Part Two: A step-by-step guide to overhauling your resume by expert Catherine Palmiere. Click here for Part One of our resume makeover series.

Stay at home mom Michele Alberto’s resume seemed destined to sink to the bottom of the pile. She desperately needed to return to work, but it was unlikely that her resume would’ve grabbed attention — other than the kind you definitely don’t want.
That was too bad, because she had a lot of experience buried behind the poor layout.

HR expert and recruiter, Catherine Palmiere overhauled Michele’s resume. In our first post in this Resume Makeover, Catherine showed how even Michele’s contact details pegged her as unprofessional.

Catherine encouraged Michele to focus on the challenges and achievements she’d encountered in each position, and the end result.

“I tried to make the reader see Michele’s accomplishments. What she’d written hadn’t ‘sold’ her, and the format was unappealing.”

Here’s the resume after the makeover:

Some of the changes Catherine made:

• Changed relevant experience to professional experience.
• Changed skills to core competencies.
• Increased the number of active verbs. She had some but not enough to pass muster, said Catherine.
• Cleaned up the spelling and grammar so it looked professional, and
• Made the layout more conventional.

Catherine Palmiere is a teacher, author, and popular guest speaker at seminars and on TV. She is the President of the staffing firm, Adam Personnel, in New York City.

Follow Catherine on Twitter for more advice.

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