The articles I’ve been reading, particularly lately, do two distinct things for me:

• They show me how often I get it wrong and exactly where I can improve (example: I write too much)
• They show me how often I get it right by just planning, thinking, and iterating (example: the transparency and accessibility of what I write)

It occurred to me recently that the content I write ranges broadly from senseless, boring drivvel to concise and insightful statements. It got me thinking about how I, personally, arrive at either end of this spectrum and the mitigating factors for creating the content that I do.

I write well about things that I care about

I’ve been tasked over the years with writing large documents, press releases, website descriptions, personal statements, and arbitrary essays. The type of writing I’m asked to do has little effect on how well it gets written. What does have an effect is how personally or emotionally I’m tied to the outcome.

When I write about who I am as a person or what I’d like to do with myself or my business, I can easily break into a fairly lucid state of creation. I always find myself writing far more than I need and cutting back when I’m complete. I care deeply about where I’m going, what I’m doing, and who I strive to be. It’s important to me that, when I feel the need to communicate this to someone, I’m able to do so truthfully and comprehensively.

If, on the other hand, I’m asked to write about someone or something that I feel neutral about, I find it hard to pick the right words out of my vocabulary. The writing takes forever and sounds cliche and wordy. I lose the honesty and directness that I work so hard to present. In the end, the outcome is poor and the process is never enjoyable.

It might seem that I’ve painted myself into an autobiographical corner, forever restricted to writing about myself and what I do. Thankfully, this isn’t true. If I’m writing about an idea that is interesting or a cause that is noble or a subject that I’m learning about or something you can do to make a difference in your life, I’m energized the same way. I just have to know that when I read it later I’ll be proud of what I wrote AND why I wrote it.

I write well when I know (or think I know) what I’m talking about

I won’t name any names (mostly because none immediately come to mind) but you can tell that someone is full of it through their writing. I’ve read enough BS articles from people regurgitating information to know when someone gets it and is speaking from their knowledge or doesn’t and is just filling the page.

I’d go on about how lame people are but there’s nothing I can do to change it. A system, just by existing, is begging to be gamed. So, people will continue to copy other peoples’ work, compete with honest sources for search engine rank, and attempt to build a fake following of unsuspecting newbies. I can only assume that those who can do and those who can’t just hack it for as long as they can.

Sigh

To combat this scourge, all I can do is just not fall into that trap. I’m not claiming to be a certified expert about everything that crosses this blog but if I’m giving advice, it’s something I’ve learned from doing. Or, if I’m just working out an idea, that honesty comes through. I’ve tried to write beyond my expertise and a quick re-read always tells me it’s time to back it up and stick with what I know. No one wants to read my base-less conjecture, particularly myself.

I write well when I can write well

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the creative process. I thought Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Process was a great dissection of a hard-working creative’s life and found Hugh MacLeod’s book Ignore Everybody to be a fairly comprehensive summary of some really potent life lessons. Oh, and Anne Lamott’s book Bird By Bird which really spoke to me. The more I explore the mysteries of creativity the more I understand my own successes and my own miserable, awful failures.

So, let’s say I’m writing about something I care about and I happen to have a lot of experience with it. I have days where I can take this great position and make something really compelling. I also have days where everything I type sounds like I’ve read it thirty times before. Moon phases, rising Mercuries, wind speed, and air density all, I’m convinced, play a part in this silly little game I play with my writing so, I’ve decided I’m totally powerless.

Or am I.

I’ve found that I can write better in the morning (this seems to be common from what I’ve read). I can write better if I’m well-rested (does that even need to be said). I always write better if life is going well. I write better if I’ve been reading more lately. I also write better when I’ve been writing more.

So there are prompts and activities and behaviors that all play a part. Still – STILL – there are good days and there are bad days. For myself, I don’t give up on the bad days and I don’t try to squeeze every last word out of the good days. I’m not writing a novel (yet?) so I’m not burdened with a huge rock to push uphill. I am, however, charged (voluntarily) with keeping a steady stream of good information coming from this site. The pressure never helps things but it does keep the fingers working the keys.

Takeaways?

Online content has become, in so many cases, totally throw away. Armed with keywords and a word minimum, people painfully bang out articles and posts less for the sake of creating and more of the sake of, well, more.

If you want to write good content, you have to care, you have to know something about it, and you have to give it some time. In my mind, there’s no point in writing drivel. There is so much CRAP out there, in fact it’s the majority. Why contribute to that?

Listen, we all have bad days, that’s just how it goes. But don’t let a bad day or two make your site look unimportant. Do your homework, take your time, and put your heart into it.

Related posts:

1. Blogging 101: How to Write a Great Blog Post… a Reader’s Perspective This is a guide I wrote a few months back....
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Design is More by ellywilliams on Flickr

I recently posted in a great topic titled “what is expected of a designer,” a question I’ve pondered many times on my own. I wanted to share a few of the responses but, because it’s a closed group and you need a login to view the posts, I don’t want to include information on the poster. Just please note that anything in quotations below are not my original thoughts and were written by someone else (which, if it was you, let me know and I’ll add a link for you or take it down if you’d like).

So, first, the question:

What is expected of a designer? Over the years, my job has evolved from spec’ing type to writing branding guidelines to puzzling through code, with everything else in between. But there’s a ceiling on the perceived value of a graphic designer, or “Design Consultant”. What are your experiences juggling the many aspects of our work?

My response, verbatim, is this:

Designing without any concept of how the whole project comes together (think website or brochure or presentation) or what the limitations are (platform or budgetary or format) puts you at a total disadvantage. I’ve worked with designs from people who understand the web and from people who don’t and the difference, in both time and final product, is clear.

I think a designer should be expected to think about the whole project: the medium, the message, the format, the audience, the technology, and the client. The closer the pieces of the project are to the design, the more they should know. Should a front-end designer be fluent in SQL? It might make for an interesting combination but knowing the syntax isn’t going to make the site design better. Should the designer understand how the site is going to interact with the database? It’s not necessary but it might help them work better with the developer.

In short, a designer needs to see the big picture of what they are doing. Possessing incredible design skills is great but, without seeing how your creativity plugs into everything else, you’ll perpetually be at a disadvantage (and, potentially, be difficult to work with).

What do others have to say?

Employers recently seem to get the sense that the term “Designer” should also encompass the title of “Developer”. It’s amazing and frightening the perception of what a designer is now – especially in web. I’ve read so many posts that wanted a “Rockstar Designer” … who also did ASP.NET , PHP, and other coding skills on top of the standard (X)HTML and CSS.

Employers have to realize that we’re not a dumpster for all the cumulative skills and knowledge of communication. I do admit that the role of the “designer” has to evolve however.

“A dumpster for all the cumulative skills and knowledge of communication;” I’m certain I could not put it any better.

There’s give and take with everything. Hiring someone with both design and programming skills means that you want a jack/jill-of-all-trades. This implies that you’re not looking for a designer at the top of their field and you’re not looking for a programmer that can write applications with their eyes closed. There is nothing wrong with desiring this particular combination but the problem comes when your expecations are not in line with what you’re asking for.

I have to use myself as an example. I’m proficient in the Adobe products and really love playing with layout, typography, and colors. I have an eye for detail and, if I can toot my own horn for a second, I’ve come up with several effective, pleasing designs. I’m always improving and always learning but always humble because I’ve seen the kind of design work that’s out there and I’m very impressed. If a project requires a very polished, unique design, I might end up hiring someone else (not after trying it out, of course). I do that because I know that practice begets mastery and, because my practice is broad, my skill level is not at the same level as professional designers. Same goes for code; I can hand-code an XHTML page or email, use CSS very effectively, and add some PHP to make it dynamic and easy to use. I can build templates for WordPress blogs and make the PHP code do what I want. I can also find my way around the ASP.NET of DotNetNuke enough to make small modifications. I am not, however, capable of building a dynamic MySQL driven site (big “yet” there… in the process of learning). I’m also not able to write a Facebook app, a WordPress widget, or a Pligg module.

What I do, I do well and do often. What I can’t do, I reach out to experts to have it done right (while learning at the same time).

I heard an interesting talk by Milton Glaser a few years ago. His approach was that designers need to stay with what they are good at—the magic that makes people look; that makes people feel a certain way, etc. He seemed to feel that designers were going down the wrong path by positioning themselves as business experts (via emphasizing their marketing skills), as that’s not what makes them special.

This is from the orginal poster and adds to what I was saying above. When you hire a designer, you’re making a statement, you’re saying “what this looks like really, truly matters.” You can hire a designer for almost anything you do… home construction, documents, car modification, advertisements, web sites; the list, of course, goes on ad infinitum. You hire the right designer for the job (i.e. don’t hire me to design your kitchen), you communicate what you want and need, and you leave the project in their capable hands.

It’s all about separating roles and jobs. If you hire someone to both design and develop your website, they better be good at swtiching hats (cough). I’ve done several top-to-bottom web pages and blogs and I love the process. As a classically-trained scientist, a life-long artist (I create a lot more than I share, that’s for sure), a constant writer (see this blog, former blog, long emails, and technical documents), and an occasional programmer, I’m comfortable in both halves of my brain. Where I get into trouble, however, is when I’m not able to separate these skills and take each one on individually. If I’m given a big project with a tight deadline, it can be sure I’ll reach out to other people for help. If, however, I’m given the time I need, I take each step on individually and enjoy switching hats.

If you’re looking for someone who takes great pride in what he does, is constantly improving, and seeks help when he needs it, please get a hold of me. I’d love to get you and your business on the web!

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Dissertation Writing ::: Billie / PartsnPieces ::: on Flickr.com

Each article should be directly and completely related to the reason why you have a website. The topics you pick should be related to something that the people you want to address would search (called keywords), something they would read, and something they would send to their colleagues. Additionally, it also needs to be directly related to what you’re selling; you want links in the article to point towards monetized outcomes.

When you write your articles, keep a few things in mind:

• Uniqueness is almost as important as usefulness with respect to web content. There are plenty of articles out there on financial matters so breaking through the noise is important. Even if a good portion of the article is about raising stock price, phrase the article towards a certain niche or industry.  You’ll show up for less search terms but you’ll rank higher for the ones that you do show up for. This translates directly to more eyeballs on your page (and more potential customers).

• Make sure you insert some personality and speak to the lowest common denominator. Your topic might be high-level information but the more people that can understand it and relate it to their own situations, the more likely it is that people will share it with others. Include a bunch of jargon and huge words are you’re going to alienate people.

• Invest in a recurring editor or an editing service. Typos, grammatical errors, and crappy punctuation could relegate a great article to the Un-clicked Archives of the Internet. Pick one person or one service and make sure they can retain your personal voice through their editing. Perfection is not required but poor sentence structure leads to a crappy read.

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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?

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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!

Related posts:

1. Curing Underemployment (or) Josh’s Six Step Plan to a Great Resume (part 3 of 6) Check out yesterday’s post, the second step towards writing a...
2. Curing Underemployment (or) Josh’s Six Step Plan to a Great Resume (part 5 of 6) Yesterday, I went through the fourth step in my resume-writing...
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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.

Related posts:

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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.

Related posts:

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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.

Related posts:

1. Curing Underemployment (or) Josh’s Six Step Plan to a Great Resume (part 5 of 6) Yesterday, I went through the fourth step in my resume-writing...
2. Curing Underemployment (or) Josh’s Six Step Plan to a Great Resume (part 4 of 6) Yesterday, I wrote about the 3rd step in the Josh...
3. Curing Underemployment (or) Josh’s Six Step Plan to a Great Resume (part 6 of 6) Ha! I thought forgot about the last one, huh? Nope....

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!

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What a job! by roarpett on flickr

What Should a Good Resume Do for You?

I think a lot of people approach the resume process like they would approach, say, their biography. All stories should be told, all skills described, all experience disclosed. While it’s definitely good to be honest and thorough with a company you want to work for, by putting everything in your resume, you’re taking away a lot from the other big part of getting a job: the interview.

Your resume should be a complete summary of what you have to offer but it doesn’t need to describe every position in detail. In fact, it shouldn’t, it should lead your potential employers to questions about the positions.

Your resume should, essentially, qualify you exactly for the position you’re applying for and create a bit of interest in what you have to offer. Pertinent education should be there, relevant experience should be there, specific skills should be there and they should all be tuned towards the position you’re trying to get.

Your resume should also be FLAWLESS. There are enough jokes floating around out there about misspellings, bad grammar, incorrect references, and embarrassing mistakes, don’t become one of them. Reserve at least a quarter of your resume-writing time to correcting mistakes, checking for errors, and formatting as best as you can.

day 132 'resume writing' by honeyrider at flickr

Step 1: Write down the job positions you want

Your first step is having a clear picture of what you want. If you don’t know where you want to apply or what you want to do then you’re going to be at a specific disadvantage compared to the other people applying for the position. I’m not saying you need to come to brass tacks about your career and your life and your direction (well, you probably should at some point) but you need to at least know what jobs you want, what you’re qualified for, and why you’re applying for them. Think about it: you might be saving yourself a lot of pain down the road if you decide against a job you would have mindlessly applied to in the first place.

So, get a list going and write it all down. Make sure that your list contains positions you want and positions you’re qualified to do. Just do a brain dump of everything first, get it all down on paper, then take a look at what you’ve created. In the end, you’re looking for groups of positions that are similar in one way or another. What you want at the end of this is an idea of how many resumes you’re going to need on file in order to be prepared.

Now, you have your list of industries and positions, now, take a look at them in terms of their hierarchy and where you want to be in 2, 5, or 10 years. Do you just need a job for right now or are looking to find a place to stay for a while? Think about your career path with respect to the jobs you’re applying for and what the next step will require. Do you want to be a bartender but could see yourself as a restaurant manager? Then you’ll write the resume like an aspiring restaurant manager with the skills to be a bartender. Do you have marketing experience but really see yourself as a marketing director? You should write your resume like a director who knows how to do basic marketing tasks. By writing with the next level in mind, you’re going to connect better with the person you’re interviewing with and make yourself a much more attractive candidate.

If you haven’t already, group all of this information together. Put the positions you want into groups based on the industry and in order based on rank and file. Cap each one of these ranking lists with the position you’d like to attain by getting better at the jobs before it. Where do these jobs lead for you? What do you want to be doing later? How will these jobs help? How can you orient yourself towards your goals? Big stuff, I know, but critical in general and important for your job search.

Next step coming tomorrow so stay tuned!

Related posts:

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2. Curing Underemployment (or) Josh’s Six Step Plan to a Great Resume (part 3 of 6) Check out yesterday’s post, the second step towards writing a...
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Introduction

There are two companies online that I like a lot (love?) and will always patronize (as long as they stick to their formula); Amazon.com and Newegg.com. Put simply, the prices are great, I’ve never had an issue, what I order shows up fast, and, when I need it, the customer service is great (Newegg’s service is off-the-charts great). As such, I also give them respect on here and by word-of-mouth.

Someone clued me into the whole Amazon Affiliates program where you advertise books you like from Amazon on your site. Since I wanted SOME kind of monetization and I like to show my support for things I really like, it seemed like the perfect combination. I think, however, it requires a bit of explanation so you don’t think that those are just random books. I actually picked them out and read them myself and now I think you should do the same.

I’m a newbie so what’s in it for me?

So, let’s say you’re a bit web savvy and let’s say you’ve got a lot to say so let’s say you start yourself a little blog. You start off slowly, write a few posts, get some momentum and now you want to see what you can do about raking in the dough.You get to researching blog advertisements and, BAM, too much information.

I don’t think you can go wrong with the Amazon widget, to be honest. Pick books that match your content, pick books you support and why wouldn’t people click on the links? I think it’s honest, it’s up-front, you can support something you agree with, and their widgets look great.

I’ll report back when I’ve retired off of the revenue and tell you how to do the same.

So what’s so great about those books?

In the spirit of being honest, I thought I might put a little review on here of each to prove that I ACTUALLY own these books and ACTUALLY read them (well, you don’t so much read a CSS guide or an Illustrator book.. I did read the XHTML one though). Here’s why I like them (I’m posting these on Amazon as well)…

The Elements of Style (Illustrated) by Strunk, White, and Kalman

I wish I could remember who originally recommended the original Strunk & White Elements of Style to me. If I could remember, I would find them and hug them unabashedly.

If you’re writing ANYTHING and care AT ALL about how it turns out then do yourself a favor and pick this one up. The organization is very strange (there isn’t any to speak of) and the writing style is very direct. The result is a no-nonsense book that teaches you to cut the crap out of your writing.

There are many, many valuable lessons contained in Strunk’s short and useful guide but the best ones, for me, are the ones regarding comma usage and his favorite command, “Omit needless words.” During everything I’ve ever written since reading this book I’ve heard a disembodied voice telling me to remove words. I’ve noticed while editing other people’s work that the piece can be improved dramatically by deleting all the words that say nothing.

It’s a quick read but a necessary one for anyone doing any kind of writing.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

As with “Elements…,” I’m not sure how I heard about this book. It was one of those odd series of events that ends with something in your mailbox. I read a few quick things about it online and suddenly decided that I must read the book. I’m glad I did because this was one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time.

Anne has a casual but polished writing style that you can’t help but to get lost in. She writes like a close friend speaks to you, eschewing ego and pretentiousness to deliver her simple, personal message. It started out a  bit slow but the stories she told were very entertaining. By the time I reached the middle of the book, I was totally hooked and found the last half hilarious and very informative.

This book is, in the end, a guide on how to be a writer, not a guide on how to write. What I mean by that is you won’t really develop your style or improve your sentence structure by reading this book. What you will do, however, is come to terms with a lot of the obstacles facing writers at every stage of their careers. Her humor and her honesty makes you feel really good about contributing, failing, hating yourself, and moving on.

Though I would definitely recommend this book to anyone writing their own book, I would recommend it even more to anyone living in this world and doing the best that they can. She talks a lot about failing and self-hatred and giving up and charging through. I found myself particularly centered after reading about her embarrassing reactions and consequent success over jealousy and writer’s block. I learned more about my life and myself than I did about writing. I don’t necessarily consider myself a writer but I explore my creativity in different ways and this book really speaks to all of them.

Pick this book up, read it, and feel better about just being yourself.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Finally, a book with a history I can share.

This book was given to me by my dad, the king of business books and the fastest, most prolific reader I know. This guy blows through almost 1,000 pages a month on top of all the magazines, newspapers, and online sources he devours. Though our reading tastes aren’t completely aligned, when he recommends a book, I typically read it (or at least add it to The List in earnest).

This is the kind of book I don’t read. Though I find the advertising industry slightly interesting, I mostly hate it and wish it would go away (despite having a hand in it). This book, however, really cuts through the crap and explains positioning and branding in a way I’ve never heard before. In terms of marketing and branding, I pretty much live by the concepts in this book. Oh, and it’s about 30 years old. That’s how good this book is.

The  book shows you what successful companies have done to become that way and what other successful companies have done to screw it all up. With tons of examples and a very straight-forward writing style, this book will explain why certain products win and why others fail.

I read this book quickly and moved onto others by the same authors. They really know their stuff.

The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon

This is the best book I’ve ever read and likely will ever read. Period.

I have suffered off and on from depression throughout my life and this book, the first and only book I’ve ever read on the subject, did so much for my understanding about the condition. I’ve really never read a book that explained what I think and feel better than this.

First off, Andrew Solomon is an excellent writer. He gets a bit verbose at times but I found each sentence, regardless of it’s complexity, an adventure in and of itself. He paints such an incredible picture of the feelings and thoughts that accompany depression. Like anyone able to describe depression, Andrew has been through it and reading what he’s suffered from made me realize how lucky I have been with my own depression. Andrew has seen hell, been through hell, and came out enlightened.

Strangely, I always find this book difficult to describe adequately. His words were just so well chosen and the research so personal and interesting, I feel like it’s a book that needs to be experienced to be understood fully.

If you suffer from depression, clinical or occasional or undiagnosed or anything, I completely recommend reading this book from cover to cover. If you know someone who suffers from this condition and are struggling to understand what they’re going through, this book will go a long way towards helping you see what they see. I’ve really never had a book that explained something as well as this.

The Non-Designers Design & Type Books by Robin Williams

I wanted to write a quick blurb about this little book that has gone a long way towards teaching me proper design.

I’ve been dabbling seriously in graphic design for about a year now and find it one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever done and also one of the most satisfying. It’s very subjective, hard to describe, very time consuming, very sensitive, and totally maddening. When it works, it really works but when it doesn’t work, it shows you the highest level of frustration possible.

Robin explains all the basics very well which puts you in a position to begin to experiment. If you just stick yourself in front of Photoshop and try to bang out a business card or a menu or a technical document (which you really wouldn’t do in Photoshop), it’s probably not going to work out well unless you’ve had some experience. If, however, you read this little guide and try it, you’re going to have a few more ideas and at least understand the contrainst you’re working with in terms of color, alignment, etc.

This book is great for people without any experience in design who want to improve the way their documents, webpages, application screens, and printed material looks. You’re not going to win any contests with this knowledge (and neither are her examples) but what you produce will immediately look better. The writing style is a bit goofy but I use what I learned every day in everything I produce from graffiti to webpages to technical documents to resumes.

CSS: The Definitive Guide by Eric Meyer

A solid plot, well-formed characters, and an intriguing writing style make this… wait, what?

This is a boring, very useful book. I’ve read a lot about CSS on the web and nothing came close to the  explanation in this book. Instead of saying things like “we won’t bother you with the complex way this is calculated,” Meyer bothers you with the complexity. Each property I read made me really understand how it works and how it should be used.

I’ve been reading this bad-boy from cover to cover and I think I’m doing myself a bit of a disservice. I think I’m going to skip to the positioning section (everyone could use a better understanding of this mysterious and magical world), read that, maybe read a few other things I’m interested in mastering and then leave it as a reference. It makes a lot more sense to read the properties you don’t understand than trying to get through it all.

Learn (x)HTML and CSS online, then buy this book is you’re serious about getting into web page design.

Visual Quickstart Guide to HTML, XHTML, & CSS by Elizabeth Castro

I think I bought this book a bit late in my web design learning process but I still find a lot of use out of it. I use it as my general reference book and I’m constantly in the appendix and the chapter about forms.

Though I would recommend this book to people because I found it useful, I think there might be better books on the subject. I say this because it does not go into the level of detail you really need to master HTML. It does a great job explaining what it does but there are quite a few things left out or breezed over to keep the book and appropriate size. Also, combining HTML and CSS in the same book is probably a bad idea. The CSS book I reviewed above is bigger than this book and, ostensibly, covers 1/3 of the material.

If you want to learn enough about HTML to get by creating simple web pages or fixing your own, this is a great book for you. If, however, you want to really understand HTML and get into web development, I would suggest finding a book with a bit more content (probably something from O’Reilly [publishers of the CSS book above]).

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If you’re considering whether or not you want to start a blog, ponder this:

By posting a great piece of advice or a guide for someone or your professional insight, you contribute to the incredible equalizing power of the internet. By making once-obscure and restricted information public, you engender a sense of community, a virtual, digital community that pulls people together across geographic and cultural barriers.

Want to be a part of something great? Put yourself out there! But how?

There are many different guides out there offering the best way to write or the easiest way to start or the quickest way to 10K subscribers. You might find some excellent information out there (I have, no doubt) but none of them really tell you how to find and connect with your readers in the most organic, benevolent way possible.

In this post, I offer 6 steps to write a great blog entry for any type of blog you could imagine. These will help you appear more often when real people search, garner more attention from those that matter, and, generally, be more successful as an RSS author. I’m writing these not from the position of a famous blogger (I’m not one of those) but from a chair in front of a monitor that has seen countless posts pass by.

I’m your audience. You better listen up!

1. Understand the format and write to it

While it’s really your blog’s content that determines whether or not I will return, the reach of your blog (meaning the amount of people that see it) makes a big difference in whether I find you in the first place or not. Want me to find you in the seemingly endless ocean of information out there? Then understand and practice the format that makes you findable. Keep these concepts in the forefront of your mind as you write so they start to become second nature. Thinking in terms of a blog post will cut down on the editing time and make it easier in the future to efficiently put out quality material for me to read. The following are a few things to keep in mind.

Your Title Speaks Volumes

The title of your blog post is a very crucial piece of the blog puzzle. With so many aggregators, search engines, and browsers, it’s the only thing that I’ll see and the big decider as to whether I’m going to click it or not. Keep it short, state your purpose, and tell me why I should go there. Great titles reel me in, just don’t disappoint me with a lame post!

It’s All About the First Impression

A great blog post starts with a great introduction. You want me to finish the article and spend as much time on the page as possible, right. Hook me with a great anecdote or a reason why this post will benefit me right now. Help me along to each section and you’ll make a real audience member out of me.

You’re Nothing without your Head

You’ll notice in this article that there is a title at the top, 6 sub-headings, and sub-sub-headings beneath those; this was not an accident. All three of these headers are critical to being seen by the search engines out there (what you want to happen if you want me to find you). Before you write, plan out your main title, your introduction, and all of your sub-headers. This will help you keep on task and make your article as useful as possible. At the end, make sure all of your headers match the information underneath and incorporate the key words you want to be associated with.

2. Consistency: Keep Me Coming Back for More

Think of your blog as your own personal publication, like a magazine or a newspaper. When I subscribe to Time or Newsweek or The Economist I’m not giving them money to send me an issue when they feel like it or when they get around to it. I receive one issue every month/week of a certain size and on a certain set of subjects.

Just like the New York Times can’t skip a few days here or there, your blog must be consistent in how often the posts are being made. This doesn’t mean you need to post twice a day but if you want to post twice a day, make sure you can keep that pace up ad infinitum. I’m more likely to return if you find a schedule that works for you and keep to it; it’s nice knowing that I have something to read on specific days, regardless of what those days are.

Before you start, come to an agreement with yourself and your co-authors (if there are any) on a frequency and stick to it. If you can write six days a week then go for it. If, however, you think you will only have the time or where-with-all or content for twice a week, then pick two days of the week and make sure those days get a post. You will be more successful by posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday than you will by writing 7 times one week and once the next.

3. Make Your Content Unique

The internet is a very descriptive name that gives you a good idea of what is going on behind the scenes. It’s a giant network of interconnected information and benefits greatly from layered information on many different topics. For every topic there exists countless different descriptions, opinions, definitions, and alternatives. How can anything be unique when everything already has a website?

It’s certainly daunting to face a blank page and wonder if your thoughts are already out there so don’t. Unless you wrote them, your thoughts haven’t been published so write away.

Unique content comes from the heart and it comes from experience. Maybe one or two (or ten) people already wrote an article about marriage or family relations or earning trust. Maybe there is a whole network of people who write about it all the time but that doesn’t make me more likely to read theirs and less likely to read yours. You might only write a page or two about your topic but it came from YOUR mind and YOUR experience and, as such, is far more important to your audience.

Where people fall into a trap is when they look to other bodies of work to create their own. Referencing other blogs, articles, and web pages is fine but don’t make other people’s work your own (even if you give credit). With so many ways of receiving and filtering information, I certainly don’t need another middle man feeding me other people’s information. Bloggers who fall into the habit of parroting others fall quickly into irrelevancy.

If you write about a book, news article, or blog post that you read, tell me what you think about it. If you agree, tell me why and vice versa. Quote a small piece of the work and tell me what was right or wrong about that passage. Also: always give credit where credit is due.

4. What’s the Point? Ask Often

Most of us like to keep up with family and friends and colleagues to make sure everything is going well. If my mom wrote a blog about her day-to-day activities, I would probably check it out every now and then in between phone calls. But would my friends? Would my co-workers? Would anyone else?

Ask yourself over and over: why am I writing this? If you can’t come up with one or two reasons why, maybe you should re-think the topic. Every post doesn’t have to be a home run and change my life but each post should speak to me and what I want. You are writing for me, not for yourself.

In that vein, it’s important to understand what is important to you and what is important to me. Your experience and your knowledge is why you have the subscribers you do but unless that knowledge is consistently helping me in my life, chances are that I won’t be around for the long haul.

Problogger.com speaks to this point::

Stop writing about yourself. Start solving problems – Surfers become readers when a blog provides something that is wanted. A casual visitor may read your blog because they find training, answers to problems, entertainment, or something else they want. This more than likely will mean that they won’t want to read about you, your girlfriend, your cats, your kids, or your catastrophes (unless you have a personal blog that your friends read). Discontinuing the off-topic posts will help you to develop more repeat traffic and takes exactly 0 minutes to implement.

5. Simple and To-The-Point Language

Ok, here’s the tricky part, picking a font that works. Here are the basic rules:

This particular point is important for those with an extensive vocabulary or those who write about a particular topic with which they are very knowledgeable. It is important to keep jargon and unnecessarily arcane or obscure words from damaging the accessibility of your blog. If you want to appeal to me and all the other me’s out there, it is important that you don’t make me feel uneducated or uninformed. I’m not an idiot but when I fire up Google Reader on my phone and catch a few blog posts on the trolley, I don’t want to have to hunt for a dictionary (that’s what Infinite Jest is for).

Additionally, by using commonplace words (even if you sound a bit repetitive) you are increasing the likelihood that I’ll will find your post through a search engine. Once you’ve had just a bit of experience using a search engine, you realize that being specific is key to finding what you want efficiently.

When you are writing, don’t change what you want to say to fit into a set of words but keep your post direct and avoid unnecessary words. Use short, direct sentences and clear and concise language (this should start to resemble a Strunk & White flashback from your school days). Avoid long tangents that can lose me and make the difference between a returning customer and a bounce.

With a blog post, shorter is better. I have many different blogs I subscribe to and tying up my time with a long-winded post is inconsiderate to say the least. If a particular topic requires more analysis or additional information on your part, consider a multi-part post; you can be sure I’ll come back if I liked the first one. Make sure to plan the series out and tell me what I’m in for.

6. Back It Up

At their best, blogs are charged with providing clear, concise, and CORRECT information. Getting your news from CNN.com is a viable option but I would rather read it from people who were there and saw it happen. Similarly, I would rather read about counseling from a 30 year veteran than just a simple definition on Wikipedia.

The problem with blogs, however, is that each blog has its own reputation to build and maintain. The blog community (called the blogosphere) has done a great job of raising the overall opinion of blogs as information disseminators over the last few years. Your blog will benefit from this but you also have your own work to do.

Make sure that your facts can be backed up and include links wherever possible. Your information is doubly powerful if it is corroborated by a quote from someone or even another blog post. Link out to other site when you can and include short quotes when appropriate.

There is one thing that you won’t be able to source: your own experience. Anecdotes are important in building trust and respect but they must be accurate. A simple exaggeration of a particular experience might seem minor when you write it but if you are ever called out it could be disastrous. Building my trust is paramount to being the most interesting blog writer ever. If the story needs modification to fit the post, you don’t need the story (or the post).

Bonus: Ask yourself these questions as you write

• What am I trying to say? What should the reader be getting out of this?
• Why should the reader care about what I’m writing?
• Am I validating what I’m saying? Are my facts straight?
• Am I including too much personal information?
• Could this be split into several different parts? Am I going on too long?
• Is my title strong enough? Does it accurately explain what I’ve written?
• Do my sub-headings make sense? Do they correctly label what follows?
• Am I considering Seth’s 3 U’s: unique, useful, up-to-date?

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