What advice does a professional resume writer have for those who are looking for work? OTW spoke with expert Laurie J. James to find out.
Laurie J. James is a professional resume writer and a leader among career practitioners. In 34 years, James has written over 11,000 resumes.
OTW spoke with James about her professional experience. During her interview, James provided practical advice to assist OTW readers experiencing a career transition.
A graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, James is one of only 11 master career directors in the world. After earning a Bachelor of Business Administration, James returned home to Louisiana. Unsure of what she was going to do, she started a typing service. Laughing James commented, “That’s how we used to communicate, through typewriters.”
Initially her service was focused on oil and gas. However, it was 1986 and a difficult time to live in the South. James recalled it was, “Around the time that the oil bust happened in the South.”
Less than three years out of college, James faced an uncertain world with only her typewriter and a newly formed company called Just Your Type, Inc. James said, “I moved back to my apartment with $200 in my savings account and no idea what I was doing.”
She found a place in the uncertain times as friends and colleagues began calling her to ask for resume help. Many of them were without work and relied on James for her marketing talents. James said, “I had no background training other than a quick course in college. But I’m organized. I’m good on the keyboard and I can market. The whole point of a resume is marketing.”
Her success forced her to grow. After helping friends develop their resumes, many of them moved, and with them, her whole network. James recalled, “All my friends relocated to Atlanta, to Houston. I was like, what have I done? My whole network, they’re gone.”
James was quick to adapt and her initiative proved influential in the resume writing and research community. In the mid-1990s, resume writing credentialing was just taking off. James co-founded and presided over the Professional Resume Writing and Research Association (PRWRA). PRWRA was rebranded to Career Directors International in 2005.
