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Job candidates have to distinguish themselves to get interviews. Resume writers have to distinguish themselves to get clients. Howard E. Halpern does this by targeting the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software HR uses to screen resumes.
In June 2012, Career Professionals of Canada ran a tele-networking session on this topic, led by an organization called "Preptel." This organization had a tool that showed people how to select keywords for a specific job posting and add those keywords to a resume. Halpern attended the tele-networking session; formed a close, working relationship with Preptel executives; and was able to consistently achieve scores above 90% against the ATS software.
Contrary to popular opinion, the primary skill required is not resume writing, but search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting, which Halpern has been doing since 1998.
Halpern belongs to Career Professionals of Canada and is a Founding Member, having joined in 2004. He was also a member of the organization's first Resume Strategist Mastermind Group, comprised of only seven members from across Canada. Halpern demonstrated leadership by suggesting ATS as the first topic of discussion and delivering the first presentation.
Halpern has been a professional resume writer since 1989 and a Certified Professional Resume Writer since 1998. He is published in a wide variety of media including Miss Chatelaine (now Flare), Storm Warning (edited by Al Purdy), Tamarack Review (edited by John Robert Colombo), Ontario Psychologist, and the Gallery of Best Cover Letters (2004 edition) by JIST Works. Of over 300 letters, only eight, including Halpern's, are identified as "persuasive." He is also published in Best Canadian Resumes (2007), a production of Sentor Media Inc. (a leading Canadian publisher of career-related books).
His essay on language was featured on CBC radio. His invention, the business-card resume, was featured coast-to-coast on the CHUM Radio Network. He writes documents for clients both in person and remotely.
In 2000, Halpern served as Contest Judge, Annual Conference, Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches, which was held in Toronto. Halpern has sold his services to employers in 30 successful job interviews, two of them by phone.