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How ONE Piece of Paper Guarantees Increase in $$$

How Using A Resume Can Help Make you Rich!

A friend recently asked me, “Why an article on resume writing for real estate agents? Most real estate professionals don’t need or use one.”

Why? Sometimes, the most unheard of and unconventional idea works the best. In addition to a résumé's traditional uses, such as changing employers/companies and fields, did you know what a great marketing tool you can have to impress potential clients?

For example, have you ever seen a real estate agent hand a potential client a resume that SHOUTS “I am the best! I am the agent for you!”?

Why not?

We are talking about a substantially priced item, a house, real estate property – not a pair of shoes that you can just return to the department store, if you decide you don’t want them. Why shouldn’t you give your clients the best possible perspective on who you are and your special accomplishments? And, even if you don’t literally hand out your resume to every potential client, what a great addition it will be on your web site!

Many buyers and sellers today shop around and visit a few real estate agencies before entering into formal seller or buyer agreements. How can you make yourself memorable so that a potential client will return?

The more you put your name in front of someone, the better position you are to increase your client base and improve your sales. Don’t just hand out a business card – hand out your name, history, reputation, accomplishments – all with one piece of paper!

And, what’s even better, you don’t have to spend $200, $300 or more with an expensive resume writing company – you can do it yourself, even on a shoe string budget. Read on and I am going to share with you some poignant secrets on how to write a resume that is a champ!

With just one piece of paper I guarantee you will:

· Present a polished, powerful, and intelligent first impression

· Get noticed immediately

· Motivate potential clients to contact you and become your actual clients

· Set yourself apart from competition

· Effectively market yourself and your career

· Increase your client base and income

So, how do you write an effective and successful resume? click here for full article

Although many find resume writing stressful and procrastinate writing one, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are two golden rules, and if you follow them, your resume will be a winner.

Rule # 1: You have approximately 10 seconds to grab a resume reader’s
attention.

Rule # 2: Your most important resume section is about your
accomplishments.

Make those first 10 seconds count. Imagine you are attending a dance. Have you ever wondered why you notice certain people first? This is like curb side appeal for real estate property. You must make an immediate dynamic first impression! How can your resume WOW your audience?

I remember a former Sales and Marketing V.P. telling his department, “Keep it simple.” Don’t make your resume reader go through pages and pages of information or dig through lengthy paragraphs to find out who you are and why you should be hired. With the exception of very technical “curricula vitae” (CV) resumes, most readers do not bother much with resumes longer than one page.

An important rule in sales and marketing is the more steps you make a customer go through, the more likely you will lose them as clients. Make it easy for anyone to read your resume and you have won half the battle. Avoid wordy text and stick to a one page format.

If you are job hunting or changing fields today, you also will find that most companies and individuals are bombarded with resumes and it is not unusual for hundreds of them to cross a job interviewer’s desk within a week.

Do assume your resume will be skim read. Do not count on a several page resume being read thoroughly, if at all. Some resumes are not even read; they are scanned electronically much the same way search engines look at key words in web sites.

You must say to yourself, if I only read the first third of my resume, would I want me? You must make every word count, and edit, edit, edit!

Do not opt for a chronological resume, unless you are just out of school and/or your background is sparse. A functional resume works dramatically better and will give you a superior opportunity to highlight your achievements.

What is a functional resume? The old fashioned resume usually listed job descriptions underneath job titles, current job first. Boring. The functional resume generates excitement and uses the first one to two thirds of your resume to talk about your accomplishments. And, there is a big difference between describing your past job(s) versus describing “benefits,” your “accomplishments.”

As an exercise, on a separate piece of paper, list your previous jobs’ features/descriptions. However, the KEY is to change and rewrite these descriptions into accomplishments. Ask yourself these questions:

What have you done that you’re proud of?
Did you increase productivity, profits?
Did you improve anything?
Did you contribute to better efficiency?
Did you initiate anything?
Did you spearhead or direct something?
Did your boss like your work?

The answers to these questions represent your accomplishments and achievements. Every phrase you write in your resume must answer these or similar questions, or it is irrelevant data. Focus on your positive attributes.

Did you know that a successful resume uses eye-catching titles and headings? A book has a title, so why shouldn’t your resume? If you want your resume to stand out, yours must be different. The innovative and creatively written resume uses a few, well chosen headings both to organize your qualifications and make them more striking.

Make your opening “job objective” original and distinct. That’s your resume’s title. Then use two or three unique “headings” to organize your accomplishments underneath.

How do you write them?

Sit down and study your accomplishments and group/sort them according to similar characteristics. This type of subtle reinforcement will grab any reader’s attention.

Be creative. For example, just don’t write “Sales” as a heading; write “Results Driven Sales,” or “Revitalizing and Increasing Sales.” Then list your accomplishments underneath each appropriate heading. The more eye-catching and unique your qualifications, the more striking your resume will be.

Here are four additional tips that will make your resume sparkle:

Do not write in the first person (I or my).
Bullets or lists containing short descriptive phrases are easier and clearer to read than paragraphs or long complex sentences.
Use active past tense verbs to begin each descriptive phrase, when possible.
Use adjectives sparingly. Hunt for just the right one.

You should consider your resume a one page, compact and compelling advertisement about YOU.

If you present an organized and polished appearance through your resume, this says something subliminally to its reader, namely, that you are intelligent and accomplished yourself.

All resumes should be clear, orderly and easy to read or even skim read. Margins, line spacing, indentation, font choice and size should be consistent. Capitalize your objective and key headings; use bullets and indentations to highlight your accomplishments. This helps job readers find relevant information about you easily, and enables them to pull key data at a glance during a phone or in person interview or conversation with you.

Never forget that sales and commission work can be precarious. You may cross that bridge one day when you will need a successful, eye-catching resume to help you transition out of the real estate licensee field. For example, you might decide to become a real estate instructor/educator, an assessor, mortgage officer, even a building inspector.

Last year, a Katrina hurricane survivor, a Louisiana attorney, contacted me for help with her resume. She lost everything and decided to start all over again in another state. Unfortunately, she would have to take the new state’s bar exam again to practice law. In the interim, she took a pre-licensure program and passed this state’s real estate salesperson exam. In addition to solving a short term income problem, she found real estate so interesting, she decided she wanted to specialize in real estate law. What was one of the things that helped her through such a trying relocation? Her stunning resume.

So, do you have a successful resume? Do you want to earn more? Do you want or need to expand your marketing efforts? Do you want your web site to glow? Are you thinking about new directions?

Go for it! Make your resume a winner!

About the author: Nina M. Sherwood is a freelance professional writer/editor/proofreader/researcher with over 28 years experience covering business documentation, sales/marketing material, advertising, web sites, PR, resumes, manuscripts, fiction, nonfiction, educational materials, and more. Visit her 2 web sites at www.giftedwriting.com and www.websitewrite.com.

Published courtesy of Dixie Randock, A+ Institute