When to Splurge: Resume Writer

ShareThis

There are times when spending is the same as investing. And when it comes to putting your best face forward in a job search, you should invest in yourself.

Invest... in a resume writer.

I tend to overuse the term 'invest' because it indicates putting money into something that will offer returns of some kind, usually financial. I've had some people say, "You don't 'invest' in dog clippers, Andrea. You buy them." But dog clippers do offer me a return of sorts, because although they cost a good deal of money, they pay for themselves within one to two months, vis a vis savings on dog grooming costs. They could also be used to earn money, should I start clipping the neighbors' Pomeranian (not likely) every few weeks.

So when I say 'invest' in a resume writer, I mean just that. You are spending money on something that might seem unnecessary,; however, not only will a brilliant, professional resume land you a good job, but the higher pay that you fetch should affect your income level for the rest of your life.

I should know - I've used a resume writer.

Sure, sure. I'm a tech writer by trade, so technically, I should be able to write. But resumes are a different beast altogether. I can whip up a user's manual like no one else, when it comes to talking about what I've achieved over the course of my career, I don't always express myself in a way that is impressive to hiring managers. Very few managers will ever come out and tell you this, of course.

In fact, I might still be sending out my old resume and getting nowhere if it wasn't for the fact that I had an interview at a local company, one that does vendor work for Microsoft. I had updated my resume in a hurry, and the result was that there was a typo in one paragraph. It wasn't a big one, and in fact, it was something really simple. But it got noticed by a manager who had no tolerance for typos (which I understand, I really do) and the result was an insanely hostile interview in which everything I said was rudely challenged by someone who clearly wanted to pick a fight with me. Over a typo.

It was such a mortifying experience (and I didn't have the guts to stand up and say "Screw you! I don't need this job, Typo Nazi!"), that I went immediately home and started looking for resume help. And I found Jill Walser, a local HR guru who helps people tweak their resumes and prepare for interviews in her spare time from her business, I Got The Job.

It turns out that, in addition to the typo, my resume was kind of a mess. Which is really weird, since I wrote it using all those "hot-to" books and online guides, and I was pretty confident that it was one bad-ass resume. Turns out that it was just ass-bad.

Jill was able to parse the important information out of my cluttered, 4-page resume, and massage it into a concise, 2-page resume that highlighted my strengths and accomplishments. She interviewed me and asked for more details that I thought anyone needed on a resume.

Immediately after Jill reworked my resume, I got the first job that I applied to.

I've heard people suggest that hiring a resume writer is dishonest, and I take exception to that. A resume writer can help you better express yourself in a way that makes sense to hiring managers. A resume writer does not invent experience for you; they merely guide you on how best to express what you've accomplished over the course of your career.

I asked Jill to give me the lowdown on her job, and why people SHOULD put money into something like a professional resume.

------

Why should someone hire a resume writer?

People who obtain a professionally written resume are (hopefully!) ensured of several things. Primarily, they are ensured that there are no glaring NO!s on the resume like misspellings, misused words, lack of focus, lack of discernible achievements, etc. Additionally, a reader other than oneself is an absolute requirement when it comes to knowing if ones resume is understandable by others. People get into patterns of expressing themselves that make perfect sense to them and to their niche industry, but no sense at all to others.

You'd hire a professional resume writer for the same reason that you'd hire an attorney to write up your will. Yes, you could probably write it yourself, but you might forget something important and you only get one chance to get it right. Either way, you're dead.

How hard can it possibly be to write a resume?

Writing ones own resume can be excruciatingly painful. Like pulling your own teeth. Hours and hours of wandering through websites, reading books, looking at other people's resumes, getting 10 different and conflicting ideas about what must be included, struggling. Doing a "pretty good" job might be OK if one is an engineer, or software developer. As long as they get the basic facts down and don't look like they have third-grade writing skills, their resumes are probably OK. If, however, one is a marketing, sales or administrative professional or *gasp* someone who writes for a living, having a less-than-perfect resume can be the kiss of death.

I have a copywriter opening at work this week. You can bet that the first thing I'll look at is resume quality, even before the quality of their experience. Resumes have to do so much. They are a marketing piece, a business document, a way to convey your personality, and your only opportunity to brand yourself as perfect for the job before the hiring manager meets you. How hard could that be? Exactly.

Isn't having someone else write your resume kind of... dishonest?

Resume writing has become one of the last professional tasks that people feel should still be clandestine. I'm pro-professional. Why should I fix my own car, put 18 million of those little foil things in my hair, give myself a massage, etc.? Sure, I could do all those things myself, but why on earth would I want to? A professional spends hours and hours training and experimenting on other, unsuspecting victims, before she has her craft perfected enough to start charging for it.

On the other hand, I have no problem with people pretending that they wrote their own resume. Its sort of like me telling my mom that I spent hours cleaning before she came by for a visit. Its *kind of* true.

What kind of mistakes do people usually make on their resumes?

What kind of mistakes DON'T they make? Trite objectives, self-aggrandisement, segments that "break" in the wrong places. My personal favorites are those who spell "detail oriented" incorrectly and those who claim to be Mangers. Once a month, I do a search on Craigslist's resume section for Mangers and randomly pick a resume to rewrite and email to the person for free. Reactions are amazingly mixed! Of note, I have yet to meet an actual professional Manger. I keep hoping.

What kind of results do YOU typically get with your reworked resumes?

My customer's resumes get results! They are called in for interviews and offered jobs. They are more confident in their application documents and it shows! The coolest part of this gig is that every single week I get at least one, "I got the job!" email. It's very thrilling to me. The act of going over the resume, answering my homework questions, talking about networking and their career vision makes them better at interviewing, so they get more job offers.

How important is a cover letter?

Its crucial. Its the best way of showing a little glimpse of your personality and demonstrating that you have done your research and really want to work for THAT company. Its a way of showing that you have gone the extra mile to spell their name right. I cannot tell you how disinterested I am in hiring people who cannot even cut and paste my name correctly. There are NO Ms. Waslers that work for my company people! Plus, in the bulleted world of resumes, it's a nice way of showing that you (well, I) can put a few sentences together.

What's the most that someone should pay to have their resume professionally written?

A million dollars. That would definitely be too much. Pricing is all over the place with resume writers. It's hard to know what to charge. Resume writer's qualifications and backgrounds are quite varied as well. I've met resume writers who were actually out-of-work novelists, trying to make some extra money. I may be the only corporate recruiter with a resume business out there. I haven't yet met another.

There's one woman out there who writes "How-to" resume books for a living. From what I've seen, she's not so hot at actually writing resumes. And personality fit is crucial. If you don't feel your resume writer "gets" you, its going to be a frustrating experience. So it's hard to compare value. I will say that every time I've raised my prices, it's had absolutely no impact on customer traffic. My rates currently range between $95 - $245, depending on employment level. I've done resumes for people with horror stories about paying $400 for a resume that looks terrible. I feel their pain. $400 for a resume that looks fabulous and gets results is not too much. $95 for a resume that sucks and lands in the trash is too much.

Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.

Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


Guest's picture
Guest

I am a headhunter for IT and engineering professionals and read hundreds if not thousands of resumes each week. If you are going to hire a resume writer, make sure it is someone who is familiar with your field of work. I usually spend at least 30-60 minutes rewriting resumes before sending to the client. Unfortunately, quite a few of theses were "professional" resumes that they paid good money for. Check out your local state or city job service. They often have free classes on resume writing. Ask people who are in your field to review your resume. Check out other people's resumes, either samples on the web or from books. When you talk to a recruiter or HR person ask them how you can improve your resume. I am not saying resume writers are bad, I am just saying before your spend your hard earned money, make sure you are getting your money's worth.

Guest's picture
Sarah P.

IF your resume has been sitting on your to-do list forever, or IF you know that it, in its current form, isn't doing you a bit of good with employers and IF you know yourself and that you can't just read a resume book or two and poof! yours is done to perfection, then save yourself the grief and get it done right.

 

Definitely DO take referrals. And check that the writer is a specialist in YOUR specialty if your referrer isn't in your industry. It’s like a good mechanic, once you find a good one, you pass the word around. This one sounds great. I wouldn't necessarily refer my resume writer because he was pretty weird, but it still got the darn thing off my to-do list, it’s much better than what I had, and I DID get a better job with it.

 

This is the type of thing that I SAVE my money FOR - so I can afford to have the important things done by professionals. Like, I wouldn't go to the cheapest dentist, know what I mean? Meanwhile I put banana peels and coffee grounds in my garden to save a little cash on fertilizer...

Guest's picture
Roostabunny

Great article!

You wrote your Typo-Nazi-fodder resume "using all those 'hot-to' books and online guides"? There's typo Nazi's out here, too. ;)

All kidding aside, as a writer and a manager (no, really) I consider resume typos, but I'm not hostile about it. The way I figure it, "no typos" is the only golden rule of resumes that everyone should know about. Typos happen, but in this context I need to figure out why it was overlooked.

Andrea Karim's picture

How it happened, and why it will keep happening, is this: I wrote my article, did a spell check, and had typed something like 'hwo' or 'hor', instead of 'how' (this is a guess). Word's spellcheck probably offered something like a list:

hot
how
home
who

I'm a terrible typer, and most of my articles are FILLED with typos. I do my best to find them, but sometimes, I miss them. Since this is a hobby, and not a job, I don't get to put as much time into perfecting these posts as I would like to. Plus, we don't have editors. :)

Someday. Someday.

Guest's picture
Cliff

It never ceases to amaze me how many people argue against hiring a resume writer.

I'm one myself--the world's best in fact--and though I know my resumes are well worth the $1,000 people pay for them, I understand that my services are not for everyone.

I do agree that you should choose wisely when looking for a resume writers; they come from all walks of life, from word-processors to corporate recruiters to marketing pros to career counselors to (yes) novelists.

Whatever background your writer comes from, make sure they're a good listener. One thing that's often overlooked as a benefit of quality resume-writing services is the career coaching and interview prepping aspect of it.

As an ex-corporate recruiter and career counselor with master's degree in counseling, I fold coaching into my entire resume development process, both in my in-person interviews and through my questionnaire.

It's not just about a piece of paper.

One of my regular clients always tells me: "Cliff, you don't sell resumes. You sell lack of aggravation."

But again, my services aren't for everyone. Some people prefer aggravation.

Guest's picture
sarah

i hired a lady named debbie at fishbowl resumes. she did a resume for a friend of mine (thats how i came across her, i dont think she really advertises, i dont know) she did a really good job and my sister and husband both hired her as well.

shes the 3rd resume writer ive hired during my career and i think probably the best one so far. i hope i dont need another one (LOL) but if i do, ill definitely return. her prices were pretty reasonable as well.

ill try to do a link but im not good at this so i hope it works. if not i sure you can google her company name and find it (fishbowl resumes).

Guest's picture
marilynmorado

Thank you for the article, I use career successions for my resume writing software
at http://www.careersuccessions.com/LandingPage/Site/resume-software.html. I recommend you use them, I paid $50 for my resume to be made up which is cheap compared to others, and i also got a job right after