The Letter-Resume: An Alternative to the Standard Resume Format
If you are responding to an ad or are preparing a pitch for a potential client but you don’t want to include a formal resume. There is are a way that you can tell the client about your experience without using one: the resume letter.
Here’s how it works:
- Start your letter off in the usual way to introduce yourself and explain why you are making contact with the client.
- Then include a list of points from your resume that show the client why you are a good fit for the ad you are responding to or the role that you are interested in filling for them
- Finish with a good closing, thanking the client for taking the time to consider you and that you hope to hear from them soon or when you will be contacting them to follow up.
Why Use Bullet Points
Rather than use a paragraph style for your letter-resume, using either bullet points or numbers draws the reader’s eye directly to that section of the letter. Keep each point relatively short – two or three sentences will do. Make sure that what you list in your letter-resume is relevant to the writing gig you are applying to or hope to land.
I’m in favor of using whatever strategy works to present yourself in the best possible way to a client, as long as you are following the instructions in their ad. Part of doing so is giving the client all the information they need to determine if you are qualified for the gig and if they can work with you. If they don’t want to see a resume, that’s fine. You can tell them about yourself in this way instead.
The letter resume could help you, particularly if yours is in a stack of traditional resumes. That way, yours is a bit different from the others while not standing out as being overly strange or appearing as a blatant attempt to look “different.”
It could just be the difference that gets you the job.
I’ve been using this model intuitivelly, i. e., I do use letter-resumes often but without thinking that’s how they are called.
I agree that using bullet points is important. It makes the email easier on the reader. And when your reader is a potential client, you do want to make his lifer as easy as possible.