Brain Dump and Brainstorm Your Way to a Resume

By Lisa Vaas from www.theladders.com

If you’re not a professional writer, writing about yourself is hard, but brainstorming techniques can get the ball rolling and the creative juices flowing.

How can you perform your own resume brain dump? First, stop weeping. Stop staring blankly at the questionnaire your professional resume writer has asked you to fill out. Most of us have ample skills and qualities that can shine in a well-done resume. TheLadders spoke to professional writers for their tips on how to mine that gold and brainstorm your resume.

Brain-dump prep
Professional writers recommend job seekers take these steps before sitting down to brainstorm resume writing:

1. Analyze the job posting. What specifically is the employer looking for? This will come in handy when a job seeker analyzes which of his own skills and qualities will match the job description.

2. Get organized. Before tackling your resume, Heather Rothbauer-Wanish advises job seekers to make a list of previous employers, dates of employment and job duties. Know the official names of schools and dates of graduation. You'll use all this information when you sit down to write the resume, said Rothbauer-Wanish, a professional resume writer and owner of Feather Communications.

Brain dump
McDaniel's brain dump is a simple technique that should take about 15 minutes but "yields incredible results," she said.

1.Brainstorm First, set a timer and write without stopping for a minimum of 5 minutes. The key to success is to keep your pen flowing without stopping; just keep writing, no matter what garbage you cough up, even if it's, "This is stupid," or "I don't know what to write," MacDaniel said. The technique, familiar to creative writers who've worked through the Zen techniques Natalie Goldberg teaches in her book "Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within," breaks down your internal filter, "opening the way to fresher ideas and deeper insights," MacDaniel said.
If this is too loosey-goosey, try this exercise from Rothbauer-Wanish: Ask yourself, "What did I really do at that job?" Many times, she said, people don't give themselves enough credit for the tasks and responsibilities they've had in the workplace. Detailing a typical work day and writing down your activities "may spark ideas and help you recall additional job duties," she said.

2. Find the nuggets. Next, McDaniel said, set the timer for 5 minutes again. Go over what you've written, and sift out the key points. If most of it is chaff, don't worry: "Even the rejects are part of the process and lead you from one point to the next."

3. Outline. Assign each key point a number. Make the best information No. 1. That's the material that you'll feature at the top of the resume. Go through and label the rest of the key points in this manner, from most to least important. This form of outlining is "organic," McDaniel said, because it evolves from the material and "helps to cut down on procrastination."

4. Write. Using the key points from the outline, start adding to the meat of the resume. Make sure you prove your worth in quantifiable ways. Amanda Collins, chief of staff for The Grammar Doctors, suggests using the CAR (Challenge, Action, Result) formula.
She provided this example:

Sales were down (C), so you implemented training and employee recognition programs (A), which boosted sales 25 percent in six months (R).

"Of course, quantitative results are best, but qualitative are great too," she said. "Consider things like increasing revenue, decreasing costs or improving customer service/employee relations."