In the following pages, I have included the requisite facts found in most resumes, but I am also heeding the classic advice that I used to pass on to my English students:
     “Show, don't tell.”
     So please click on the links provided, where I show in my online resume (website) examples of what I can only tell you about below.
     For example, I can tell you I love the challenge of solving a big, complex problem, and I'm a “good finisher,” but you still haven't learned much about me. However, if I show you how I single-handedly laid 750 square feet of ceramic tile in my home, you get a better picture: You can see that I am good at planning, attending to details, learning new skills, and following through. You will know that I am energetic and adaptable.
     I hope you enjoy examining my website, and please contact me if you think my skills and experience will match well with the needs of your organization. Please also feel free to forward my resume and website link to others. Finally, I would very much appreciate hearing from you if you have suggestions for improving my website or enhancing my job search.
     Thank you.

Janet Gavin
Lake Forest, California

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE:

•  Writer, editor, and former Professor of English with excellent computer skills and experience in desktop publishing.

•  Award-winning public speaker and speech writer.

•  An experienced, highly effective manager and a patient trainer. (Please see my article "Management Philosophy and Style.")

•  Savvy developer of training programs and skilled at boiling down complex material into small, easy-to-follow steps.

•  Proactive problem-solver who undertakes challenges with high enthusiasm and follows through with creativity and professionalism.

SKILLS:

•  WRITING and EDITING: Taught writing, grammar, and mechanics to college students for nine years, but writing and editing have also been major duties in other positions (i.e., writing procedures, reports, correspondence).

•  TRAINING/TEACHING: Taught students and trained staff (see WORK EXPERIENCE: Teaching Positions below).

•  PUBLIC SPEAKING: During years of teaching and training, gained significant experience in speaking before groups. Prior to that, competed in college forensics tournaments and won many awards in public speaking and speech writing. See “MAJOR HONORS” section below or “EDUCATION” page in website.

•  RESEARCHING : Taught research skills to college sophomores enrolled in English composition courses on writing the term paper; therefore, very skilled and experienced at using a variety of sources and methods, including the following:

•  The Internet (of course).

•  Major library cataloging systems—e.g., Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal.

•  Asking smart people.

•  COMPUTING:

•  Microsoft Office:  Passed exams for Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certificates. Individuals who pass this series of tests are guaranteed by the Microsoft Corporation to have high-level skills in these programs:
           •  Word. Please see samples in Word or PDF file.
           •  Excel.  Please see Excel sample.
           •  Outlook.
           •  PowerPoint.

•  Layout of brochures, posters, tote bags, t-shirts, etc., using Adobe programs:
        •  Adobe Illustrator.
        •  Adobe Photoshop.
        •  Adobe Acrobat.
        •  Also some basic training in In-Design.

•  Website:
           •  Designed janetgavin.com website using Dreamweaver.

•  ACCOUNTING/BOOKKEEPING:

•  Maintained budget expenditure records and reconciled them to general ledgers.

•  Verified compliance with government regulations and university policies as well as grant and contract restrictions and regulations.

•  Prepared financial reports.

•  And . . . I BAKE a MEAN apple pie.

WORK EXPERIENCE (chronological):

NOTE: To protect privacy, references and employers' contact information will be provided on the application form.

2011 – 2015:  Working at home, but now anxious to start my next career!

2010 – 2011
Administrative Assistant
University of California, Irvine
Campus Temporary Employment Services

DUTIES:  Completed nine-month temporary assignment in UCI Academic Personnel. Performed data entry in custom database and designed and maintained Excel database.

2006– 2007
Publications Administrator - Writer/Editor
Bernards General Contracting and Construction Management
Laguna Hills, CA

DUTIES:  

WRITING AND EDITING:

•  Saved company's engineers and project managers an enormous number of expensive man hours by cutting wordiness by approximately 25% and increasing clarity in construction procedures, training materials, and company policies.

•  Editing skills used at Bernards: Please see examples of “before and after” sentences on this web page: janetgavin.com/writing_editing_samples_jgavin.doc. Also see my article on "How Skilled Editors Can Save Your Company Money" at janetgavin.com/janet_gavin_editing_article.pdf

2001 – 2005
Administrative Assistant 3 - Communications and Operations Specialist
Continuing Medical Education (CME)
School of Medicine
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA

DUTIES:

WRITING:   Wrote procedures used to train scores of CME coordinators, who were responsible for reviewing or completing (to their horror) dozens of documents required for accreditation of their courses. A few examples: The initial CME Application and Budget Projection Form; Commercial Support Agreement; Faculty Disclosure Forms; Publication Regulations; Participant Registration List; Course and Speaker Evaluation Forms and Summaries.

IT / WEB and MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS:

•  Managed the UCI CME website, where physicians found registration information on all current and future Continuing Medical Education courses accredited by the UCI School of Medicine.

•  Using Adobe desktop publishing programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat), did layout of items such as brochures, posters, tote bags, and t-shirts for CME courses and other School of Medicine events.

IT / COMMUNICATIONS / DATA MANAGEMENT:

•  Designed and maintained the CME Database of Courses, the backbone of the organization's statistical reports required by the UCI School of Medicine and the national accrediting body (the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education /ACCME). During the accreditation process, ACCME rated UCI's program “Exemplary,” in part because the data was so accurate and complete. As a result, the department was awarded a six-year accreditation instead of the customary four-year period.

•  Produced a variety of reports and designed CME forms using Microsoft Excel and Word programs.

•  Trained staff to use more sophisticated features of Microsoft Office programs, and acted as “Computer Troubleshooter” when problems arose.

1994 – 2001
Homemaker: While a homemaker, worked as an Administrative Assistant for temporary employment services at University of California, Irvine, and Remedy Staffing (2000 – 2001).

1988 – 1994
Professor of English
Saddleback College
Mission Viejo, CA

DUTIES:

•  Taught writing, research, and grammar courses to college freshmen and sophomores.

•  Coordinated the Writing Laboratory and maintained the lab computers.

•  Taught word processing to over 1,200 beginning computer users in English composition classes (this was from mid-1980's to mid-1990's, before most students had computers at home). From turning on the computer to creating, editing, saving and printing out a document, the sessions took only one and one half hours, yet students left knowing the basics of producing a complete document. Many students were skeptical at first ("This isn't a computer class," they argued.), but by mid-semester, everyone was sold. They could see that my goal was to make them competitive when they went off to university.

•  Awarded four Faculty Development Grants over a six-year period for various special projects. Example: One grant funded development of a program for Computer-Assisted Instruction in Writing.

•  Participated on committees and in professional conferences.

1985 – 1988
Part-Time English Instructor

DUTIES: Taught English composition at Palomar College (1988), MiraCosta College (1988), and San Diego State University (1985-87, while attending graduate school). If necessary, details of these three wonderful teaching experiences can be provided on the application form.

1983 - 1985
Administrative Assistant
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California

DUTIES: Worked as an Administrative Assistant for UC Irvine Temporary Services prior to starting graduate school and during summer vacations.

College Undergraduate Years – 1983
Accounting Assistant at UCLA.
Budget Coordinator and Senior Staff Trainer at Seattle Central Community College.
(Worked in these positions while an undergraduate and prior to starting graduate school in 1984.)

DUTIES:  Please see Accounting/Bookkeeping in “SKILLS” section above. Additional details of duties are available upon request.

EDUCATION:

•  M.A. in English: Emphasis in Rhetoric and the Teaching of Writing, San Diego State University, GPA 3.85, 1987. (Upon request, transcripts can be forwarded directly from SDSU.)

•  B.A. in English: Emphasis in Literature and Education. Summa Cum Laude, California State University, Northridge, GPA 3.78, 1982. (Upon request, transcripts can be forwarded directly from CSUN.)

•  Continuing Education: A school "junky." Since graduate school, have taken many classes at UCI Extension, Saddleback College, National University, and elsewhere (some classes for credit, some to enhance work skills, others just for pleasure). There are too many to list, but here are some examples: environmental studies, Asian literature and culture, digital arts (Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop), HTML, First Aid, Latino Culture in Los Angeles, Microsoft Access Basics, ballroom dancing, AutoCAD, and many more.

MAJOR HONORS:

•  Public Speaking Awards: While a college student, took part in numerous public speaking tournaments and competed against some of the top college speakers in the country. Contestants were judged on both their speech writing and delivery skills.

•  Phi Rho Pi National Forensic Society Tournament, Chicago, Illinois:

•  National Gold Medal Winner in Persuasive Speaking event.
•  National Silver Medal Winner in Oral Interpretation     of Literature event.

•  California State Championships:

•  Silver Medal Winner in Oral Interpretation of Literature event.

•  Awarded other public speaking trophies at state and regional tournaments and in campus events.

 •  Award: College Speech Department Outstanding Student of the Year.

•  Ellen Harcourt Scholar: San Diego State University, English Department Master's Degree Program. Won the scholarship two years in a row (1985-86 and 1986-87). A major academic prize awarded by the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishing Company.

•  Mary Snyder Memorial Scholarship Award: California State University, Northridge, Department of Education, 1981. For the candidate who shows highest promise as a teacher of English.

•  (Try not to gag. The Résumé Police made me include this stuff.)

•  Elected to Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society while attending California State University, Northridge.

•  Semi-Finalist, "Molly" Writing Contest, 2001: A prestigious contest for aspiring novelists, the "Molly" attracts writers from across the United States and Canada .

CERTIFICATIONS:

•  Lifetime California Community College Teaching Credential in Language Arts and Literature.

•  CBEST : Passed state exam certifying qualifications for teaching K through 12th grades.

PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

          Please visit the PROJECTS section in the online version of this résumé for concrete examples of the work ethic, transferable skills, and personal characteristics noted below. But if asked to name the one, over-riding personal qualification, it would be a natural tendency to swing into “problem-solving mode” whenever faced with a challenge:

•  Creative, proactive problem-solver.

•  Self-motivated. Enjoys challenges and problem-solving.

•  Persistent. Follows through until the problem is solved.  (My nickname is “bird dog” because I focus on the goal and I'm a good “finisher.”)

•  Attends to details when solving the problem. Thinks ahead—and respects Murphy's Law.

•  Enough buzzwords, yet? You want more?! Okay, if you insist . . .

•  Able to interpret complex written procedures in order to solve the problem.

•  Well-organized. Good researcher and planner when approaching the solution to a problem but at the same time has a “Bias for Action” (with apologies to Peters and Waterman of In Search of Excellence):

•  Not just “Learn by doing” (Peters), but . . . Create, discover, invent and problem solve by doing.

•  Not just “Do it, fix it, try it” (Peters), but . . . Do it, try it, fix it, try it again, and repeat as needed until the problem is solved.

•  Once the problem is solved, determine if problem needs algorithm documented for future reference.

•  Loves to travel and very willing to do so for work purposes.

•  Loves photography.

 

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Website Designed by Janet Using

Dreamweaver,
Adobe Illustrator and
Photoshop