If you have been a loyal reader for some time now you probably have looked through the archives. One of my first posts was on marketing yourself with a magnificent resume. We have all had that first job with the cookie cutter resume that we got online somewhere. It seems like every day there is a new article about new buzzwords to include or not include on a resume. Or maybe an article about top tips from a hiring manager for a Fortune 500 company.
How much do I charge?
Regardless whatever the reason, there is someone out there trying to make money off your job search. I just did a quick search of how much it would cost to prepare a resume and I got some staggering numbers. I couldn’t believe that someone would actually pay money to write a resume for them, and on top of that the fees that some were charging to do the work. They ranged from $39 up to $1,500.
For me personally, I don’t know anyone that knows what I did at my job better than myself, so how someone else can write it is beyond me. I guess job descriptions are pretty vague and there is room for interpretation on what tasks were actually performed. Some may see value in paying someone to write the resume for them.
Is there value in a resume writer?
For the sake of this post, I am going to assume there is value in having someone else write the resume for us. What value can we attach to it? Would you pay $600 for an executive level resume? How many hours/days would it take you to construct your resume? You can calculate a Resume Return on Investment (ROI) on with the increase in salary of switching to a new position. Assuming your new position pays you $15 more an hour it will have taken you a week’s work to recoup those costs. After the analysis, if I were in a position to make that additional rate, I might consider it. Until then, I will be working on my resume. If you have any questions on resumes or just want to bounce some ideas off me, drop me a message under the contact section. I have helped numerous friends with resumes and have extensive knowledge of resume writing.
If you take the route of using a resume writer, just remember with all things that you get what you pay for.
Have you ever used a resume service? What was your experience?
I haven’t yet and probably wont ever use one unless I am trying to get an insanely competitive super high paying job. I know enough HR people to help me out for free.
I haven’t used a professional resume service yet either. I have sent a few resumes over the last few years but most of them have been losely based on a template I’ve found on the internet. Perhaps if the perfect job came along and it was in a different industry (but I still felt I could do the work), I may hire a professional to parlay my current work experience to that of the requirements of the prospective job. I certainly wouldn’t pay $1500 though!
@ Benjamin – thanks for stopping bye. I used to use the resume templates and now I have expanded my resume a much broader spectrum. I want it to represent who I am. I think that the flow and style are just like me. It wasn’t something that I pumped out over night it has been a work in process over the last few years. I have always kept it up to date as well because you never know who you might run into that has the opportunity of a lifetime!
I can’t imagine spending $1500 on a resume. I guess you could assume that it would be awesome and if you still weren’t getting jobs you could know that your resume isn’t the problem (right?). Luckily for me, contract blue collar work like I do requires no resume. I’ve never had one and barely know what one woudl look like. You just walk in and tell them what you can do and they mgiht call a previous employer, but often not. And if on the job you’re making mistakes, they just drop you. There’s so much unemployment in the blue collar world that it’s not hard for them to pick up someone new.
@ TB – Interesting hearing from you perspective. Thanks for sharing. This ties to the piece I wrote today. Some employers will just take you on to see if you can do the work and if you can’t they just drop you and look for the next person. Gone are the days where employers would invest heavily in you to make sure that you had all the necessary skills. The loyalty goes both ways, employees are less loyal to their employers and same thing for the employers.
Resume service makes the job seekers to prepare a professional resume , which results in reducing the unemployment rate and happy life.
Very deep perspective. Great content you have here. I would prefer to hire a professional resume writer because I know this will help me a lot on applying a job.
I agree perfectly with TB at BlueCollarWorkman, if you are awesome and still warent a job, you dont need to pat money up to $1, 500.