Many people underestimate the power of being a good writer. As the age old adage goes, "the pen is mightier than the sword" and it is just as true now as it was first uttered.
I am now helping a Japanese friend on writing her resume and fortunate for her, she is an incredibly accomplished person (though she doesn't realize it), holder of several scholarships, awards and active in a variety of community projects, I was sent an incredibly sad looking resume saying something to the effect of "I am a hard worker and I would like to apply to this foreign position."
Apparently she also blurred the concept of a resume with a cover letter which weakened things considerably. Participating in the COOP program in university honestly paid off in spades as I am very aware of how resumes are read and what should be highlighted. The first version of the resume was immediately trashed and I've highlighted all of her special achievements and important contributions/results as these are the things that as an interviewer exactly wants to know; what makes you standout compared to everyone.
It's one thing to have good content and it is another to know how to present it well, but having both is very important. I've already managed to get her a 1 year scholarship to France by fixing her cover letter (and her prof's recommendation letter) to make a strong application package and hopefully I'll have have her accepted into some research company abroad if things work out. Knowing that I can pull these things off for other people is kind of fun. I just wonder what kind of value would a good technical writing market for students or Japanese people dealing with foreign relations is out there because having a good editor/writer in their pocket can make a huge difference (and we all know about Japanese "Engrish").
I should be glad that I'm practiced at writing application letters, I guess I did learn something from University after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment