Why on earth should you read a personal profile instead of a cover letter?
Because cover letters deliver on their promise. They cover, rather than uncover, the most significant details of their respective authors' lives.
For example, my cover letter wouldn't tell you that I was living in a facility for wards of the state and juvenile delinquents when I had the epiphany that generated my career. It was, in its own way, a very educational environment. It wasn't, however, the sort of place you might expect a 13-year-old boy to find an intellectual raison d'être.
Like the back of a Zen master's hand, it hit me one fine Michigan day that of all the man-made "things" in the world, the most durable were ideas... words filled with meaning. Countries rise and fall. Structures occasionally endure a century or two; a very few endure a millennium or more. But ideas! Ideas leap across millennia as easily as athletes jump over anthills.
Ever since, words filled with meaning have been my life and livelihood. I grew to love poetry. I earned a writing award from the Detroit News while in high school. College brought me a degree in creative writing and fluency in a second language, German.
My professional education commenced with a job as a working copywriter and later, as a freelance writer. Sweating over descriptions of my clients and their products, their lives and their goals, I came to appreciate the hard work, commitment and integrity that characterized so many of them.
Wrestling with words on behalf of the tongue-tied filled my portfolio with samples and kudos, but not my pockets. So, when a client asked me to take a job as a technical writer, I accepted. I had no idea what tech writers did, but I learned.
I'm still learning. Among other things, I learned that I had a keen eye for design and nomenclature inconsistencies. I've also learned that such insights aren't always welcome!
In 2006, I left a sinecure with a fine employer to expand my horizons, despite the offer of a considerable pay raise. It seemed time to grow in a new direction. Unfortunately, I stumbled into a cul-de-sac. So I stumbled out, again.
The compliments I have since earned are indicative of my earnest efforts to be of service.
The details? They're in my resume and the rest of this portfolio. But feel free to give me a call (at 602.257.0857.) if you feel the urgent need to confirm them.
