Keynote Speaker
The Hiring Process for 2012 & Beyond…What’s In, What’s Out, and What’s New!
Tim Moran, Human Resources Director – Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Join Tim Moran, Human Resources Director for Hallmark, as he provides insight into the overall hiring process, the use of social media by corporations to attract / screen talent, and the importance of utilizing the appropriate keywords and phrases in resumes to get your clients past the applicant tracking systems.

Read more about Tim Moran

Keynote Speaker
How To Write LinkedIn Profiles That Get Your Clients Found – While You Make Money!
Viveka von Rosen, LinkedIn Expert 

According to Jobvite, as many as 98% recruiters and 85% of hiring managers are using LinkedIn to find candidates. But, if candidates LinkedIn profiles aren’t fully optimized with relevant industry keywords and strong content, their chances of being found by recruiters and hiring managers greatly diminish.

As a career services practitioner, writing LinkedIn profiles for your clients will not only help them get found, but it provides an opportunity to incorporate an additional source of revenue for your business!

However, to charge a premium price and ensure client satisfaction, it is absolutely imperative to know how to write a fully optimized, industry-relevant profile for your clients.

Viveka von Rosen, who was recently ranked #6 on the list of “Most Influential Women in Social Media” by Forbes magazine, and is an internationally known LinkedIn Expert and Certified LinkedIn Trainer, will:

• Cover the similarities and differences between a traditional resume and LinkedIn profile
• Demonstrate unique profile optimization, customization, and formatting techniques
• Show participants how to incorporate Box.net, Slideshare.com, Events, and Blogging Applications
• Reveal how to highlight the most influential testimonials
• Showcase examples of her work
• Disclose techniques on finding effective keywords

Don’t miss this opportunity to catapult your clients to the “top of the search list” and exponentially increase your revenue!

Read more about Viveka von Rosen

Why Retained Executive Search Doesn’t Want Your Client’s Inbound Resume
Jared Redick – The Resume Studio

When the world’s top companies need to find key members of their executive teams, they frequently invest considerable resources to hire one of the world’s retained executive search firms.As part of the client company’s complex succession strategy, the search firm then mounts a many-month, needle-in-a-haystack search to find the ideal candidate. Global and boutique executive search firms follow sophisticated search processes. Unfortunately, many resume writers, career counselors, and executives will never see inside the executive search process. For instance, did you know that a formal search often won’t include the expectation of an uninvited inbound resume?The implications are vast.Executive resume writer and former executive search consultant, Jared Redick, will help conference attendees better advise their senior executive clients by understanding the constructs, motivations, and limitations of retained executive search.In this presentation, you will learn:

• The difference between retained executive search and contingency recruiting.
• Why retained search exists and how consultants find a typical candidate.
• How retained search has changed since 2000.
• Why original research trumps inbound resumes.
• How overdone resumes can turn off search consultants.
• Why knowing retained search practices will help career practitioners better write for and advise their executive clients.
• How LinkedIn is changing the game, and what your mid- and senior career executive clients should (and should not) consider to remain relevant.

Read more about Jared Redick

It Depends … Understanding When To Break the “Rules” of Resume Writing
Donna Tucker, CPRW – Career Pro Resume Center

We’ve all heard the adage “There are no rules in resume writing,” haven’t we? Is it true? Well, it depends. And so the theme of this presentation.Here’s a quick true-or-false test:

• Never use dates with college degrees.
• Resumes must be written in reverse chronological order.
• Never include hobbies and interests.
• Resumes are never longer than 2 pages.
• Objectives are outdated.

The answer to all of these questions, of course, is “It depends.”

Since each job seeker is unique in background and skills, a resume must reflect that; sometimes it means coloring outside the lines.

In this interactive session, we’ll explore and discuss the exceptions to the rules, so we know when it’s okay to break the rules in order to create strategic resumes that get desired results. Donna will offer some common examples to start and as time allows, address members’ most pressing questions — with solicited input from other attendees.

Read more about Donna Tucker

Panel Discussion
Cover Letters: Sell it from the Heart

• Laura Smith-Proulx, CCMC, CPRW, CPBA, TCCS, MCS, OPNS, SNCS, CIC - An Expert Resume
• Sharon Williams, CPRW, CCM, M.Ed - JobRockit
• Rosa Vargas, NCRW, CMRW, MRW, ACRW - Career Steering
• Marie Zimenoff, NCRW, NCC, M.Ed. - A Strategic Advantage

As a resume professional, you’re probably asked to write a cover letter for most of your clients. However, putting together a cover letter that is compelling and engaging can be a challenge.

What can you say that wasn’t already detailed in the resume? How can you ensure that your client’s “voice” is encapsulated in the letter you write?

And finally, how can you streamline the process if you don’t enjoy writing a cover letter?

This group presentation will cover proven strategies from top-notch writers for eliciting the emotion needed to “sell” your client’s value to the hiring manager and close the deal!

We’ll review tips for writing all the components of a strong cover letter: attention-getting opening lines, intriguing details, and compelling closing statements, with techniques you can apply to your cover letters immediately.

You’ll come away with creative and persuasive tips for producing cover letters that effectively market your clients. In the process, you’ll learn advanced techniques that turn this task from a chore into a straightforward procedure—making your cover letters easier to write, while capturing your client’s qualifications and reasons for targeting a particular position.

Key takeaways will include samples of interview-winning cover letters and innovative formats, plus exposure to different writing styles.

You’ll also gain insight into the AIDA (attention-interest-desire-action) style of writing, which has been demonstrated to produce results, even in today’s competitive job market.

As a busy careers professional, you’ll learn ways to jumpstart the cover letter writing process, as well as methods for packaging and promoting cover letter services – simultaneously generating more profit and a better outcome for your clients.

You’ll come away equipped (and eager!) to leverage cover letters immediately, with notable increases in per-sale revenue and client satisfaction.

Groups, Answers, and Recommendations: Fully Utilizing Your LinkedIn Profile
Heather Rothbauer-Wanish, PhD (ABD), MBA, CPRW – Feather Communications

Are you or your clients fully utilizing all that LinkedIn has to offer?There are so many areas of LinkedIn that individuals might not be aware of, while others are only “scratching the surface.”In this session, participants will learn:

• Reasons for Starting a LinkedIn Profile
• How to properly request and give recommendations
• How to search for, participate in, become a top influencer, and add connections by joining groups
• Understand the importance of, how to browse categories, and the benefits of participating in the Answers section of LinkedIn

Read more about Heather Rothbauer-Wanish

Questions that Get the Information You Need: A Critical Key to Writing an Outstanding Resume
Betty Williams, NCRW, CPRW, CEIC – BW Custom Resumes

The difference between writing a mediocre and an exceptional resume may depend on the questions we ask our clients. Do you sometimes wonder if your questions have uncovered all the important information you need? Getting the right information from our clients is critical to the development of resumes that truly separate them from the rest of the pack. In this workshop, you will go beyond the basic questions and learn how to discover important information that will help you produce documents that truly distinguish your clients from their competitors. This workshop will help you:

• Get those introverted clients talking.
• Get those extroverted clients to focus.
• Draw out critical information that clients may think is unimportant.
• Ask the same question in a variety of ways so that you get what you need.
• Learn questions to ask for some specific occupations.

Read more about Betty Williams

Break-out Session 1a: LEAN AND MEAN: Making Your Office Machine 100% Efficient
Dawn Rasmussen, CMP – Pathfinder Writing and Career Services

Most resume writers are one-person “shops,” meaning each one of us has to be chief cook and bottle washer. It’s no easy task to balance all of these considerations so that means getting more out of your day in terms of efficiency. In this presentation participants will:

• Learn how they can trim time by automating processes
• Gain understanding and access to tools to make it happen
• Discover how to look at their company operations to find efficiency problems

Read more about Dawn Rasmussen

Break-out Session 1b: Teaching the Art of Resume Writing
Marie Zimenoff, NCRW, NCC, M.Ed. – A Strategic Advantage

Resume writing can be an overwhelming topic to teach to candidates. This session will provide activities for teaching the “art” of resumes, with a focus on helping candidates understand how to think about their resume as a marketing piece. Participants will be able to teach resume strategy and engage students of all ages to determine the best format, order of information, and wording to capture the attention of hiring managers. These concepts can apply to workshops in college, workforce, or military career center settings and have also been successful in generating income for private resume business!

Read more about Marie Zimenoff

Break-out Session 2a: How to Leverage Your Expertise with Media Gigs and Paying Programs
Jan Melnik, M.A., MRW, CCM, CPRW – Absolute Advantage

Would you like to increase your visibility as a career expert? Would you like to attract more quality paying clients to your practice, especially when there is greater competition and lower-priced options? This presentation will deliver actionable strategies to resume-writing practitioners who are seeking to expand their reach and increase their bottom-line profitability. Learn proven techniques for:

• Landing radio and TV appearances.
• Successfully pitching programs to libraries and universities—and get paid for your expertise while giving back to key communities and growing your client roster.
• Boosting your reputation through targeted free publicity—heightening the value of your expertise and appearances even more.

During this presentation, attendees will receive:

• Concrete ideas to use in developing and promoting their programs.
• How to garner publicity and gain strategies for booking talks and guest appearances.
• Sample pitch messages, recommended subject outlines and program ideas, and media press releases.
• Tips for managing speaker anxiety and making the experience fun and fiscally rewarding for those new to TV, radio, or giving presentations.

Read more about Jan Melnik

Break-out Session 2b: Subcontracting for Fun and Profits (Really)
Freddie Cheek, M.S. Ed., CCM, MCD, CPRW, CARW, CWDP – Cheek & Associates, LLC

What’s a writer to do? You love creating resumes, enjoy writing for a variety of career fields (or a particular niche), and need a steady pipeline of projects and income.However, you dislike the sales and marketing part of the business and cringe at having to “close” a prospect. Or maybe, you’d prefer not to interact with clients at all. Subcontracting may be the perfect solution!Freddie Cheek will discuss the pros (there are many) and cons (just a few) of subcontract writing. Discover if this is the option you need to supplement your finances or generate full-time work that comes to you, already sold. You will learn how to set up, promote, and price this business practice, as well as gain tools and techniques for performing subcontract work efficiently, productively, profitably, and enjoyably.

Read more about Freddie Cheek

Break-out Session 3a: How to Create Passive Income and Recurring Revenue for Your Career Services Business
Bridget (Weide) Brooks, CPRW – Image Building Communications

Most resume writers are limited in their income earning potential by the number of hours they work. If they’re not writing, they’re not earning. Wouldn’t it be nice to earn some income without working? That’s the potential of passive income and recurring revenue. In this presentation, Bridget (Weide) Brooks will show you four ways to generate passive income — and, in several cases, recurring revenue — in your career services business to supplement your earnings from writing resumes. You’ll learn how to:

• Package, Price, and Sell Your Expertise with Information Products
• Get paid to write content other than resumes, including blogs, niche websites, and information for sites that pay for content
• Profiting from the work of others through incorporation of affiliate systems

If you want to generate hundreds of dollars in steady, predictable, recurring revenue — in many cases, from a “set it and forget it” system — then this program is for you!

Read more about Bridget (Weide) Brooks

Break-out Session 3b: Getting Ready: How to Better Prepare Your Clients for Successful Job Search

• Martha Rockwell, CPRW – A+ Resumes & Career Coaching, LLC
• Ginger Korljan, M.Ed., NCRW, CCMC – Take Charge Coaching 

Unfortunately, most job seekers have the mindset that having a good resume is all they need to be successful. Most haven’t got a clue as to how to manage a well thought-out job search. They spend more time planning a vacation than planning the next step in their career. And, they think about it only when they have lost a job.This presentation is designed to help your clients understand, and hopefully participate, in all of the areas that need addressing as they move forward in their quest for a career that is satisfying, and meets their personal and professional goals.

Read more about Martha Rockwell 

Read more about Ginger Korljan

Break-out Session 4a: Insight to Growing Your Business as COO (Chief Opportunities Officer) 

• Sharon Williams, CPRW, CCM, M.Ed – JobRockit
• Deborah James, CPRW, CCMC – Leading Edge Resumes

Capturing a business opportunity is like knowing when to make a strategic move in a race! We may not know when an opportunity will present … we stumble over it, OR it takes creative vision to “make it happen.”

People in positions of power are actually accessible … and positive results occur when people help each other.

This presentation will introduce ways to keep your eyes open in situations that could take you down new paths for business expansion.

In this session, participants will:

• Learn to creatively look at a current situation or opportunity as a stepping stone to yet ANOTHER opportunity!
• Know that an enterprising person is one who “thinks outside the current opportunity.”
• Realize that if we give more to others than we take, it will come back 10-fold.
• Discover that branching out to new challenges eliminates boredom in the computer chair!

Read more about Sharon Williams

Read more about Deb James

Break-out Session 4b: Creating an Engaging and Exciting Elevator Speech
Beth Colley, CCMC, CMRW, CFJST – Chesapeake Resume Writing Service

Do you suddenly get dry mouth when speaking about your business? Want to make sure your 15-second pitch will generate interest from prospects and dollars for you? Join Certified Master Resume Writer and Career Management Coach, Beth Colley, of Chesapeake Resume Writing Service and learn how to make your elevator speech pass the “So What?” test. In this action-packed presentation, participants will:

• Learn proven strategies for promoting your brand.
• Find out what people want and need to know quickly.
• How to capture interest and generate solid leads in 15, 30, 60, and 90 seconds.
• Take your elevator speech from the basement to the penthouse.
• Discover how to earn additional revenue by incorporating elevator speech writing into an overall package service plan.
• Receive templates for drafting a 15, 30, 60, and 90-second elevator speech and actually create an elevator speech during this presentation for immediate use!

Read more about Beth Colley

The 7 Top Mistakes Job Seekers Make Online … and how to avoid them!

Joshua Waldman – Author of Job Searching With Social Media For Dummies

Social media really is the most powerful tool available for reclaiming control over your client’s career. But with so many options comes confusion and conflicting advice, which can make it hard to advise your job seekers. Furthermore, you probably encounter job seekers who refuse to consider using social media despite how much you implore them.

How would you like to have solid facts and figure that are a sure way to get clients excited and clear about social… and help you up-sell your LinkedIn profile writing services, too!

Based on years of consulting and getting people hired, Joshua has found seven key areas that people stumble on. He’ll show you ways to help your clients look great online and become job magnets through fun stories and practical step-by-step advice.

In this session, you will learn:

• Solid tips to make your clients look great online and become job magnets
• Authoritative facts about how recruiters use social to help you build a solid case for your clients
• Advanced ways to get found faster by recruiters that use social media to find talent (which is most of them!)
• Gain clarity about your personal brand and how that translates online
• Some secret LinkedIn settings you may not know about yet, but you probably should

Read more about Joshua Waldman

How to Write Branded, Focused Resume Profiles

• Rosa Vargas, NCRW, CMRW, MRW, ACRW – Career Steering
• Dawn Rasmussen, CMP – Pathfinder Writing and Career Services

Your client’s resume profile must capture the attention of the hiring authority in the first 10-15 seconds or it will land your client in the “no” pile. A branded, focused resume profile will propel your client’s resume to the top of the candidate-sorting stack!

Writing profiles that are laser-focused, industry specific, and that reinforce your client’s personal brand, while linking achievements to a specific ROI is no easy task.

This session will provide NRWA members with hands-on tools for asking the right questions in order to mine for meaningful ‘gems’ that highlight what your clients are capable of achieving while conveying their distinct and irresistible brand.

You will learn how to simplify, translate, and shape that information into compelling resume profiles that will resonate with the hiring authority.

You will gain an understanding of how you can fold in client personal stories into an employer-focused resume that is persuasive and notches above the rest.

In this session, attendees will:

• Be provided before and after resume samples.
• Receive a list of gem-mining questions to use during the interview process.
• Gain confidence for taking on client resumes which are already ‘pretty good’ but are not attracting the right offers.

Attend this session to boost your client base and charge more!

Read more about Rosa Vargas

Read more about Dawn Rasmussen

You Be The Grader!
Sally McIntosh, NCRW – NRWA Certification Chair – Advantage Resumes in St. Louis

Have you wanted to get your NCRW, but decided not to because you have to take some sort of mysterious test?

In this fun and highly interactive group session you will see what a sample submission looks like when it is returned to the member after being reviewed by two Certification Commission graders.

Then you will work with everyone at your table to grade a test. You will be given a profile, submitted résumé and cover letter, and the actual grading sheets that the Commission graders use.

Graders will be on-hand to answer individual table questions. You will be given a printed version of the Study Guide and have access to the Gregg Reference Manual. After a break we will compare and discuss the findings of each table. When all is said and done, you will find out that there is nothing mysterious about the NCRW program.

Read more about Sally McIntosh