Welcome to our new and renewing members for the month of February 2021! Feel free to introduce (or reintroduce) yourself via our members-only networking forums: the Member Forum on our website, Facebook group, and LinkedIn group.

You can find colleagues in your area by searching here.

New Members

Renewing Members

Member Spotlight: Donnella Tilery
By Anne Anderson – NRWA Written Communications

As the NRWA membership grows, so does the diverse range of skills we can offer. Please welcome new member Donnella Tilery! Donnella’s vibrancy and warmth come through immediately. It’s easy to see how clients are comfortable sharing their stories with her.

Donnella’s career began in New York’s digital publishing industry. She worked for several publishing houses, including John Wiley & Sons, working in scientific and medical divisions. She focused on training large corporate clients, such as Bristol Myers Squibb, on how to maximize the use of technical databases, products, and services. Her sales training and presentations skill took her across the country and overseas to the U.K., Asia, and Amsterdam.

Donnella switched gears to focus on the fashion industry as more friends and colleagues asked to purchase items from her wardrobe. As she strengthened her sales skills and learned the industry’s back-office operations, she began building a business as an event producer. With her keen negotiation skills, she obtained corporate sponsorships from Coca-Cola and Lord & Taylor to found New Jersey Fashion Week, which is now more than 10 years old. She also manages and moderates career webinars for Fashion Group International.

Donnella put her skills together to focus on career development and resume writing. With her combination of strategy, presentation skills, and corporate background, she knew she had a knack for career storytelling. She even wrote resumes as a high school hobby. However, it didn’t occur to her then that it would eventually be her career choice.

Now that she’s focused on resume writing, Donnella has been building her business through LinkedIn referrals. She finds she’s filled a niche in helping ethnically diverse clients present their career accomplishments. Donnella takes pride in teasing out her clients’ personalities and reflects their individuality in the documents she prepares for them

Donnella joined the NRWA this year, after spending two years observing the organization and attending webinars as a nonmember. She was impressed with the quality of the education and the instructors’ passion. She plans to complete the Writing Excellence program and proceed with certification.

She especially appreciates the NRWA’s collaborative nature—a significant change from the fashion industry’s competitive culture. Donnella is currently serving in a volunteer role, writing articles for the NRWA Watercooler.

Donnella is based in New Jersey, and you can reach her at LinkedIn.com/in/donnellatilery or donnella.tilery@gmail.com.

The NCRW Corner: Why Having a Resume Objective is Essential
By Norine Dagliano, NCRW, Grader and Writing Excellence Instructor

Picture this: You grab your car keys, start the engine, open your GPS, and tap “Go.” After driving around aimlessly with no exact destination in mind, you run out of gas, and end the day certain that your GPS and car failed you.

That’s analogous to what happens every time you launch MS Word and begin composing a client’s resume without an objective.

“But wait,” you exclaim, “I thought it was obsolete to put an objective on a resume.”

Let’s look at the evolution of the resume objective.

In the beginning, it was a simple statement at the top of the resume that clearly stated the job seeker’s goal—Career Objective: Senior Widget Maker

Then it evolved to be a little more descript—Career Objective: Senior Widget Maker for a Maryland Manufacturer

But then job seekers started to get nervous, wondering if they were limiting their opportunities, and decided it was best to be “open.” So, objectives evolved into something like this—Career Objective: A challenging position with a successful company where I can learn new skills and advance in my career.

At this point, the professional resume-writing community pulled the plug, and the objective met its demise.

The NCRW Commission is not endorsing the return of the objective statement. We ARE endorsing the concept of having a clear goal in mind before we write a single word. This will ensure we properly position the client by knowing what to include in the resume, what to leave out, and how to spin the content.

It begins with the client’s answer to a simple question:

What types of positions are you targeting? (job titles or occupational clusters and industries)

It is essential that the client – and you – both have a clear answer to this question. In your eagerness to book a client and earn an income, don’t make the mistake of attempting to write a resume for a client who is “open,” unsure, or believes that “something generic” will do. You need a clear destination – an objective – or you and your client are destined to run out of gas and the resume to fail.

Jewels & Tools: Handy Resources for Marketing Your Business
6 Ways Networking Cards Can Boost Your Clients’ Professional Poise
By Paul Bennett – NRWA Director of Member Support, New Business Owners

We create many tools for our clients: resumes… LinkedIn profiles… and of course, all the various letters – cover letters, thank you letters, inquiry letters, proposal letters; the list is long. And we provide many kinds of coaching: career planning, job search strategies, networking tactics, interview prep, salary negotiation, and the like.

But how many of us create networking cards? After surveying quite a few of our members’ websites, I’ve concluded that hardly any of our members do. But we shouldn’t overlook networking cards because although they’re small, they can be very useful.

Networking cards are not the same as business cards. Business cards market organizations, products, or services; networking cards market people – and smart people will circulate their cards both when they’re unemployed and when they’ve got a job. Doors to success can open unexpectedly!

So, what makes for a great networking card? Besides the obvious (being visually attractive and error-free), here are a few other considerations:

Creating memorable networking cards hones your writing skills. Because they have far less room than a resume, they require you to distill your messaging, strip away the fluff, and leave just the bare essentials. Just as with elevator pitches, you’ve got to make the most important points using the fewest words.

In a nutshell, networking cards are a great way for your clients to market themselves quickly and easily. Sharing one doesn’t require a computer, a phone, an internet connection, or even a ballpoint pen (and it’s far more convenient to just whip out a card from one’s pocket than fumble through a bag or briefcase). And recruiters can read a networking card much more quickly than they can scan a resume.

But what about just using our phones? The networking card keeps the networking going. It means that your clients’ potential leads don’t have to shift focus to reaching for their phones so they can enter details in a contact list.

Who knows how small marketing tools will get? Maybe one day we’ll be writing “tweesumes” for the Twitter-addicted!

Feature Article: Promoting the Value of Hiring a Resume Writer in Your Initial Consultation
By Donnella Tillery, NRWA Newsletter Assistant Editor

We've all been there—an initial discussion with a potential client about their resume, bio, or cover letter. You took the time to conduct an intake call, researched the new role or position they want to secure. You’ve created the contract and sent them an invoice for the deposit.

Then, a day or even a few hours later, you get a call or email, “I’ve decided to use a free resume service. Thank you for your insight.” For a professional resume writer, this is both disappointing and frustrating, not just because you lost the business but because you know your expertise could truly capture the person's talent and help them get to interviews faster.

So, what can we do about this problem? We need to spend more time selling the value we offer our clients. It’s overwhelming for a client to understand all the details—time, costs, process. But it’s essential to differentiate yourself from free services and other writers.

Here are five ways you can use your free consultation to sell your value to your clients:

Overall, the consultation should be about your clients’ needs, but you are a KEY to their results. We all want to help and make our clients shine and excel. Use that consultation to spell out the value you offer as a resume consultant. That beats free every time.

What Happened on Social Media for NRWA Pros in February
By Amanda Brandon, NRWA Newsletter Editor

The networking on our Facebook group blew up this month! I hope everyone is enjoying all the collaboration and getting value out of these interactions. I sure am!

Valuable Conversations: Here are three conversations you may have missed on Facebook this month. Lots of value for growing your business!

Pet Colleague of the Month:

Julia Mattern’s Kalani and Makana like to help her cook up new resume strategies! They have a regular strategy session before she makes soup for the week. Sometimes they fall asleep on the job. I guess it’s an occupational hazard of being in such a warm place!

Want your furry, fluffy, or scaly friend featured next month? Check for my post on Facebook the first Friday of the month OR email your photo and caption to me.

What’s Saving My Life This Month?
This is a new feature for the newsletter! I started a conversation in our Facebook group to get some feedback, and it led me to a tool that’s saving my life – I finally invested in a real project management tool.

Many pros chimed in on how to leverage productivity management tools, and Dawn gave a great sanity-saving tip: “Walk away from your phone!”

Want to chime in? See the conversation here.