Her Resume Took Her From $10 Per Hour To A 6-Figure Job

As a professional resume writer, I regularly receiveteacher for several years, with a few long-term
compliments from clients, generally stating howsubstitute teaching assignments. Tara was currently
ecstatic they are about getting that great new jobtutoring a young child with autism, a position she
or promotion they were seeking, how manytook more for love than money, earning $10 per
interview requests they have received since usinghour.
their new resume, or how the interviewer was highlyIn other endeavors, Tara had sold kitchenware
impressed with their resume.through a company that targeted school and
However, I have rarely received a compliment ornon-profit fundraising promotions, and had served for
testimonial quite like the one I received from Tara, atwo years as fundraising chairperson for a local animal
resume client living in a semi-rural area who contactedwelfare organization. I also highlighted Tara's many
me through our website (name changed to protectvolunteer activities for her children's schools and
client privacy... all other details accurate).several area civic organizations.
Dear Grant,My big surprise in interviewing Tara was to discover
Just call me one more employed, happy customer.that she had recently helped her husband in his
The resume you did for me took me from a $10 an(unsuccessful) write-in campaign to run for Congress,
hour job to a six-digit income! I'm not joking. I wassomething that she was reluctant to even mention,
expecting good results, but nothing like this. If yousaying that "it's not important." I dug deeper and
would like to use me as a reference, please feel freeasked her if she was her husband's campaign
to do so.manager. She laughed and said, "I suppose so." I
Sincerely,found out that she was the one who arranged press
Taraconferences and wrote press releases, deposited
When I first interviewed Tara to gather informationdonations, wrote checks for expenses, submitted the
for her new resume, she warned me that she "didn'tcampaign finance reports, and handled all other
have much to work with," that she had been aaspects of campaign administration.
stay-at-home mom, that she had not had manyI was able to weave a creative non-traditional
"normal" jobs, and that she felt at a disadvantage inresume based upon her various activities, previous
rejoining the workforce in competing with younger,jobs, and her "campaign manager" experience. The
more corporate jobseekers.result was an attractive, compelling document
At first glance, Tara's background and situation,targeting non-profit positions, something she agreed
though non-traditional, were not all that rare,she would enjoy. After submitting her resume to
particularly for many female clients who have beenarea non-profit agencies and organizations within a
out of the workforce for a period of time. Tara was1-hour commute, Tara landed a six-figure position as
basically a stay-at-home housewife who had earneddirector of an advocacy organization. Tara explained
her bachelor's degree in elementary education manyto me that they were attracted by her background
years prior and had not had a traditional job history,in fundraising, campaign management, and community
primarily due to raising 2 young children.involvement. Of course, Tara felt that she "aced" her
Her previous jobs consisted of a couple of retail salesinterview" and "connected" with the search
positions prior to attending college, working as acommittee members who interviewed with her... But,
student teacher during the completion of heras she says, it was her creative resume that opened
university studies, and later serving as a substitutethe door.