What is the value of having a professional help you create your resume?
RESULTS.
We get inquiries about our resume services all the time. Once they hear that there is a cost to creating a good resume, many people back off.
A professional costs money. My time and expertise has value.
Human resource people can be the hardest group to see this value. They think they should be able to create their own resume and marketing materials because they handle recruiting all the time in their professional lives.
Recently I connected with an old colleague with a terrific human resource background. We will call him Mark (the name has been changed to protect the innocent!). He would be perfect for an open position being sourced by another friend. So I asked him to send me his resume and I would make the introduction.
“Holy Cow”, I said to myself when I saw the resume. Four pages long, odd formatting, two different colors, different kinds of fonts and inconsistent sizing. It was really awful. I couldn’t send that resume on to the recruiter. I couldn’t take the chance that the recruiter might think I created that resume. I won’t put my reputation on the line like that for anyone.
So I called Mark and suggested his resume could be better. That is a tough call to make, especially to someone in HR. Mark didn’t take the news too well. He said the resume was created by a local outplacement firm with a big reputation. He was confident it was good.
I pointed out a few problem areas and offered to redo his resume through The Interview Doctor’s Resume rewriting services. The fee is equivalent to a few hours of work at Mark’s current salary.
If Mark paid me, he would get a professional looking resume that highlights his background to make him look great. While I was working, he would be free to work on something else. He could also use the new resume to update his LinkedIn profile. So he gets two advantages for the price of one service.
But Mark was not interested in professional help. He is responsible for recruiting. He can revise his own resume. A few days later Mark sent back another resume only slightly better than the first. He got it down to 3 pages long and the formatting is a little better. But it was still ugly and did not reflect Mark’s skills. I was still reluctant to refer that only-slightly-less-ugly resume on to the recruiter.
Mark’s story with me ended there. He was not willing to update the resume enough that I would feel comfortable passing it on to someone I know. Referring someone is a reflection of the referrer as well. Keep this in mind. A referral is part of networking and a key way to getting job interviews. You must consider the advice of others , you may need to listen more. Make it easy for people to refer you. In this case Mark was not willing to go that extra step nor listen to my professional advice.
So what is the value of using a professional to create a resume?
- Professional expertise – A professional knows how the resume should look to show off your experience to its best advantage
- Time – A professional saves time. While you are working on something else, the professional is working on your resume. It requires a few conversations then some feedback for editing. You could be working on something else like networking.