Sharon Hurley Hall

I don’t usually brag, but I had great validation for my resume writing services from a recent client who started his first day on a new job today. I’ll be getting a proper testimonial from him soon, but here’s what he said.

A couple of months ago he was sending in his resume and wasn’t getting far. I took a look at it and translated his technical qualifications into a list of identifiable skills and attributes. I even threw in an extra version which was a British style CV.

After I revamped it, he sent the resume into one of the companies that had rejected his old one and got an interview and call back for a second interview.  That’s proof that it was the resume change that made the difference, because he’s the same person with the same skill set. The same happened at another firm – and now he’s got a job!

He’s doing the happy dance – and so am I!

It’s only the middle of the week, but I have so many updates (plus the rest of my week planned out) so I thought I’d let you know now what I’ve been up to.

At the start of the week (well, really the end of last week) I got my newsletter out.  It comes out every 4-6 weeks and is aimed at freelance writers. That always takes a couple of hours to put together, especially as I’ve given myself the task of adding a cartoon to most issues.

Since my last writing update, I’ve been busy, busy, busy! I’ve continued to write for the Quips and Tips group of sites, with a post on tracking writer income. I’m expecting to do more posts for that site in the next month, with three ideas already submitted and approved.

I’ve been travel blogging, of course, writing resumes, preparing press releases and helping my clients with social media promotion. But most of all, I’ve been guest blogging, sometimes for clients and sometimes for myself. Here are some of my recent posts:

• Barbados: Behind the Scenes on Sharing Travel Experiences
• How To Publish Your Ebook on the Amazon Kindle Platform on Rinf
• Vitamins and Minerals – Which Fruit to Choose on Bond with Karla
• 8 Online Lists to Help You Get Packing Under Control on Best Travel Websites
• Tips On Avoiding Dehydration on eScoutRoom
• Potty Training in a Weekend – It’s A Myth! on Creative Homemaking

I’ve covered everything from travel to health to parenting  – and I’ve got another post on moving scheduled for later in the month.  I’ve also done some ghost blogging for a client who runs a funeral home (don’t worry; it’s nothing morbid) and have helped with the preparation of a social media and blogging strategy for a client.

As you can see, it’s been a full couple of weeks – and I anticipate the rest of April being just as busy. Coming up, I’ll be helping a client rewrite homepage copy, and I’ve been asked to quote for two jobs where I’ll actually have to leave my desk: interviewing staff to write profiles for a website and interviewing awardees for profiles for a book coming out later this year. Looks like those journalism skills will come in handy!

If you want to hire me to update your blog, promote your business with a press release, write an article or an ebook or revamp your resume, request a quote for my writing services and I’ll be in touch within 2 business days to discuss your requirements.

This has been a varied writing week for me. I finally completed that technical article I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. That meant doing two telephone interviews to give it some zip – and they were fun to do. Since I already knew all the technical info, I was able to concentrate on getting their feelings about the product.

I wrote a press release for another client who said “You knocked this one out of the park!”

I also continued blogging for the Taking Off Travel Blog, where we’re now publishing more newsy posts. The more feature like posts will now be appearing as guest posts on other travel sites – watch this space for updates in the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of guest posting, I had my first try at posting via MyBlogGuest this week – and got instant take up of my first post, which will be appearing in the next week or so.

Finally, I did a couple of resumes and a few bits of other writing – a good week all round.

Recent web appearances include:

• Web Content Writers, Where Art Thou? How to Find a Writer on the Quips and Tips for Writers site
• A mini interview on For This Lifetime
• A listing on Nick Daws’ list of Top Ten Twitter Follows for Writers – this was last month, but it took a while to show up in my alerts
• Get Paid to Write Online was included on My Alternative Career’s list of helpful websites for new writers – thanks, Victoria!

It’s been a great week for writing.

This week I have written five posts for a ghost blogging client, covering web apps, parenting and more. I’ve also written some real estate community guides – it was fun to learn about new places and convey that to a new audience.

Last week, I landed a blogging gig at the Quips and Tips group of sites and my first posts are up. Here they are:

• How to Take Care of a Rabbit – 5 Tips for Pet Bunny Rabbits
• What Do I Do When Someone Dies? Funeral Planning in 4 Steps

As well as that I’ve done a bunch of posts for Park Ride Fly USA, which is fun, because I enjoy writing about travel. Here are a couple I enjoyed writing:

• A Greener Airport
• Cruise Ship Tips on the Rise

I’ve started editing a technical article written a couple weeks ago, and have done some proofreading for a European magazine with international circulation.

To round out the week, I’ve written four resumes to help people find career success! What have you achieved this week?

One of my latest gigs is writing resumes and I’ve just had this glowing testimonial from one of my clients:

Sharon built a professional resume that totally exceeded my expectations. Not only was her turnaround time exceptional, but she took my average resume and made it extraordinary. Her ability to format, revise and articulate details about my skills and industry experience made me feel that using her service was the best decision I could have ever made. I strongly recommend Sharon to anyone who is truly trying to market themselves, especially in today’s economy.The proof was that I received positive feedback instantly from Hiring Managers and secured an interview the same day I sent my new resume out. THANK YOU, SHARON! – Lisa Sumner

And thank you, Lisa.

I don’t know if this really counts as a testimonial but I had some good feedback from a fellow writer looking for a good example of a writer’s resume. She described it as ‘not too icky‘ and we had a couple of exchanges on Twitter about good writer’s resumes.

Men with Pens wrote today about how a great reputation can ruin your business, making the point that sometimes the work you publicize creates a particular image of the skills you have. It occurred to me that all of us have skills that we don’t promote, but which we use competently. Here are some of the things I have done that are not on my resume:

• I have bought domain names and arranged hosting for several sites.
• I have customized WordPress themes, including changing the colours, sidebar and footer on this one (the banner design is from Men with Pens)
• I currently manage a website on a volunteer basis, as well as several of my own.
• I write resumes for people.
• I advise people on managing their writing careers.

In other words, I do more than just write SEO articles and ebooks and blog.  So if you’re on this site because you’re wondering what I can do for you, these are a few things to add to the list – and I will add them to my resume one day.