National Update Your Resume Month: Reflecting On the History of The Resume Writing & Career Coaching Professions
After 35 years, I will fully retire on December 31, 2025. Back in 1990 when Frank Fox and I launched The Professional Association of Resume Writers – PARW (later to become PARWCC), little did we know it would lead to a National Update Your Résumé Month in 2000 (Thank you Laura DeCarlo).
The principal mission of National Update Your Résumé Month is to encourage both unemployed and employed individuals to review and update their résumés, and to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining a current résumé to be proactive in managing their careers. And, when people review and document their yearly achievements and contributions, it enhances self-worth and confidence, to optimize future potential opportunities.
History is Relevant
Now that we have a month dedicated to our profession, what do we know about the history of our profession (long before PARW)? Where did we come from? How did we evolve? How does the past influence the future? We know George Washington was the first President of the United States. Who wrote the first résumé? Who wrote the first book on résumé writing and job search? I believe it’s important to know the events and people that helped contribute to the evolution of our profession, because it tells the story of where we came from… and what vicissitudes ‘you’ (I am retiring) must make to survive, never mind thrive, in a future that ain’t what it used to be. So here goes:
The 1st Résumé: Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci is credited for writing the first résumé some 500 years ago. But it really wasn’t a résumé as we know it today. It more resembled a cover letter with his specific qualifications (Da Vinci sent the ‘résumé’ to the Duke of Milan highlighting his qualifications as an inventor of advanced tools of war). No doubt, over hundreds of years, letters of qualification have been distributed by people seeking work. But it wasn’t until a formal name for this document was introduced – the French word résumer – meaning to summarize. It was first used in the employment landscape in the early 1800s, but it wasn’t until the 1930s when the word résumé (with or without accents) began to be used regularly in English.
Career Coaching
The word career comes from the Latin word “carrus,” meaning cart; car; road; pathway; or race-track. FYI – the Porsche Carrera’s name comes from the Latin word “carrus.” The designers envisioned a world-class car hugging the race track. Personally, I like the analogy with a pathway. One’s pathway in the workplace to enrich one’s pathway in life. So let’s take a brief pathway back in time to see how we all got here… and for you to determine what’s next.
Modern History
1909: The father of the vocational guidance movement.
The modern-day coaching industry was launched in 1909. Its evolution can be traced back to Frank Parsons, who first developed the idea that, “We can learn to match people to specific jobs.” Parsons first presented his ideas in his published work, Choosing a Vocation, and is widely regarded as the father of the vocational guidance movement.
1921: The 4 categories of work
John Mills developed the concept that “one’s vocation/career is the grand expression of one’s personality.” Mills is known for breaking down the workings of personality into four categories – ideas, people, things, and data (information). This was the foundation for helping people identify what job or career was best suited for them.
1929: The first job club
At the start of the Great Depression, the idea of group counseling/support became popular. Job seekers would gather together and share ideas on how best to help one another secure employment (unemployment was well over 20%). One of the first support groups was known as The Thursday Night Club, founded by Carl Boll in an effort to assist college grads in New England.
1935: Sidney Edlund
The largest counseling/support group of its kind, The Man Marketing Clinic, was formed by Sidney Edlund and served over 500,000 people between 1935-1955. And it was Edlund and his wife, Mary, who first acknowledged that the job search was a marketing/sales endeavor. (See 1938 below).
1936: The first résumé book
Harper and Brothers Publishing Company released the first résumé writing book in America in 1936 entitled, Your Work Abilities, How to Express and Apply Them through Man Power Specifications by A.W. Rahn. In his book, Rahn referred to resumes as, “Man Power Specifications,” and provided a number of foldout samples.
1938: The first book on job search
In 1938, the publication, Pick Your Job – And Land It! was released by Sidney and Mary Edlund. Considered the first job search book, it was written in the midst of the Great Depression. The book actually reads like a sales and marketing resource, as the Edlund’s did not see the process as a search or a hunt – but rather as a self-marketing and sales campaign.
1939: Directory of Occupational Titles
The US Government came out with the Directory of Occupational Titles that listed thousands of job titles/classifications that provided job seekers (and coaches) with possible jobs to select from. Today the resource is known as the Occupational Outlook Handbook and is available online (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/).
1946: The first national career counseling firm
In 1946, the first executive career counseling/management firm was formed by Englishman Bernard Haldane (Haldane & Associates). Haldane helped hundreds of veterans find jobs after World War II and advised thousands more on how to prepare for job interviews. A man with a strong ego, the story goes that whenever Haldane was asked where he learned about career counseling, he replied, “I invented it.”
1958/1959: The six personality types
John Holland published his work, The Psychology of Vocational Choice: A Theory of Personality Types and Model Environments, a landmark book for its time. It identified the six personality types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional). This was the beginning of aligning personalities with specific job types. The idea was that, “One’s occupational preferences were, in a sense, a veiled expression of underlying character.”
1962 – Current: The Workforce Development System
The (national and state) Workforce System was formally established to help people at all income levels secure employment. There have been a myriad of programs offered, from the Manpower Development and Training Act (1962) to the Workforce Innovations and Opportunities Act (replaced WIA, expired in 2020, but still operating). As of this writing, a new act, the Stronger Workforce for America Act is being considered.
1972: The Parachute Man
The #1 job search book of all time, What Color is Your Parachute? was written by Richard Nelson Bolles in 1972. Bolles is considered the father of contemporary career counseling, and was brilliant in ways most are unaware of. But relative to résumés and career coaching, as a minister in 1970, Bolles wrote What Color is Your Parachute? solely for job seekers in his congregation. It was so unique and effective, Ten Speed Press began publishing it in 1972.
1990: PARW is born
The first professional association for résumé writers was PARW, formed in 1990. PARW (later to become PARWCC) offered the first-ever résumé certification (CPRW), and invited all industry visionaries and pioneers to collaborate to grow a new profession; those who recognized the need to transition from secretaries typing up résumés, to professionals creating strategic self-marketing documents.
1994 Job boards
In 1994, job boards began to take off with Monster and Netstart (later to become CareerBuilder). More recently, there’s Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Dice.com, with an ever expanding list of new-comers sure to follow.
1996: ATS technology
It transformed the hiring process. Job seekers could search for and apply for jobs online, and recruiters could post job openings on their company websites. The ATS process allowed hiring decision makers to quickly sort through thousands of résumés and prioritize the most qualified candidates based on algorithms and keywords. Formatting, key words, and key phrases became the focus of ATS technology résumés. And to be clear, tomorrow’s ATS technology will be much more advanced and will continue to integrate with social media platforms, allowing hiring entities to source candidates from various channels.
2003: LinkedIn
The company was created in 2002/3 by Reid Hoffman. In 2004, LinkedIn reached a million users. Today it has over a billion, and is a major player in the recruiting and hiring process.
2006: PARW Expands to PARWCC
The Professional Association of Résumé Writers changed its name to the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches in 2006, where landmark certification and training programs for career coaching professionals were created. This attracted a new membership segment that helped increase global membership to 1,500 members.
Between 1990 and 2006, résumé writing and career coaching took off. More and more people became résumé professionals and career coaches. And yes, there were a number of smaller organizations and associations that sprang up to support industry professionals. But PARWCC was the leader – and something was about to happen to double the membership.
2019 – Current
The Phares Family took over PARWCC in 2019. They introduced new training programs, new certifications, and new visionary leadership to support members. And membership grew almost 100%, hovering around 3,000. And that’s where we are today.
Future History
Where our profession goes from here is up to new and emerging leaders and you – the members. I am barely an amateur with the Bible, but Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I interpret this to mean, without a vision, our “potential” will be wasted (perish). With biotech, infotech, and a host of other societal and environmental changes facing us moving forward, what is your vision for our profession – and how will history record it?
Why Career Coach Certifications Matter
