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BY CARA SPOTO • JOURNAL STAFF • MAY 23, 2009

Recession spurs job seekers to spruce up resumes

A good resume can be a pretty useful tool, especially in a tough job climate.

With the state unemployment rate hovering just below 9 percent, career specialists at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a local resume expert say they have seen an increase in the number of people looking to update or alter their resumes.

Where I see the most need ... is that resumes are underdeveloped.

Tim Solinger, owner of Great Impressions Resume Service, said this week that he has seen a steady increase in business since January.

"I launched this business in 2007, and it was quite slow until about April 2008. It's been steady since then," the Stevens Point resident said.

Nationally certified by the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Job Coaches, Solinger said most of his customers haven't updated their resume in a while or are looking to change careers. He said he rarely sees people who have no resume at all. He added that his clients, for the most part, haven't been laid off but are getting their resume ready should they have to re-enter the job market.

Despite the growth of e-mail, online job boards, online applications and the implications they have for the way a resume is formatted and submitted, the fundamentals of writing one haven't changed much. What people need to focus on is getting their stories on paper, he said.

"Where I see the most need consistently is that resumes are underdeveloped. People need to spend more time flushing out the key details or accomplishments," he said. "That's where I spend a lot of time with people."

He said even with the competitive market, he doesn't recommend clients use bright paper, colored ink or strange fonts in a bid for employers' attentions.

"I know what employers like, and they don't like things that are distracting or unprofessional," he said.

Mike Pagel, a career specialist at UWSP's Career Services Department, said he's noticed a "slight uptick" in the number of students looking for help with resumes. But, where he's really seen an increase is in the number of alumni who are knocking on his door.

Pagel, who mostly works with students and alumni in the sciences, said he isn't surprised. He said he recently read an article in Business Week that said the economy has hit younger workers the hardest, mainly because employers are choosing to hold on older, more experienced workers.

"What I am seeing now -- and I've been at this 32 years -- is a greater percentage of people who are being displaced who have been out of college for less than 10 years," he said.

When it comes to students, Pagel said he sees a lot that don't really know what their skills are or how to write about them.

"For many of them, it's the first time they've ever really had to sit down and think about what it is they are actually good at," he said. "If you don't know what your skills are, you have a devil of a time convincing someone that you have them. The average American worker has over 800 marketable skills and most couldn't name 50 if their lives depended on it."

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