Stephanie Lynch http://howmuchisit.org 3m 792 #resumewriting
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Paying For Writing Resume Services
With a quick Google search, you will find many dedicated resume writing professionals willing to take the time to learn your career experience and convey it in a way that will get attention from the people that matter.
In our ridiculously competitive job market, a resume that stands out can mean the difference between settling for a just-good-enough job or landing the position of your dreams.
Professional resume writers are typically very experienced writing professionals with a career history in human resources. You will also find those who are successful business professionals with a true passion for helping other people succeed from the experience they have gained in the business world.
However, don’t hire the first one you see just because their website makes them look good. Request a portfolio of sample resumes they have completed, and ask what the hiring results were for each.
On the downside, hiring a dedicating resume writing professional won’t be cheap. Expect to pay hundreds, or even thousands of dollars to hire a writer that can make a strong impact during your job search.
Quality doesn’t come cheap. But consider this: if a properly written resume can land you a job earning $30,000 a year more than you are currently earning, wouldn’t an investment in a professional resume writer be worth the cost of admission? The answer seems pretty obvious.
Watch Out for Resume Mills
Be extremely wary of the resume mills that are out there to take your money without providing much benefit. Resume mills are companies that take on hundreds – or even thousands – of clients every month. They tend to utilize many writers and don’t pay them well, or pay them on a low per-word basis.
As a result, these resume writers aren’t typically concerned with quality – it’s quantity that makes them their money.
In general, most writers for resume mills are not very experienced and need to pump out dozens of resumes every day to make a decent wage. They don’t really employ many strategies in the creation of your resume, and you will probably end up with a very “vanilla” resume that won’t garner much attention from Human Resources screeners and hiring managers.
In addition, many resume mills are known for populating their websites with fake or doctored testimonials. They tend to use general stock photos for their branding.
If you’ve found a resume service that seems to be too cheap, you’ll no doubt get what you pay for – and you’re probably better off writing your resume on your own.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Writing Your Own Resume
At some point in your past, you have probably been given general guidelines and tips on how to produce an effective resume. Whether in high school or college, most educators include a general overview of resume writing as part of the curriculum.
Your writing style it pretty strong and you know your personal experience better than anyone else, so why not write your own resume and skip the fees required to have someone else do it for you?
Did you know that for every open position posted, the average employer receives 75 resumes from qualified applicants? While this makes your chances of getting the job exponentially higher than winning the lottery, it still puts your chances of landing the job at below 2%. Your potential employer will never have the opportunity to see your glowing face or experience your upbeat personality if your resume is a dud.
While you may think that your writing style is attention-getting and engaging, it might very well fall into the human resources reject pile simply because it doesn’t make a strong enough statement about you.
Don’t misunderstand – you may be a good writer – but that doesn’t always translate into being a strong resume writer that commands the attention of hiring professionals.
Of course, on the positive side, writing your own resume won’t cost you anything but your time. If you’re convinced that you can handle it on your own, spend a lot of time on personal reflection and make sure to include every note-worthy professional experience.
Have multiple friends or family members proofread it. Also, remember to tailor every resume submission to the specific job you are applying for. Generalities in your resume are very obvious to employers.
But if you’re still not landing the position of your dreams, a professional resume writer can make all the difference in the world.
About the Author
Stephanie Lynch is from Howmuchisit.org, a cost-helping database that helps consumers find the unknown costs of things such as education classes and professional services. You can reach out to her on Twitter @howmuchforit.
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