In a version of the workplace as nostalgic and bittersweet as a Normal Rockwell painting, employees once took great pride in their job performance.  Far fewer errors slipped through the cracks, less merchandise was returned by irate customers, and it was virtually unheard of for our government to recall a product because it was unsafe or downright deadly.  In those days, employers also reaped decent profits.  So what the heck has happened to the pride that American workers once took in their jobs?

To gain a semblance of an honest answer, we need to scrutinize, realistically, the evolving structure of the workplace.  In decades past, job functions were much more clearly defined.  Employees paid to produce a product, for example, were relegated to one or two well-planned tasks.  For example, workers in a garment factory would be charged with laying out and cutting fabric according to master patterns.  Sewing machine operators would then assemble the cut fabric (i.e., the arms and body of a blouse). Once assembled, the blouses would pass to those workers responsible for finishing the items: attaching buttons and embellishments such as lace trim, or embroidering small designs onto the pockets.  A foreman or forelady oversaw these processes and assured quality at every stage, as well as timeliness.

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Laboring under the delusion that one’s resume must, at all costs, be contained to a single page, too many applicants make the mistake of boiling their accomplishments down to succinct, trite phases.  While it’s still perfectly acceptable to present yourself as “an avid team player,” “bottom-line oriented,” and “embraces challenge,” it’s far more effective to expand upon those concepts in the text of the resume.

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Just this morning, I called a client to confirm his appointment with me.  The only number he’d given was his cell phone, which I dialed.  For approximately three full minutes (I timed it), I was constrained to listen to a piece of music the man obviously thought would entertain his callers.  Although the music was pleasant, I found it rather excruciating.  I had to listen to the piece in its entirety until his actual voice mail kicked in, allowing me to leave a message.  But that, too, was another minute’s wait as I was treated to the man blessing me in two languages and asking me to have an absolutely wonderful day in the light of the Lord.  As he represented business, I found the patience to hang on … by a thread.

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Given the plethora of often conflicting advice emerging from self-professed career specialists, one would assume that the answer to this pressing question is “Yes.”  Thankfully, in accessing this site, you benefit from our thirty years of experience in crafting career-advancement documents, including our expertise in monitoring and implementing the resume writing trends that make sense.  Therefore, our answer to this question is, “No!”

Think about it.  If you were to totally customize your resume for every single job in which you are interested and qualified, you would never get a moment’s sleep.  All you can honestly do is highlight your skills and accomplishments to fullest advantage.  If you invent proficiencies or lie about your successes, how will you support these fallacies during an interview?  More importantly, how will you support them if you ace the interview and land the job?

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Is a thank you letter a nicety or critical business protocol? 

In days gone by, guests of dinner parties penned thoughtful little thank you notes to their hosts and hostesses, in gratitude for their hospitality.  Nowadays, those notes have gone the way of the fifteen-cent subway token, as have most of the genteel manners that we as a society seem to have lost, ignored, or simply trampled in our daily rush through our lives.  Sometimes, however, the tried and true remains valid, and that is the case with thank you letters (also called “follow up letters”) to your prospective employers.

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Do you remember this scene from the great old movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?  Pursued by the law, anti-heroes Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) arrive at a bluff overlooking a long drop ending in churning waters.   Butch screams, “Jump!”  And his partner hollers back, “I can’t swim!”  Confronted with personal questions on interviews, job applicants can be made to feel like Butch and Sundance at the end of that cliff: damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.

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