Description
Are you at the fork in the road? By Kathryn Troutman. Winner of the 2026 Independent Press Award. The first-ever book on editing and re-formatting your long federal resume into a 2-page private-industry resume with keywords, accomplishments, relevant skills, and intense editing. 108 pages, published March 2025.
Part 1, eight steps to a new career: find and update your federal resume; find a target announcement; write your top three accomplishments, critical for interviews; make a keyword list; check whether your resume matches the target position; create your 2- or 3-page private industry resume, the biggest step; write a one-page cover letter; and build your LinkedIn summary.
Part 2, seven case studies: 5-page federal resumes converted into 2-page private industry resumes with accomplishments and keywords, plus cover letter and LinkedIn samples. Private industry recruiters search for keywords, so the book shows how to read an announcement for the critical words and highlight the most impressive accomplishments, projects, and scope of work, focused on the last ten years.





