Part Three Of Four)
Your brochure can be as simple as a Z-folded 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of
paper. It should describe your services, emphasize your
professionalism, fast service and reasonable cost. It would be
best to have your story typeset and laid out in three columns
down the width of the paper.

Most quick print shops can handle all this for you, at a nominal
cost. Once you’ve had your brochures printed, leave off a supply
with your area high school and college counselors, vocational and
trade school placement directors, and with as many private
employment agencies as will take them.

When a prospective clients call you, simply explain your services
and prices, and set up an appointment for them to meet with you.
For this it’s best to prepare a script, which might read like
this:

YOU, answering the phone : Good morning! Midwest Resume Service.
May I help you?

CLIENT: Yes, I’m calling about your ad in the paper.

YOU: Oh yes, and thank you for calling. Let me explain our
services. We’re professional resume writers–we interview job
seekers such as yourself–learn the important features of their
backgrounds as those features apply in helping us to write a
resume that will land them the job they’re looking for. Then we
assemble all this information into a winning presentation, type
it out, give you the original plus 50 copies and a cover letter
(which you can modify as necessary on your home typewriter and
have copied each time you submit a resume). Your cost is only
$50, and usually we can have everything ready for you within
three or four days. Now, does that sound like what you had in
mind?

CLIENT: Yes! That’s just what I had in mind. When can we get
together and start the ball rolling?

YOU: How about this afternoon at 3:15 or would tomorrow morning
at say 9:45 be better for you? We’re located at 600 North Main
Street. Are you familiar with the area?

CLIENT: Yes, I know the area, no problem. This afternoon at 3:15
will be fine.

YOU: Good! Now, let me have your name and phone number please.

CLIENT: Gives his name and phone number.

YOU: All right, Bob, we’ll look forward to seeing you this
afternoon at 3:15.

You now have a client, and an appointment to interview him for
background information in order to put together a resume that can
result in a job for him. Be sure you’re prepared with a
“researcher’s questionnaire,” to guide you in the questions to
ask.

Type your resume format on a separate sheet paper, numbering each
question you want an answer to, or subject you want to cover.
This of course serves as a “master” which you duplicate and use
as the researcher’s questionnaire guide.

For each interview, take one of these “interview guides” and an
ordinary yellow legal tablet, and start asking questions.
Identify each page of notes with a number or subject matter from
the resume format, and use a separate page of the tablet for each
subject and each job the client may have had.

The interview should be relaxed, with the client doing most of
the talking. However, you should control the interview and take
notes as the client gives you the information you need. Be
confident, but friendly. Maintain your confidence and ask leading
questions that elicit complete, revealing responses. Take your
time, and “listen” to what the client ISN’T telling you as well
as what he IS telling you. With a bit of practice, you’ll be able
to find out all there is to know about your client in twenty
minutes or less.

Look ahead to the day when you have employees working for you.
Develop your interviewing techniques to a state of maximum
efficiency for your business, and then record three or four
interviews for use in training your employees. You should also
reproduce several examples of completed resumes and put them into
an instruction book for study by new employees.

After the interview, you need to interpret your notes and type
the information into a resume. This would be easy because you’ve
gathered the details in sequence with your resume format.
Familiarity with format writing style makes the task of putting
everything into finished form quite simple.

At the very least, a quick course in resume writing will be
necessary. Check out a book on the subject from your local
library. The important thing to remember is to drop the “I’s” and
write in a kind of note taking reportorial style:

“Hired as entry level shipping clerk. Recognized need for
organization on the loading dock to eliminate congestion.
Suggested designated spaces for incoming and outgoing shipments.
This program was adopted and immediately eliminated congestion of
trucks and decreased overtime requirements, with an estimated
savings of $700 per week for the company. Promoted to Line
Expediter after six months..”

Don’t put a time limit on the amount of time you devote to each
client, but once you’re organized and established, the interview
through the finished resume shouldn’t take more than an hour or
two.

After you have the resume typed, call the client in to check it
over and approve it. In almost every case, he’ll be very
favorably impressed and ready to go with anything you suggest.
The secret is in the quality of your work–a modern typewriter
with good type, clean paper and error free copy

Sadac Israel and IIM