Professional Resume Writers Are Like Car Mechanics: There Are Good Ones And Not So Good Ones…

There recently was an interesting discussion on one of the job-seeker forums. One of the visitors posted a question to find out whether other people have successfully used professional resume services, and what they thought.

Opinions varied quite a bit, from “I loved my resume writer. The resume generated a lot more leads than the original” to “It was the worst $300 spent. Aside from grammar and spelling errors, it yielded nothing”, and everything in between. It is expected that results of such poll vary across all shades of the spectrum, so no surprises there.

While not immediately obvious, a few themes could be seen in the discussion.

1. People who used professional resume writing services and who were happy, would use them again. It is expected – if you received good service, you are likely to use it – and to recommend it to others.

2. People who used professional resume writing services and who were not happy, would never use them again. This can be explained (somewhat). If you bought a product and it did not work, you would not buy the same product again. It is not, however, as simple as that. The overall need to have a resume written by a professional came about for a reason: the original, home-made resume, was not yielding results. So, simply refusing to use professional services in the future is not necessarily solving a problem. It is like taking your car to a mechanic with a faulty air conditioner, getting it back with the same issue, and claiming to not ever using mechanics (cumulative). The issue with AC still remains. And, perhaps, a better choice of a mechanic is what’s needed instead.

3. People are very protective of their resumes. It is understandable – resumes are such personal creations. As such, it is unfathomable that somebody else would mess with them, critique them, or, worse yet, discard them altogether and replace them with something else. This is where professional writers shine. It is like writing a biography – get all the input from the source, and then go off to create a masterpiece.

4. Often, resumes are written to hype up the individual. This happens in both cases, when candidates create their own resumes and when professional writers do it. Generally, a candy with a pretty wrap, receives more attention. Same with resumes: if it shines through, it has a better chance of securing an interview, which, in essence, is resume’s main purpose. However, hype needs to be substantiated with facts that the candidate can deliver. If it is not the case, the candidate will fail – either the interview, or the job. So, caution needs to be exercised to present information such that it is grounded in reality.

5. People are under the impression that sending resumes is a numbers game. There is a recent article on what sending resumes and Powerball have in common, so we will not repeat what was said already, but we strongly encourage you to review it.

6. People firmly believe that a resume writing service can create something out of nothing. That is, probably, the biggest misconception. If a candidate does not have a worthwhile experience to begin with, no creative writing can fix that. To build something one needs to have solid building blocks.

In conclusion, a few thoughts… Resume’s main task is to generate interview activity. If, after sending hundreds of resumes, the task is not accomplished, resume is not working and needs to be modified. It is an iterative process of trial an error. Whether done by an individual or with a help of a professional. In the end, it all boils down to how good of a mechanic you are. If you can change oil in your own garage without making a mess, can you repair the control arm or rebuild the engine?