Product Description

Do you want the key to the best jobs with the best employers? It's time to play offense instead of defense. Competency-Based Resumes shows today's job candidates a new, more targeted way to write resumes to get them back on the same playing field with the best employers and improve their odds of winning the job they want. The system an employer uses when filling jobs has changed significantly in the past few years, and it is still evolving. Rather than simply looking at an applicant's past jobs, companies are instead looking at candidate's experiences in certain key areas-including measurable work habits and the personal skills, known as competencies, used to achieve objectives at work. Competency-Based Resumes offers you a new and effective way to create resumes that emphasizes the knowledge, skills, and abilities that you have and employers need. Many sophisticated U.S. and international organizations are using competency-based systems to recruit, interview, select, and promote. Corporations such as American Express, Coca-Cola, Sears, and MetLife are all looking for specific competencies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #235890 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 185 pages

From the Publisher
Best nonfiction books for 2005 - Cincinnati Public Library

Customer Reviews

I still haven't received this book after one month!
I contacted with the seller, reminding him/her to send the book, after 2-3 weeks, a few days later, I was told I would recerve it. But, until now, I am still kept waiting.

Results!
Since I have applied Ms. Kessler's innovative approach to my own resume, I have been selected to interview for each senior level position I have submitted for. Now the rest is up to me. I highly recommend both her books, they provide the most current techniques in competency-based and behavioral approaches to resume writing and the interview process. The format is clear and concise with excellent real-life examples across a variety of industries. A must resource!

Great if you want to know ABOUT "Competency-Based Resumes" or need a thin book to fill out a bookshelf
I bought this book largely due to the high ratings, and I am really disappointed. The book spends three or so chapters talking about why "Competency-Based Resumes" are the greatest thing ever, showing examples of "Competency-Based Resumes," telling you why they are better than the old-fashioned kind, listing companies that use this system, and basically talking all about "Competency-Based Resumes." The actual "how-to" of creating one is largely implied. The best part of the book is a list of action verbs to use in your resume, which is probably available for free from any of a number of career websites. I think I was handed a similar list in high school, with the same advice of leaving out "I" and beginning lists of skills and experiences with action verbs.

Also, I admit I'm very picky, but this book is terribly written and organized. Chapters 1,2, and 3 are repetitive - they tell you the same information in only slightly different ways several times. I know writers of how-to books like to repeat themselves in order to get their point across, but it felt like this book was trying to cleverly hide that it didn't actually have enough content to fill its 185 pages.

The way these chapters are organized confused me. Each chapter went from why to use this resume form, to who uses it, to how to use it, and back to why again -- but not always in that order. Both chapters one and two could have been condensed and made into an introduction. And I'd like to strangle the copyeditor for the bulleted lists of incomplete sentences with periods after each item. To my knowledge, that has never been acceptable punctuation. You can use periods for complete sentences, or you can use commas for a list of items with a period after the last, but not periods after each word. Ever hear of Chicago Manual of Style?

I would give it fewer stars, but I think there is *some* value for a person who loves to learn by example and wants to basically copycat the example resumes. Also, important to note that this book is really for sales professionals, human resource managers, and people in medical fields, other than physicians. The authors highlight these types of professions and don't really talk much about any others. And it would probably only really help you if you worked for a company that actually uses the competency-based resume system.

After all my bashing, I do need to admit that I did not make it through the entire book (how could I, with grammar like "...and companies who..." throughout?), and only read about the first 4 chapters. I couldn't bear it. It's not so much "excellent" as the other reviewers said as it is "circularly logical" and "cleverly ambiguous," leaving the reader "nonplussed."

If you want a good resume book, get Resume Magic -- it gives good advice and great examples in clear, logical language. Plus, the author is encouraging, which is great when you just want to find a better job.