Profile: Candidate A starts her journey after a recent restructuring of her company where she has been working in sales for four years. She joined this company straight out of college, where she studied Marketing. The company she worked for offered her a program through CPIBN as a part of her separation package, and after speaking with one of the owners, she decided to visit our offices for our orientation and introductory meeting.
It is important to us that Candidate A feels comfortable that we will give her all the tools for a successful transition. Dottie, one of CPIBN’s owners, sat down with Candidate A and goes through the basics of the CPI company and how our office operates. Candidate A, like most candidates who visit for this first meeting, decides that this is a great opportunity to not only learn the skills to find her next job, but to ultimately help her find the right career path.
Our Transition services give Candidate A a basic “boot camp” consisting of four different modules designed to give her the tools to launch a successful job search. After sitting in Dottie’s Module One class, Career Continuation and Change, Candidate A has a better perspective on her recent job separation and is feeling more focused that a career path in sales is not necessarily the same path she wants to pursue now that she has the opportunity to seek other options. After participating in the class self-assessment exercise, Candidate A realized that she would be more satisfied in a job which allows her to utilize more of the creative and people skills she gained through her marketing studies in college.
This career path change allows Candidate A to participate in Module Two, Devleoping Your Resume and References, with a more clear focus on what sort of jobs she would like to pursue.
Candidate A last created her resume in college, and while she has done basic updates during her working career, Todd, our office’s resume guru, stresses the fact that what is expected on, and from, resumes changes each year, and employers will look for the newest resumes in terms of layout and presentation. Our resume class creates a three step process for Candidate A: 1) learning what resumes should look like today, in 2015; 2) creating a new draft resume based on her experiences, achievements, and skills; and 3) editing, restructuring, and formatting by CPIBN staff and review by Candidate A.
Resume tips gleaned by Candidate A during her participation in Module Two:
- A resume is a marketing brochure, of her
- Length should be 1-2 pages, most likely 2, and the appearance of those pages matters
- Employers will seek certain buzzwords for each profession and job
- Every resume should contain a professional summary targeted to specific audiences
- What matters most are RESULTS
Much like the importance of resume appearance, CPIBN teaches, both during modules and other offered classes, that physical appearance is important to employers as well. Candidate A realized that she may not always be presenting herself in the most professional way on her social media sites, and took advantage of the professional head-shots CPIBN and local photographer Marc Murphy provide for candidates.
Armed with a resume that best presents her abilities and skills to employers in the marketing and creative career fields, and a new professional image, Candidate A is feeling more prepared to start her job search and excited as #CPIBNgoesto the next steps in the process.