Donald.Burns

Donald Burns is an executive career coach and a resume writer. Since 2008, he has "repackaged" 1,500 executives -- including some high-profile business leaders you've probably seen on TV or in the business media. He provides these services and more through his firm, ExecutivePromotionsLLC.

His work as a resume writer is featured in books about writing resumes and has garnered 13 TORI (Toast of the Resume Industry) awards.

Burns' approach to career coaching is to encourage shy IT professionals to step into the spotlight, build their confidence and take honest credit for accomplishments. "CIOs often act timidly," he explains. "The engineering culture discourages bragging, so I do my best to convince my clients that telling the truth is not bragging."

After high school, Burns served in the U.S. Army for three years and then earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from NYU Polytechnic and, later, an MBA from Manhattan College. From 1980 to 1989, he worked at Motorola, where he advanced through the company's engineering and sales management ranks.

In 1991, Burns switched his career to commercial writing and studied journalism at Columbia University. After graduating, he got a job at Samsung, where he wrote advertising copy from 1994 to 2000 while based at the company's Seoul, South Korea, headquarters.

In 2008, he added executive resumes to his commercial-writing portfolio. He credits his success with resumes to his background writing B2B advertisements.

"I've enjoyed each of my five careers with no regrets," he says. "But I do regret having wasted so much time while making each transition." His goal is to help his clients avoid those difficult career transitions: "My clients need not do that," he says. "They tell me where they want to go, and I show them the surest shortcuts to get there!"

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of Donald Burns and do not necessarily represent those of IDG Communications Inc. or its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies.