After retiring as the Legislative and Economic Development Director at a large Chamber of Commerce, Sandra began searching for a career change. More than 50 job applications later, she realized she had hit the brick wall of “being too old.”
Keen to learn more about ageism and other intentional and unintentional hidden biases job candidates face, she went directly to the source and signed on as a new trainee for a top resume writing service. She soon discovered AI in hiring and a host of other resume formatting and job-application landmines that candidates must navigate to be successful and over the next six years wrote resumes for more than 50 different professions for clients in 32 U.S. states and 22 countries.
Sandra broadened her studies beyond what not to put in a resume to focus on what info to include to gain an edge. She became a regular on HR chat boards, studied color theory, looked at brain scans of how people read, took a deep dive into document formatting, joined professional groups, signed up for continuing education courses, and earned certifications.
She quickly moved to niche writing, concentrating on specialized career positions that require advanced sector knowledge, such as International, Tech, and Finance resumes. She absorbed current tech language, AI, SEO algorithms, computer research methodology, hiring, and legal practices.
Four years ago, Sandra came to the attention of the founder of Women2Boards, who reached out to subcontract her as her new executive board candidate writer. Here was her opportunity to impact positive societal change from the top down by focusing on creating demographically diverse corporate boards.
Her network expanded to include top board coaching experts, and she put in more years of study to learn board language, write board value statements, and filter client information to leave out the fluff. Two years ago she took the leap to “reach higher” and founded SA Resume Services, LLC and, over her career, has had the privilege to work with over 150 board and C-suite candidates, ensuring them the highest service standards and best branding practices.