I have written 5800+ resumes in my career, and I spend no less than 3 hours talking to the client to create each one of those resumes.

I’ve been a career counselor and resume writer for twenty-five years. Most importantly, it requires the writer to understand how ATS works and the knowledge to know which keywords to add. It takes wordsmithing skills and personal branding ability. First, the professional writer needs to have strong knowledge of many careers and the job duties required in each role.

Knowing how to write a resume is much different than just reviewing many. And asking your manager for help isn’t often useful unless that person is in HR and does the company’s recruiting. Understandably, you may lack the ability to create a terrific resume on your own. Some genuinely talented individuals know how to create a resume and get employers’ attention. Many people want to hire someone to help them create an effective resume.

Guidelines to follow before you lay down your money On close inspection, they were making these mistakes: It advertised: “our team of career experts and Fortune 500 recruiters put together resume examples for 250+ job titles that will impress hiring managers and pass the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) scans.” They showed examples of their work. I went to a few advertised resume writing websites, and one had started a few months ago. They could be a person who did a little hiring, and they see an opportunity among those looking for a new job and rush to say, “Yeah, I can do that.” Others may be able to create fancy, creative-looking designs, but that is all they are designs, not resumes. Often, they just have good writing skills. The recent pandemic brought out resume writers in full force. It failed to get him any interviews – hence the call to me. He said he had just spoken to a salesperson and only spent 20 minutes talking to the writer who seemed very young. It also lacked any specific details on how he had excelled in his past roles. It was creative and fancy looking but would mostly all disappear in the ATS. I guess you really do get what you pay for.”Īnother prospective client, Dave, showed me his resume that he’d paid $400 for. To all this, she said, “Yeah, I had some doubts. Good resume writers, I told her, spend a few hours with you to uncover your experience and ask you probing questions. Sarah said the salesman talked to her for 30 minutes, took notes, and passed it on to the writer. The company used an outdated template, did not uncover her accomplishments, and likely had little business or industry knowledge. (Read my article first published in : Are Employers Ignoring Your Resume? 5 Mistakes to Avoid.) She asked me to review it and tell her what was wrong.Īs I dissected this resume, I knew immediately that the fancy design would never get through the Applicant Tracking System. The company that created it blamed the economy last week when she complained. To date, she has not had one response from the resume. She had previously paid $500 to have her resume “professionally written.” She lost her job back in March. Sarah called today because she said her friend’s friend in HR recommended me. Follow these guidelines to avoid being duped when hiring a resume writer.

Hiring a resume writer