November 2010 Newsletter

Editing, Proofreading & Resume
November 2010 Newsletter
from the desk of
Shelly Rosenberg
http://www.shellyrosenberg.com/

Greetings

In this issue of my newsletter, I will discuss the following topics:

· The Functional Resume
· Punctuation Update – American English vs. British English
· Worldwide Project Update

The Functional Resume

Most resumes are chronological resumes. They give details of your work history in reverse order – most recent job first. But, another resume type is the functional resume. This type of resume focuses on your skills and groups them into clusters or functions. Listed below are situations in which a job seeker might use a functional resume instead of the traditional chronological resume:

1. Older Job Seeker - The job seeker is older with a significant amount of experience and does not want to draw attention to his/her age or the years of experience.
2. Gaps in Work History - The person has gaps in his/her work history. This could be a woman who has taken several years off to raise a child or children. It could be someone with some years in military service.
3. Career Changers - The person has been in one field of work but is now seeking to enter a new field.
4. Diverse Experience - The job seeker has worked in various different fields or jobs, which do not show a definitive career path or direction.
5. Similar Job Responsibilities – The job seeker has had several jobs with the same or similar responsibilities and/or achievements.
6. Students or Volunteers – The person is new to the workforce having just graduated from school or has spent time in volunteer positions.

The functional resume has a different format from the chronological resume. It emphasizes the skills and accomplishments without bringing attention to the situations mentioned above.

Punctuation Update
American English vs. British English


In my last newsletter, I outlined how to write dialogue and the appropriate punctuation to be used when writing dialogue. But, I only discussed punctuation for American English. When writing British English there is one main difference.

· All punctuation must go outside the quotation marks in British English.
o John said, “I need to find the nearest service station”.
§ Note that the period at the end of the sentence goes outside the quotation mark. The next example shows the same sentence written in American English.
o John said, “I need to find the nearest service station.”


Worldwide Project Update

I have been editing, proofreading and creating resumes for several years. Sometime after I began this work, I mounted a world map on my office wall and began putting map pins in locations where I had clients. I have continued to keep this map updated with new pins whenever I have a new client from a country where I did not have a previous client. I have done the same for each state in the United States.

I currently have clients from 64 countries in the world. There are about 193 countries. To view a list of the countries where I have clients, go to http://www.shellyrosenberg.com/countries.htm

And, I have clients in all but seven states in the US. I do not have clients in the following states: Arkansas, Delaware, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Vermont.

Please help me to put more map pins on my map! If you know of people in any of the above states or in countries not included in my list of countries on my website, who might be interested in editing, proofreading or resume services, please refer them to me.

“My goal is to enhance your text in a way that makes it clear and error free so that it is ready to be read by your professor, your readership, your clients, your future employer, your current employer, your agent or your publisher.”
Shelly Rosenberg

Shelly@ShellyRosenberg.com