If you are glad you will not have to worry about these items because you are going the DIY resume method, you are making a huge mistake in judgment. A professionally prepared resume is a critically important business document that should not by developed by anyone except a highly experienced writer. Resumes are marketing brochures, advertisements, and PR documents. Companies who offer a product or service in the marketplace, just like you sell your service to companies, have entire marketing departments prepare these items because they know how critically important they are for success.
1. Accessibility is a key criteria when picking a resume service. Can you pick up the phone right this instant and call and talk with someone? Initial impressions on many sites will lead you to believe they are open for business, but when you call you get voicemail. For a legitimate business, not being able to answer a call during regular business hours is a sign you should move on. If you cannot connect directly with a company initially to discuss purchasing the service or to ask some questions, just think how hard it will be to reach them because you have a problem, need changes, or want to check on something. Many company's sites will also tell you about a free consultation with a writer or a free resume review, but it requires you to submit a form and they will get back to you as soon as possible. Don't bother. If you find that you can call and speak to someone right now that should be a critically important factor in choosing a service.
2. When viewing online advertisements for resume services you will see words and phrases like guaranteed, guaranteed results, guaranteed interviews, and money back guarantee. If you see the word guarantee in an advertisement, move on. If what that resume service has chosen to tell you about its service revolves around guarantees, you can be guaranteed of a sales job when you get to their site. Make guarantees about 10th down the list of important criteria when choosing a service. Guarantees are like warranties. They are only as good as the company and people behind them, which you are not going to know when resume shopping. Look out for the word free in ads, as in free resumes, free resume builders, free templates, etc. Ultimately, nothing useful from these sites is actually going to be free. Be on the lookout too for ads that say "best resume services", "top 10 resume companies", "resume review site", etc. These sites are only trying to funnel you into multiple sites that they actually own or are paid to represent. Nobody is paying money for ads out of the goodness of their heart to make you a better informed consumer.
3. When you enter a company's website assess your initial impression upon seeing it. Is it sharp, crisp, clean, modern, professional, and organized? Those are all positive signs. Does the site look like it was built 15 years ago? Are there giant fonts, lots of bold text, red fonts, rambling long content, blinking, and a general unprofessional feel to the site? Those are all good signs that you may want to keep looking. Why should a website matter? A nice site will not ensure a great resume product, but it is hard to imagine that a legitimate quality company would not invest in a professional website, especially since resumes have to do with presentation. If a company does not care how they present themselves, or does not have the ability to assess what is professional in a site, what do think that will mean for your resume?
4. Do not be overly influenced by "Certified Resume Writer" and other designations. Everyone has them, but to be completely upfront, they are not worth the paper they are written on in terms of ensuring a well done resume. We have read ample resumes by other certified writers that had typos, grammatical errors, poor sentence structure, and an unprofessional look and feel. Remember this regarding certifications, anyone can set up and sell a service to "certify" anything. Resume writing is a prime target for certifications. Basically, if a resume writer is interested in paying to have a certification / emblem they can display, the test he or she takes is ridiculously easy to pass. A quality resume writer needs to be a naturally creative person, which no certification can provide, and someone who has significant experience in HR, staffing, recruiting, hiring, or related. This is invaluable experience because these people have learned how employers and hiring managers assess candidates and resumes. Someone that studied writing and resumes to become a resume writer is not your best option.
5. Resume writing services found through career and job sites will rarely be your best option. Just because a company is affiliated with a known job board will in no way assure you of a quality resume. The general thought from a consumer may be that a service tied to a brand name company must be good quality. Unfortunately that is not the case as many have found. The quality of the resume you receive only has to do with the people that build it. One of the biggest downsides of using a resume service found through a job site is the high cost. A high quality resume does not have to cost hundreds of dollars. The reason these resume services are so expensive is because the job site is the middleman in the transaction and they have to get a nice cut of the fee.
Assess your risk of a resume service by how instantly accessible they are, price, website quality, and the knowledge and helpfulness of the person you speak to.
1 comment:
Very nice items to consider when choosing a resume service. I thought I was the resume master until I got mind done professionally.
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