ResuMaestro Résumé Service

If you want a good standard definition, Wikipedia covers the bases, spelling out some of the different kinds and purposes of resumes.  Here’s the start of the Wikipedia entry:

“A résumé (pronounced /ˈrɛzʊmeɪ/ REZ-oo-may or /rɛzʊˈmeɪ/; French: [ʁezyme]; sometimes spelled resumé or resume) is a marketing tool used by individuals to secure a new job, a promotion, or an increase in salary.^[1] A typical résumé contains a summary of relevant job experience and education . The résumé is typically the first item that a potential employer encounters regarding the job seeker and is typically used to screen applicants, often followed by an interview, when seeking employment. The résumé is comparable to a curriculum vitae in many countries, although in Canada and United States it is substantially different….”

But rather than trying to predict at the outset which type is best for you, you might be just as well served by just listing everything you have done, and letting the format evolve from there.

Bill Safire’s book Good Advice (More than 2000 Quotations to Help you Live Your life) quotes financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn describing a resume as personal brochure about you. Having spent more than 20 years in advertising and public relations agencies, I can attest both to the accuracy of that description, and to the effort it takes to represent something clearly, concisely and in a way that makes the reader wanting to learn more about you. The nice thing about the resume format is that you don’t have to worry about glitz and glitter as you might in a brochure. The bad thing is that nothing is harder than writing about yourself in a way that helps you sell yourself — and if you don’t happen to be in a job in which communications is an end product, it is even more of a challenge.