentence mush-fests that, at the end, say nothing about you except that you read 20 personal statement examples on the internet and “came up with your own.” There’s no need to say that you’re looking to “develop professionally” or “improve your career skills” or “practice your expertise.” If you say something in your personal statement, ask yourself “does everyone else in the world want this as well?” If so, what you said is painfully obvious and should probably be trashed.

Examples of what you might want to say:

• …that you want to work with people because you’re an extrovert and like to connect, hence applying to be an outside sales rep.
• …that you love children and try to spend as much time with them as possible, hence applying to be a neo-natal nurse.
• …that you get a kick out of writing creative code and want to learn from people who do the same, hence applying to be a software engineer at a start-up.

Write the statement for the job you want and tell the interviewer why you want that job. Be honest, let your personality come out, and keep your mind open. When you’re done with this step, you should have one personal statement for each resume in a “final draft” form.

Oh, and if you’re finding it impossible to write a personal statement for the job you’re applying for, maybe you should re-think applying for that job.

Read the first step towards writing a great resume, write down the positions you want

Step 2: Write down all of the jobs you’ve ever had (within reason) and brain dump everything that happened for each one.

Ready for class...

Yikes! Are you ready for this one?

Start with the company you worked for, then list all of the positions you had for that company. If you’re 40 and you worked at McDonalds when you with 18, this probably isn’t too relevant… unless you were a manager after a year and worked there for 3 years. Longevity means something in this age of indecision!

With this list of positions, write down EVERYTHING you did in that position…

• What were you responsible to do?
• What teams did you interact with?
• What goals did you reach?
• How did you help that group?
• What did you do in the morning? On Mondays? Every October?
• Did you write reports?
• Did you close the place down?
• Did you work closely with the CEO?
• Were you critical to sales?
• What did you do 8 hours a day?

Don’t worry if you’ve got a few (or several or many) pages of information; we’ll cut the fat later.

What you want is an information bank that you can use now and forever. The more you write down, the more you will remember and the more you have to pick from when it’s time to pick out content for the resume. This is something you should save, backup, and keep indefinitely. 5 years from now when you’re applying for a different position or a promotion, you will have a bank of experience to draw from. I wish I had done this years ago.

After you’ve gotten down all the experience you’ve earned over the years, it’s time to parlay that into an overall skill list. Skills, aka Qualifications (much more business-y word), are things you are capable doing right now. There are two general groups of skills: “hard” and “soft.” Hard skills are the ability to use Quark or Adobe products or code PHP. Hard skills are easy to qualify and easy to demonstrate. Soft skills include things like customer service, teaching, able to be a team player. Hard skills are easy to list but soft skills are tricky. Think about situations that you are comfortable in that other people are not. Think about what you can handle well that otehrs can’t. Think of ways to differentiate yourself. Being patient and skilled enough to teach people on a regular basis is a skill. Being very organized and dependable is a skill. Communicating well, both verbally and otherwise, is a skill. Don’t forget about the soft stuff.

While you‘re thinking about positions and companies, get the addresses, names, and numbers of the companies for which you worked. You might not be able to track down your former boss but find a way to verify your employment at that organization. The person that is managing your hire will also, inevitably, want to see when you worked for each of these places. Make sure you include month and year to be specific. If you’re off by one or two, that’s fine but if you said you worked form 2006 to 2007, that could be almost two years or just a couple months; make the distinction.

Come back tomorrow and read the third step in Josh’s resume writing process!